Google unveiled new features for Local Services Ads (LSA) this week. One automatically selects profile photos to display in advertisements, while the others give advertisers more control over their spending.

Profile photos

This update aims to increase ad engagement and potentially improve ad rankings for local service providers.

How it works:

• Google will choose photos from advertisers’ LSA profiles based on their likelihood to boost engagement.
• Photos won’t appear in every ad, depending on user queries and other factors.

Google’s recommendations:

• Upload 3-5 high-quality images to your LSA profile.
• Ensure photos are relevant to your work, original, and not copied or stolen.

What to watch. How this change affects ad performance and ranking for local service providers, especially those who haven’t previously focused on visual content in their profiles.

Ad spending controls

The new ad budget features include the ability to set a maximum monthly ad spend limit for certain accounts. This gives advertisers more control over their spending, potentially preventing unexpected budget overruns. 

Key features:

• Immediate effect upon setting.
• Automatic campaign stoppage when limit is reached.
• Monthly reset on the 1st of each month.
• Flexible management – can be updated anytime.

How it works. Advertisers can toggle the account spend limit on or off, set a specific monthly limit, view last month’s spend and monitor current month’s spend and remaining budget through the Local Service Ads interface.

Dig deeper: Why marketers must combat the hidden threat of MFA sites

Yes, but. Due to reporting lag, there’s a possibility of exceeding the set limit, especially when:

• Setting a limit for the first time.
• Lowering an existing limit.

Advertisers are responsible for paying any excess charges if the limit is exceeded.

The catch. If the limit is exceeded, all ads will stop running until the next month.