Google Local Services Ads now bill some missed calls. The limit is 20 seconds

Google now charges Local Services Ads advertisers for some calls they never answer. Its rewritten help page on how leads work says a missed call during business hours counts as a lead if the caller stays on the line for more than 20 seconds. Search Engine Roundtable spotted the update on 8 October.

Local Services Ads are the pay-per-lead ads that plumbers, lawyers, cleaners and other local firms buy at the top of Google results. The advertiser pays for each phone call or message, not for each click. The new page is much longer than the version archived in June. It adds sections on text and email leads, charge statuses and a FAQ.

Google bills a voicemail after 20 seconds

The 20-second rule covers only calls nobody picks up. Answered calls are judged on the conversation itself. Business hours are the ones set in the firm’s Google Business Profile.

A call that reaches voicemail or an automated greeting is charged if the caller stays on for more than 20 seconds, even without leaving a message. Phone menus work differently. If the caller hangs up without pressing a key, there is no charge. Once they press the first key, the 20-second timer starts again.

Text and email leads are usually cheaper than calls

Google says message leads are “typically priced lower” than phone leads, though not always. The price depends on how likely the customer is to book, the service requested and whether the customer also contacted rival advertisers. Messages pass through masked phone numbers and email addresses.

Repeat contact is free for a while. If the same number or email gets back in touch within 15 days of a charged lead, there is no new charge. After 15 days of silence, a fresh contact becomes a new lead.

Automatic credits do not apply in the EEA

Each lead now shows one of four statuses: Charged, Not charged, In review or Credited. Google checks lead quality for 30 days and may credit poor, duplicate or invalid leads automatically. The old list of cases that did not qualify for a credit has largely gone.

European advertisers get less of this. The help page says lead credits are not available to advertisers in Europe, the Middle East and Africa. Automatic credits are not available in EEA countries. Google’s help pages list nine European markets for the product, including Germany, France, Spain, Italy and the UK. Poland and the Nordic countries are not on the list.

Firms running these ads in Europe can check two things today: whether the business hours in their Google Business Profile match the hours someone really answers the phone, and whether their phone menu asks callers to press a key early. Both now decide which unanswered calls end up on the bill. Earlier this autumn Google also changed several Google Ads features for EU accounts and eased its business name policy.