Local Services Ads are moving into Google Ads, and moving companies are in the first wave of businesses affected. If your moving company runs Local Services Ads with a Google Guaranteed badge, your account is scheduled to migrate into a new pay-per-lead Performance Max campaign type starting in August 2026 — no action required to keep the badge, but several account settings change automatically on migration day.
What happens to your LSA account when it migrates
| Item | What Happens |
|---|---|
| Google Guaranteed / Google Screened badge | Transfers automatically, no reverification needed unless your business name or address changes |
| Pay-per-lead billing | Stays exactly the same — you still pay only for valid leads |
| Lead history and contact details | Transfers automatically into your Google Ads account |
| Weekly budget | Converted automatically: weekly budget ÷ 7 becomes your new daily budget |
| Manual bid caps | Removed — your old max cost-per-lead becomes a target Google’s automation optimizes toward, not a hard ceiling |
| Historical performance reports | Do not transfer — export cost-per-lead trends and seasonal data before your migration date |
| Standalone LSA dashboard | Retires completely once your account migrates |
When is my moving company’s LSA account migrating?
Google is rolling this out in three phases. The first phase starts in August 2026 and covers select home and storefront service categories in the US, including moving, plumbing, HVAC, electrical, appliance repair, house cleaning, and pest control. Late 2026 expands the migration to service-area businesses without a physical storefront and accounts running custom bidding or booking setups. Everything else — remaining categories and all non-US accounts — migrates during 2027. Once Google notifies your account admin, you have a 14-day window before the actual migration happens, with a dashboard banner and a follow-up reminder seven days out.
What actually changes after the migration?
Three changes matter more than the rest. First, manual bidding disappears — if you were holding a hard maximum cost per lead as a profitability guardrail, that number becomes a target for Google’s automated bidding rather than a ceiling it cannot cross, so leads could cost more than your old cap during the transition. Second, budgeting shifts from weekly to daily: Google divides your historical weekly budget by seven and applies that as your new daily average, which can look like a budget cut on days when your old weekly number didn’t divide evenly. Third, the standalone LSA dashboard disappears entirely, so all reporting and account management moves into the regular Google Ads interface alongside any Google Ads campaigns you already run.
What stays exactly the same?
The core of Local Services Ads survives the move intact. Campaigns remain keywordless, ads still only appear on Search and Maps rather than expanding into Display or YouTube despite the Performance Max name, and you still pay only for leads Google verifies as valid. The Google Guaranteed and Google Screened badges that build trust with moving customers transfer without any reverification step, unless you change your business name or address around the same time, which can trigger a brief manual review.
How should movers prepare before the migration notice arrives?
Export your historical Local Services Ads performance data now — cost-per-lead trends, seasonal benchmarks, and monthly lead volume will not be available inside Google Ads after migration. Write down your actual effective cost per lead so you have a real number to compare against once bidding automates. Watch for the migration notification email rather than assuming a date, since Google has only committed to the month for the first wave, not an exact day.
Avoid changing your business name, address, or phone number in Google Business Profile in the weeks around your LSA to Google Ads migration, since that can trigger a review that delays your badge showing correctly. Reviewing strategies to reduce cost per lead before the switch also gives you a baseline to judge whether automated bidding performs as well as your old manual cap once the migration is complete. For the fundamentals of how Local Services Ads work for moving companies outside of this migration, that guide covers eligibility and the verification process in more depth.
Google Guaranteed still works the same — just inside Google Ads
Nothing about how customers find or trust a Google Guaranteed mover changes in this migration. What changes is entirely on the account management side: where you log in, how your budget is calculated, and whether a bid cap is a hard rule or a target. Moving companies that export their data and know their real cost per lead before the notification email arrives go into this LSA to Google Ads transition with a benchmark; companies that wait find out what changed only after their budget already shifted. It’s also worth checking the latest Google Ads updates for movers each quarter, since this migration is one of several 2026 changes affecting how moving companies run paid search.
If your moving company’s Local Services Ads account hasn’t migrated yet, Movers Development can review your setup and export your performance history before the notification arrives. Visit Movers Development to get a free account review, or talk to our PPC advertising for movers team about pairing Local Services Ads with a Search campaign once the migration settles.
Frequently Asked Questions
Will I lose my Google Guaranteed badge when LSA moves to Google Ads?
No. The Google Guaranteed and Google Screened badges transfer automatically with no reverification required, unless your business name or address changes around the time of migration.
What happens to my LSA budget when it moves to Performance Max?
Your weekly budget converts automatically to a daily budget by dividing the weekly amount by seven. Manual bid caps are also removed and become automated targets instead of hard ceilings.
When will my moving company's Local Services Ads account migrate?
Moving companies are in Google's first migration wave, which starts in August 2026. Your account admin receives an email notification 14 days before your specific account migrates.
Do I need to do anything before my Local Services Ads account migrates?
Export your historical performance reports before your migration date, since cost-per-lead trends and seasonal data do not transfer into Google Ads automatically. Lead history and contact details do transfer on their own.
Is Local Services Ads going away completely?
No. The pay-per-lead billing, keywordless targeting, and Search-and-Maps-only placement all continue — only the standalone dashboard retires, with everything managed inside Google Ads going forward.
