Google Local Services (also known as Google Local Services Ads, or LSA) are a system set up and deployed by Google within the last few years specifically for home service-type businesses. It’s a pay-per-lead ad that shows up above organic results and regular Google Ads, at the top of the search results. If you want to take advantage of LSA, your business must first submit to a vetting process in which Google, through a third party (typically this one), will perform background checks, insurance checks, license checks, and in some cases even make sure you drug-screen your employees. LSA can look something like this:

Google investigative partner is pretty much interested any major red flags that can be liability when a business interacts with a customer in their home. They will look for danger signs at both the company and employee level. For companies, this could mean checking your professional license, verifying your insurance, or checking your civil litigation history (liens and judgments from state and federal courts would be fair game). At the employee level, it could mean making sure your employees have no criminal history, are not registered sex offenders, and have valid social security numbers.

Once the initial background check is complete, you aren’t done. The background checks will happen on an annual basis, each year after you receive your Google Guaranteed approval. Google does this to make sure your information is up to date, and that any new team members added in that year are also checked and verified.

The team at Emu can help walk you through the process, but if you’d like to start the ball rolling on our own, it’s pretty simple. Just click here to head over to Google’s sign up page and enter your information. If you have questions along the way, let us know. We’re always happy to help good people and businesses win.