Local Services Ads: Google Is Timing How Fast You Reply

What Google measures

Google’s Local Services help pages spell out how your message response time is worked out:

• It’s an average over the last 90 days, weighted so that recent leads count more.
• If you’ve set business hours, Google only counts leads that come in during those hours.
• If you haven’t set any hours, Google counts leads received between 7 AM and 9 PM.
• Once you have two or more message leads in the last 90 days, your estimated response time may appear on your ads.

So a homeowner comparing three ads may see how long each business usually takes to reply, before they’ve contacted anyone.

How it affects your ranking

Google’s page on ad rankings lists the things that decide where your ad shows. Two of them are about responsiveness:

• Your responsiveness to customer inquiries and requests. Google says missed calls may negatively affect it.
• Profile quality, which includes your rating, number of reviews, average response time, photos and the verification checks you’ve completed.

Google also says a consistently fast response time could improve your ad’s ranking and your ability to receive leads. And if you regularly fail to answer calls or respond to messages, your ranking may be affected.

Fix 01: Reply to every lead, even the no’s

Google asks you to respond to as many messages as you can, even if you decline the job. A lead you ignore counts against you. A lead you decline politely doesn’t.

“Thanks for reaching out. We don’t do commercial roofing, but I’d try a commercial roofing contractor nearby. Good luck with it.”

If you decline a request in your lead inbox, Google removes it and tells the customer. You can recover it later if something changes.

Fix 02: Set your real business hours

Your response time is measured during the hours you list. If your hours say you’re open until 8 PM but you stop checking messages at 5, every evening lead counts as a slow reply. Set the hours you actually answer, and update them for holidays.

Fix 03: Keep a first reply ready

You can’t always quote from a roof. You can almost always send a first reply. Save a short one on your phone:

“Thanks, got your message. I’m on a job right now and will call you by 3 PM.”

It tells the customer you’ve seen it and when they’ll hear from you, and it only takes seconds to send.

Missed calls count too

Google says missed calls may negatively affect your responsiveness. If you can’t answer during a job, make sure a missed caller gets a quick text back and a real call later.

This week’s checklist

Common questions

How Goanna Digital handles this

Every Goanna Digital plan includes one inbox for every call, text, email and website inquiry, missed-call text-back, after-hours responses and an AI receptionist, so customers get an answer even when you’re on the tools. You run it all from the Goanna Digital app on your phone.

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Want this handled for you? Goanna Digital runs your website, your Google presence, your lead inbox, quoting and invoicing from one app on your phone. Book a free 15-minute call and we’ll show you how it would work for your business.

Book a free 15-minute call

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Sources

• Google Local Services Help, “Manage leads and jobs”: https://support.google.com/localservices/answer/6224859
• Google Local Services Help, “About ad rankings”: https://support.google.com/localservices/answer/7527305
• Google Local Services Help, “Getting started with Local Services Ads”: https://support.google.com/localservices/answer/6224841