Skip to content
Offworkr.
Sign in Get started
For Local Service Ads advertisers

What Local Service Ads cost you when nobody picks up

You bid for the lead. Google sends the call. If it reaches your voicemail, you are billed for it either way, and you have no job to show for it. Then your answer rate slips, and the next lead gets harder to win.

Hear it answer a real call How the billing works

When you are actually charged

Worth getting exactly right, because plenty of advice online overstates it. Not every missed call bills you. The ones that reach voicemail do, and that is most of them.

What happens on the call Charged?
The caller reaches your voicemail Yes
The caller hangs up before voicemail No
Spam, wrong service, or outside your area Disputable
You simply didn't answer Not grounds for a dispute

Google credits genuinely invalid leads back if you dispute them. Not answering is not one of them.

Why a missed call costs you twice

Once

You are billed for a lead that reached voicemail, and voicemail almost never turns into a booked job. Nobody leaves one any more. They ring the next name on the list.

Twice

Google lists responsiveness as a Local Service Ads ranking factor and says that failing to answer affects where your ad shows. So the calls you miss make the next ones more expensive to win.

The fix is boring: somebody picks up

That is all Offworkr does, and it does it at 9pm, on a Sunday, and halfway through another job. By day it catches overflow so your line never rings out. At night and weekends it is your front desk.

Not a phone tree

No menus and no keypad. Callers explain the job the way they would to your office, and it answers in their language.

Books onto your calendar

It books the work while the caller is still keen, or takes a detailed message and flags the jobs that can't wait.

Keep your number

Forward the line you already advertise. Nothing to switch, nothing to republish, and your LSA listing stays exactly as it is.

Questions

Does Google charge for a Local Service Ads call I miss?+
It depends on how the call ends. If it reaches your voicemail, Google generally counts it as a valid lead and charges you for it. If the caller hangs up before your voicemail picks up, you are generally not charged. So the calls that cost you most are the ones that ring long enough to reach voicemail, which is most of them.
Does missing calls affect my Local Service Ads ranking?+
Yes. Google lists responsiveness as a ranking factor for Local Service Ads and states that failing to answer calls or respond to messages affects where your ad shows. That is why a missed call costs twice: you are billed for the lead, and your ranking takes the hit that makes the next lead harder to win.
Can I dispute a Local Service Ads lead I missed?+
You can dispute leads that are genuinely invalid, such as spam, wrong service, or outside your area, and Google credits those back. Simply not answering is not grounds for a dispute. That is the gap Offworkr closes: it picks up, so the lead you paid for turns into a booked job instead of a charge.
How does Offworkr help with Local Service Ads?+
Offworkr answers the calls you can't. By day it covers overflow, at night and weekends it is your front desk. Callers talk normally, not to a phone tree, and it books the job onto your calendar. Your first 10 calls are free so you can hear it handle real ones before you commit.

Hear it handle one of your calls

Set up takes about five minutes. Your first 10 calls are free, so you can listen to it work before you decide.

Set up my receptionist