Google LSAs Get Even Worse for Real Estate Agents (and many small businesses)

Google Local Services Ads (LSAs), which are already awful for real estate agents, will get even worse on October 1.

That's when Google will start charging you for missed calls, per this email that went out recently to advertisers:

The email says:

"Missed calls during business hours will now be charged as valid leads if a user stays on the line for more than 20 seconds, with a few exceptions."

There's a second bullet point about subsequent calls with missed leads, but the part above is what really bothers me. It's a case of Google kicking charging you while you're down.

What's going to happen as of Oct. 1 is that, if you get a call lead via your LSA but can't answer right away, Google is going to charge you for being a busy real estate agent.

When I voiced my concern about this on social media last week, I had some interesting replies from real estate pros:

"Real estate agents should be quick to answer their phone during business hours. This is a great change!"

Yes, real estate agents should - as should all small business owners. What about the Realtor® who's in the middle of a listing presentation? What about the plumber who's in the middle of repairing a broken hot water heater? The electrician down in the crawlspace? The tree service person with a chainsaw 30 feet up in the air? They're supposed to drop everything and not let a call go to voicemail? Please.

"Well, they should have an answering service."

Not every solopreneur can afford that. Not every business owner gets enough calls/leads to justify the expense.

"Google sent the lead, it's not their fault people don't answer and convert properly. It makes Google look bad as a service if nobody answers the phone."

Google has other ways to punish a business for being unresponsive -- and already uses them. Being unresponsive means your ad appears less. It means you get fewer leads.

And if they're really concerned about "looking bad", they should just close the advertiser's account or stop showing their ads altogether. But no...why do that when Google can squeeze more money out of them?

Matt's Bottom Line

I'm not saying it's okay to ignore inbound calls, but Google already punishes unresponsive advertisers by showing their ad less and sending fewer leads. That's plenty. Charging unanswered calls as leads is just a cash grab.

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