How a financial & tax firm turned Local Services Ads into ~2,000 calls and 414 qualified leads

Objective

Use Google Local Services Ads (LSA) to place Herbert Financial at the very top of local search for high-intent financial and tax queries, and drive a steady, predictable volume of qualified inbound phone calls — the leads most likely to convert into clients — at a controllable, sustainable cost per lead.
Challenge
Financial and tax services are a crowded, trust-sensitive category, and the campaign had to deliver both volume and quality:
▸ Prospects in this space typically call the first credible, Google-vetted provider they see. Without top placement — and the Google Guaranteed badge — those high-intent calls go straight to competitors.
▸ The firm needed genuinely billable, qualified phone leads rather than raw impressions, while keeping cost-per-lead sustainable through the sharp seasonal demand swings around tax season.

Approach

We built and actively managed the Local Services Ads programme end to end:
▸ Google Guaranteed setup & verification — completed licensing and business verification so the firm qualified for the Google Guaranteed badge and eligibility for top LSA placement.
▸ Service & service-area targeting — configured the exact financial and tax service categories and geographic service area to attract in-market, high-intent callers.
▸ Bid & budget management — managed bids and budget to hold top-of-search placement while protecting cost-per-lead, and scaled into peak tax-season demand.
▸ Reviews & response system — grew verified reviews and fast call response, both of which LSA rewards with stronger ranking and higher call-through.
▸ Lead quality control & disputes — continuously reviewed leads and disputed spam or out-of-scope calls, so spend stayed tied to genuine prospects.

Results

Over roughly six months (Feb 1 – Jul 27, 2026) and $52,222.62 in managed spend, the campaign generated around 2,000 calls and 414 charged, qualified leads — about $126 per qualified lead, an efficient cost for a category where a single client can be worth thousands in lifetime value. Throughout, the firm effectively owned the top of Google’s Local Services results, holding a 97.85% top-of-search impression rate and a 64.52% absolute-top rate across 128,727 impressions.