As Google Local Services Ads (LSAs) continue to evolve, a major update has left many service businesses, and agencies, wondering about the fate of reviews left directly on their LSAs. Effective November 21, 2024, LSAs must be linked to a verified Google Business Profile (GBP).
One concern to those running LSAs is what happens to the reviews that were left exclusively on LSAs, without being tied to a GBP. It appears that these reviews will not be lost. Instead, we believe they will be fed into the GBP of the business, ensuring that businesses don’t lose valuable customer feedback and credibility built through LSAs.
As of today, one of our LSAs is already going through this transition. The first screenshot below shows that the GBP linked to the LSA has 4 reviews. However, in the second screenshot, the GBP itself currently shows 0 reviews. The 4 reviews appearing on the LSA were left directly on the LSA. We believe these reviews are in a transition phase, where they are visible on the LSA-linked GBP but have not yet appeared on the GBP itself.
This change aligns with Google’s push to centralize and standardize review visibility, making GBPs the primary hub for customer interactions and trust-building content. By consolidating reviews into a single platform, businesses can manage their reputation more effectively and present a unified profile across Google’s ecosystem.
Why Does This Matter?
Trust and Credibility: Reviews are essential for customer trust. Losing them could have been detrimental, but this shift ensures continuity.
Boosting GBP Rankings: Reviews linked to GBPs can help improve rankings in local search results.
Streamlined Management: Businesses can focus on optimizing a single review platform instead of juggling multiple channels.
If your business relies heavily on LSAs, make sure your GBP is fully optimized and ready to absorb these reviews. Keep the message leads feature on, enable email and text lead options, and maintain your GBP details to maximize this transition’s benefits.