Google LSA Now Charges for Some Missed Calls: What Contractors Should Know

What Google's help page says

Google's "How leads work" page lists the situations that can produce a valid (chargeable) lead. The one that matters here:

"You missed a phone call during your business hours and the customer stays on the line for more than 20 seconds."

Google Local Services Help

On voicemail and automated greetings, the same page says:

"If a call goes to voicemail or an automated greeting during your business hours, it's treated as a connected call and is charged if the caller stays on the line for more than 20 seconds, whether or not they leave a message."

Google Local Services Help

The help page doesn't give a start date. The Oct. 1 date comes from Search Engine Land's Aug. 25, 2026 report on Google's policy update, which summed it up: "advertisers could be charged for a call even if nobody at the business actually answers it."

When a missed call is not charged

From Google's page, a missed call shouldn't be charged under this rule when:

• The caller hangs up within 20 seconds. The rule only applies past 20 seconds on the line.
• It's outside your business hours. Google uses "the hours you set in your Google Business Profile."
• It's outside your ad schedule. If your ad schedule differs from your hours, "unanswered calls are only charged when they happen during your active ad schedule and within your business hours."
• The caller never presses a key on your phone menu. With a press-a-key menu, the 20-second timer starts at the first key press, and you're not charged if the caller hangs up without pressing one.

Google also says it filters out spam and duplicate contacts automatically, and Search Engine Land reports that Google is adding new protections against robot and spam calls as part of this change.

Follow-up calls and the 15-day window

If a first call doesn't qualify (say the phone rang under 20 seconds) and you or the customer call back, Google says that follow-up "is evaluated using the rules for an answered call." You're charged once, on the first call that qualifies. Once a lead is charged, more calls or messages from the same number or email within 15 days aren't charged again.

What hasn't changed

• Answered calls. Google: "The 20-second ring rule applies only to unanswered (missed) calls." If someone picks up, the call is evaluated as an answered call.
• Credits. Google says it keeps assessing charged leads for 30 days and automatically credits ones it finds poor quality, duplicate, or invalid (not available in the EEA). You can see each lead's status on the Leads page and give feedback through the lead's survey.

What to check this week

1. Your Google Business Profile hours. These now set when missed calls can be charged. Make sure they're accurate.
2. Your ad schedule. Know when your ads actually run compared with when someone can pick up.
3. Your voicemail. A business-hours voicemail no longer avoids a charge. If calls go to voicemail at busy times, you're likely paying for some leads nobody talks to.
4. Your phone menu. If you use one, know that the 20-second timer starts at the first key press.
5. Your overflow plan. Who answers when the office is on another line or the crew is on a roof? It could be a person, an answering service, or an AI receptionist.

Disclosure: KeptRing sells an AI answering service for contractors, so we have a stake in point 5. Answering more calls won't lower what Google charges per lead. It gives each lead you pay for a chance to become a job. This article summarizes Google's rules in our words. Google's help page is the authority, and Google can change it.

Sources

1. Google, Local Services Help, "How leads work." https://support.google.com/localservices/answer/7195435?hl=en (checked Oct. 15, 2026)
2. Anu Adegbola, "Google Local Services Ads will charge for some missed calls starting Oct. 1," Search Engine Land, Aug. 25, 2026. https://searchengineland.com/google-local-services-ads-will-charge-for-some-missed-calls-starting-oct-1-485798