Various ads on social media make claims that LSA can be “kick started”, “jail broken”, “hacked”, etc, etc, etc, into working.
The claims are very appealing to advertisers who have been left with no LSA leads while their competitors get plenty of leads.
They want answers. And who can blame them?
The Problem:
For personal injury attorneys, LSA performs at random. Some attorneys consistently get leads. Some attorneys get zero leads. Some attorneys will get 3 leads in 1 day, then no leads for 90 days.
I documented this erratic behavior in January 2022 when LSA released a terribly dysfunctional update. The update hit various cities from January 2022 – September 2022.
I’ve gone over the data with half a dozen other agency owners, 50+ law firms, and actual Google LSA engineers. Unfortunately, this is the “new normal” for LSA.
Everyone knows there is a problem. That’s not in dispute whatsoever. LSA was built for home service providers, such as plumbers, HVAC, locksmiths. Years later, Google rolled LSA out to other verticals, then Immigration Lawyers, then eventually Personal Injury Attorneys. LSA actually works wonderful for some niches! But you can ask nearly any Real Estate Agent or Personal Injury Attorney if LSA works fairly for them, and 99% of them will say no.
Does Deleting an LSA Account and Starting a New One Make it Perform Better?
I’ve tried this 3 times with no success. It’s not a magic bullet. Now could you create a new account and have it magically produce? It’s possible! I’ve just never seen it happen, and I know plenty of other Ad Managers who oversee $15-$20million in ad spent annually who have also tried this with no success.
Google Goes on Record:
Now of the HUNDREDS of lackluster LSA accounts I’ve seen, I’ve only paused and restarted 3. More data would be nice.
On November 12, 2025, Google’s Ads Liaison clearly stated that creating a new LSA account is not a dependable approach.
Screenshot:
Why Would this even Work???
Aside from Google’s failures, there are indeed things people can do to destroy their rankings in LSA, such as not obtaining reviews, or missing phone calls when people call.
The reason I experimented with this in the first place was an effort to “reset” the phone answering score which Google tracks internally.
(This used to also reset LSA reviews, but as of July 11, 2025, Google now exclusively uses LSA reviews as I documented here.)
Busting Other LSA Myths:
Other things I’ve heard about LSA:
- Adding photos. A third party contacts people as a Google employee, telling people they can increase performance by adding photos. There’s nothing wrong with adding photos, but it won’t improve Ad Performance. Don’t get me wrong, it’s a good idea. If you have good photos, I’d add them, just don’t hold your breath.
- Turning on “General Lawyer” leads. The thought behind this is that a flood of people will call, and IF you answer the phone quickly, your phone answering score will increase. I personally see nothing wrong with this theory, but in practice I have yet to see this ever work. Additionally, this is very expensive, and your staff will be turning people away when they could be doing other things. It’s a huge waste of time and money.
- Enabling message leads. There’s nothing wrong with message leads, but enabling them isn’t going to make your phone ring tomorrow.
Hope this helps someone out there!
What CAN you do?
And if your LSA is not working, check out what you CAN control here:
- Optimize My Firm: LSA Not Getting Leads – https://optimizemyfirm.com/no-leads-lsa/
- Google: Improve LSA Performance – https://support.google.com/localservices/answer/12492201
