Google Local Services Ads (LSA) advertisers, including attorneys, must agree to LSA’s new “Terms for Providers” by June 5, 2025 or else their ads will stop serving (if they were working to begin with).
Google began notifying clients in April. Clicking their email resulted in nothing being displayed in the LSA platform, likely because it is a highly dysfunctional service. But, as of May 13, we’ve been being prompted to accept the new terms when we log in to accounts.
Google’s notification:
Advertisers may wonder if this is spam, or a scam. It is not. Google sent out an email with the subject line: “Action required: important updates to Local Service Ads Additional Terms”.
The email goes on to list some of the changes coming to LSA. Basically, they’re so vague, nobody knows what is going on, and LSA’s reps are being extremely secretive.
What changed?
The new terms are not just vague but also very complicated, and Google actually recommended hiring an attorney to read them for you.
However, Google does list some “key updates”:
- New provisions allowing Google to modify, display, and use content you provide to your Local Services profile (such as business photos, entity name, location, phone number, category, hours and website) in your Local Services Ads and across other Google products and services.
- New provisions allowing Google to select, modify, display, and use rich content (including but not limited to photos, provider bios, service descriptions, special offers, pricing information and discounts) from:
– your phone call and message conversations with Local Services end users that are routed through Google; and
– any web URLs or destinations you identify or share in your Local Services Ads account.
For example, to better showcase the type of services you offer, Google may pick a relevant photo from a web URL you’ve provided on your Local Services Ads account to display in your ads.
- New provisions clarifying that Google may link your Local Services Ads account to your profile(s)/account(s) across other Google services.
- New provisions clarifying that when agencies enter these terms on behalf of advertisers, the terms apply to both the agencies and the advertisers.
For reference:
- Google’s page describing the change: https://support.google.com/localservices/answer/7501778
- 2025 Terms for US Advertisers: https://www.google.com/ads/localservices/TC-US-2025-03.html
- 2025 Terms for Canadian Advertisers: https://www.google.com/ads/localservices/TC-CA-2025-03.html
- LSA for Lawyers, by Optimize My Firm: https://optimizemyfirm.com/services/local-service-ads/
