Local Services Ads bug: ads showing outside their service area
Partner · Strategy, advertising and measurement
Since September 30, 2026, US specialists have been reporting that Local Services Ads (the pay-per-lead ads that carry Google's verification badge) are showing in regions the advertiser never selected. Google had not confirmed the problem when this note was published. The detail is costly: Google no longer refunds a lead that comes from outside your area.
What happened
On the evening of September 30, advertising specialist Len Raleigh posted a screenshot of results in California on X. It shows businesses from Illinois, New Jersey, Florida and Texas.
#LSA Something is wrong here.. California LSAs are showing advertisers from Illinois, New Jersey, Florida and Texas..
The next morning, Barry Schwartz (Search Engine Roundtable) ran the search again. He also got advertisers from New Jersey and Arizona.
Anthony Higman, a Local Services Ads specialist, ran the check that matters. He opened the profiles of the New Jersey businesses: neither Fresno nor Arizona is among their areas. Yet they show in Fresno. His screenshots of the selected areas are posted in his reply on X. He concludes that it is indeed a bug.
What Google says
On this bug, nothing so far. The reports tag Google Ads' official account on X (@adsliaison). As of October 2, 2026, it had not replied. Two explanations remain possible: a genuine error, or an automatic expansion of service areas made without advertisers' consent.
The service area rule. According to Google's help, an ad can show to someone located outside your area if they are looking for a provider in your area. The rule never allows the ad to show for an area you did not choose. The reported bug therefore does not fit that case.
What Google allows
Someone located elsewhere looks for a provider in your area: your ad can show.
What is being reported
Your ad shows in an area you never selected.
Refunds. The help page on automated credits is clear: Google no longer credits "geo not serviced" or "job type not serviced" leads. Every call from a customer you cannot serve can therefore be billed to you with no recourse.
A recent precedent. On September 1, 2026, Ginny Marvin, Google's Ads Liaison, had confirmed another Local Services Ads bug: profiles unlinked from their Business Profile. She specified that it was unrelated to the ongoing migration of Local Services Ads into Google Ads.
The five-minute check
- Open your list of leads from the last few days and look at the city or postal code of each call.
- Check that your service areas have not changed, especially if your account has been migrated into Google Ads.
- Take a screenshot of any out-of-area lead, then report it to Google support.
All the reports come from the United States. In Canada, Google does not yet offer Local Services Ads in Quebec: its eligibility tool turns down Montréal. The check therefore applies to businesses advertising in Ontario, elsewhere in Canada or in the United States.
Sorting billed leads from real customers is part of what we cover in a marketing consultation.
An out-of-area lead was not a problem as long as Google refunded it. That is no longer the case: monitoring your service areas becomes a task in its own right.
Account structure and exclusions are covered in Google Ads: structure, exclude, measure. For a business that travels to its customers, the service area also matters in local SEO: see local SEO for service area businesses.
- Search Engine Roundtable, Google Local Service Ads Serving Wrong Locations, October 1, 2026. Source of the report, the checks and Google's lack of response.
- Len Raleigh, post on X, September 30, 2026. Screenshot of results in California.
- Barry Schwartz, post on X, October 1, 2026. Advertisers from New Jersey and Arizona.
- Anthony Higman, post on X, October 1, 2026. Screenshots of the selected areas in the profiles.
- Google Help, About reaching customers with your Local Services Ads, accessed 2026. Source of the service area rule.
- Google Help, About Automated Local Services Ads lead credits, accessed 2026. Source of the end of out-of-area credits.
- Search Engine Roundtable, Google Working On Local Service Ads Bugs, September 1, 2026. Source of the bug confirmed by Ginny Marvin.
- Google's Local Services Ads eligibility tool, checked by Falia on October 2, 2026 (Quebec, postal code H2X 1Y4, plumbing category). Answer: Local Services Ads are not yet available in that area.
Gabriel almost always takes your first call and carries out your audit. He builds the strategy starting from your growth goal: where to put your budget, which market to test and how to connect each lead to a real sale in your CRM. He mainly leads engagements for three goals: Optimize the profitability of your digital campaigns, Develop a new market, and Generate demand and growth. With Geneviève, he also works on organic search (SEO), AI visibility (GEO) and conversion rate optimization (CRO). The sales a Google Ads or Meta Ads campaign brings in depend on the page that receives the click. He writes mainly about marketing strategy, paid advertising and measurement.
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