Most LSA problems aren't ranking problems. They're response, review, booking, and tracking problems wearing a ranking costume. Here's the six-zone diagnostic I run as your fractional CMO. I identify what's broken, brief your LSA vendor or in-house person, and hold them accountable to the number — I don't log in and change the bid.
You're at the top. The leads still feel weak. Sound familiar?
Google LSA is two channels in a trenchcoat: visibility and quality. Most contractors only optimize for the first. They obsess over ranking, ignore response time, never review the booking page, and let the dispute queue rot. The result: high spend, low close, and a quiet conviction that "LSA doesn't work for us."
It does work. You're just running half of it.
Where you show, when, and against whom. Bid, budget, hours, service mix.
Bad-lead rate, dispute rate, dispute approval rate. Most contractors leave 5–15% of spend on the table here.
Phone-rings to first-human-voice. Google's algorithm watches this. So does your buyer.
Volume, recency, and response rate. The signal that beats bid amount when you're tied.
What happens after the call connects. The cheapest 20% lift in the channel.
LSA vs. GBP vs. Google Ads — three different lead pools, three different costs. If they're mixed in your CRM, your math is wrong.
LSA behaves differently by trade. Read the focused playbook: