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From October 1, a missed Local Services Ads call can cost you twice

From October 1, as reported, some missed calls during business hours become paid leads, and Google's ranking page says missed calls may hurt your responsiveness. The fix is in your hours, your phone menu and your charged-lead list.

By Lonta AIPublished Updated 12 min readHow we write

TL;DR

  • From October 1, 2026, a missed Local Services Ads call during your business hours becomes a charged lead if the caller stays on the line for more than 20 seconds. That is the rule as Google's email to advertisers was reported by Search Engine Roundtable, Search Engine Watch, Search Engine Land and PPC Land. As of September 24 we could not find it on any Google help page.
  • Google's own ranking page says missed calls may hurt your responsiveness, which is part of how your ad ranks. So from October 1, as reported, a missed call during business hours can cost you twice: once in the lead fee and possibly in your ranking.
  • If your phone system makes callers press a key to reach a department, the 20-second timer starts at the key press, and a caller who never presses a key is not charged, as reported. PPC Land reads this to mean a straight ring-through to a cell phone has no such gate.
  • The rule applies during business hours. In the LSA dashboard, business hours and the ad schedule are two separate settings. The fix is to make the hours you list match the hours someone actually picks up the phone.
  • Follow-up calls can be charged too. According to Search Engine Roundtable, Google's Ads Liaison said follow-ups within 15 days are charged once.

What changes on October 1

Google announced this change to advertisers by email. Every detail of the new rule in this section comes from four trade outlets that covered it on August 25, 2026: Search Engine Roundtable and Search Engine Watch reproduced the email text, PPC Land described it in detail, and Search Engine Land summarized it. Google's "How leads work" page, read September 24, still describes the old rule for missed calls.

Here is how the two compare, call by call:

The callGoogle's "How leads work" page, read Sept 24From October 1, as reported
You answer and talk to the callerValid leadNo change reported
The caller leaves a voicemailValid leadNo change reported
Missed call, no voicemailListed as a valid lead only when you return it and either speak with the customer or leave a voicemailCharged if it comes in during business hours and the caller stays on the line for more than 20 seconds
The caller reaches your phone menu and hangs up without pressing a keyNot addressedNot charged
A follow-up call after a first call that didn't qualifyNot addressed separatelyCharged if it meets Google's valid-lead criteria

The reports also mention new safeguards against robocalls and spam calls, and Search Engine Land notes that the announcement doesn't say how they work.

Where the reports differ. On the rule itself they agree. Only Search Engine Roundtable carries the later clarification on follow-up calls and the 15-day window (below); the other three, as we read them, don't mention it. PPC Land goes furthest on what the email leaves open: whether the 20 seconds start at connection or at the first ring, what happens when voicemail picks up, whether a missed-call lead costs the same as an answered one, and how to dispute a charge.

Which business hours count?

The reported rule says "during business hours" and does not say which hours. In the LSA dashboard, the Profile & Budget page has two separate settings, both covered in our Local Services Ads owner's manual:

  • Business hours: the hours your business is open, set on the "Business hours" card.
  • Ad schedule: when your ad runs. Google's help page gives three choices: "All day", "Only during my business hours" and "Custom hours". The default is "All day".

Our read, which Google has not confirmed, is that "business hours" in the new rule means the hours on that card. That creates two situations to check.

The hours you list are longer than the hours you answer. Say you list 24/7 because you take emergency calls, and the night calls ring through to an on-call tech who is asleep or on a job. Under our reading, every night call that rings past 20 seconds is a charged lead.

The ad runs longer than the hours you list. With the default "All day" schedule and business hours of, say, 7 to 6, your ad keeps running at night. A missed call at 10 pm falls outside business hours, so the new charge should not apply to it. But Google's "How leads work" page also says that a valid lead which arrives outside your business hours won't be credited on those grounds.

After your account moves to Google Ads, Google's migration page says business hours sync one way from your Business Profile, with changes picked up within 24 hours, while the ad schedule stays a separate setting in Google Ads. Under our reading, whoever edits your regular hours on your Business Profile is then also changing the hours this rule is measured against. Google's page mentions standard hours; it doesn't say whether holiday hours sync. The migration article covers the rest of the move.

Why a missed call can cost twice

Google's "About ad rankings" page lists how likely your ad is to result in a lead as a factor in the Local Services Ads auction. The first item under it is your responsiveness, with this line: "Missed calls may negatively affect your responsiveness."

The same page counts average response time as part of profile quality, and says higher-quality profiles may rank higher and may pay less per lead. Google's "Manage leads and jobs" page adds that a consistently fast response time could improve your ranking.

Put that next to the new charge:

  • Before October 1: a business-hours call you missed and never returned, with no voicemail, is not among the valid leads Google's page lists. As the page reads, you paid no fee for it, but it could still count against your responsiveness.
  • From October 1, as reported: the same call, if the caller stayed on the line for more than 20 seconds, is a charged lead. Google has published nothing that removes the ranking side, so the same missed call can cost you in both places.

Google's own page says missed calls may hurt responsiveness; the reported email adds the fee. Together, more missed calls during business hours mean more fees and possibly a weaker responsiveness signal. The lost job is a separate cost, which what a missed call costs works out from your own call log.

Does a phone menu protect you?

As reported by Search Engine Roundtable and Search Engine Watch, the email says that if callers have to press a key to reach a department, the 20-second timer starts when they press it. A caller who never presses a key is not charged. PPC Land's reading is that a plain ring-through setup has no such gate, so for those businesses the timer appears to run on the whole call.

A menu does not make you exempt. After the key press the 20 seconds run on whoever is supposed to pick up. If "press 1 for service" rings a group of phones nobody answers at lunch, that is the same charged missed call, just 20 seconds later. Adding a menu only to avoid charges also has a cost: the callers who hang up at the prompt are not charged, as reported, but they don't get booked either.

One related detail from Google's "Manage leads and jobs" page: with call forwarding or VoIP on your business number, your CSRs may not hear the "Call from Google" message that marks a call from the ad.

Follow-up calls and the 15-day window

The second part of the change, as reported, covers follow-ups. If a first call doesn't qualify as a charged lead, later calls between your business and the same customer that meet the valid-lead criteria are charged.

Search Engine Roundtable updated its story with a clarification from Ginny Marvin, Google's Ads Liaison, posted on X. According to that report, follow-up calls you make to the customer within 15 days of the first contact are charged only once. After 15 days, a new call or message creates a new lead, charged if it qualifies. The same 15 days already appear in Google's help: its "Manage leads and jobs" page treats a call or message in the past 15 days as a recent interaction.

Our read: the charge follows the customer within the 15-day window, not every call, so returning a charged missed call within 15 days should not add a second fee. That rests on a reported statement, not a help page.

What this doesn't cover

  • The email itself. Every rule detail above comes from trade press coverage of Google's email. We have not seen the email, and as of September 24 we could not find a Google help page on the change. When Google publishes one, we will check this article against it and note what changed.
  • Where the 20 seconds start, and what "business hours" means. The coverage doesn't settle either, and our reading of which hours count is ours, not Google's.
  • How much a missed call weighs in ranking. Google says missed calls may hurt responsiveness. It doesn't say by how much, or whether after-hours calls count.
  • Our own call data. We have not yet measured how many calls in the accounts we run fall under the new rule.

Do this in your account before October 1

  1. Write down the hours someone actually answers. Office staff, CSRs, the answering service, the on-call tech, day by day: the hours a person picks up within 20 seconds, not the hours the office is open.
  2. Match your listed business hours to those hours. In the LSA dashboard: menu → Profile & Budget → the "Business hours" card → pencil icon. If your account has already moved to Google Ads, change the hours on your Business Profile instead, because that is where Google Ads takes them from. If you list 24/7, someone has to answer at 2 am.
  3. Choose the ad schedule on purpose. On the same page, the blue text next to "Ad schedule" shows the current setting. If nobody takes calls after hours, pick "Only during my business hours" or "Custom hours". If you want after-hours leads anyway, Google's ranking page suggests message leads for nights and weekends when you can't answer the phone.
  4. Time your own phone path. Call your business number from a cell phone at a busy hour and at lunch, and time how long it takes to reach a person, from the first ring or from the key press if you have a menu. If it takes longer than 20 seconds, change the ring order or the rollover before October 1. With a menu, test every option, not only the first.
  5. Return every missed call the same day. A caller you reach back can still become a booked job.
  6. Check the charged leads every week in October. In the LSA lead inbox, open Leads; leads show as Not charged, Charged, In review or Credited, and the Billing menu shows what you paid. After the move to Google Ads, the list is under Goals → Conversions → Leads. Compare each charged call with your phone system's call log. If nobody on your side spoke to the caller, or it was spam, use "Rate this lead". Google says it may occasionally credit leads reported this way. The lead credits guide covers what gets credited. The email, as reported, describes no separate dispute route for missed calls.
  7. Save a September baseline. Write down September's charged call leads and cost per lead from your reports. Google's migration page says those reports won't carry over to Google Ads, so screenshot them if your move is coming. As PPC Land points out, cost per lead before and after October 1 won't be comparable, because the rule changes what counts as a charged lead.

FAQ

Does Google LSA charge for missed calls? From October 1, 2026, some of them, as reported by the trade press: calls during your business hours where the caller stays on the line for more than 20 seconds. Until then, Google's help page lists a missed call with no voicemail as a valid lead only after you return it and either speak with the customer or leave a voicemail.

What is the 20-second rule? It is the threshold in Google's email as quoted by Search Engine Roundtable and Search Engine Watch: a missed call during business hours is charged if the caller stays on the line for more than 20 seconds. The email, as reported, doesn't say when the count starts.

Will I be charged for missed calls outside my business hours? The reported rule names missed calls during business hours and says nothing about calls outside them, so our reading is that after-hours missed calls aren't covered. Google hasn't said which hours count; we read it as the hours on your profile's Business hours card, so check that setting first. Valid leads that arrive after hours, such as a voicemail, are still charged as before.

Does a phone menu stop the charge? Only for callers who never press a key, as reported. Once a caller presses a key, the 20-second timer starts, so the line behind the menu still has to pick up in time.

Will calling back a missed caller cost me another lead? According to Search Engine Roundtable, Google's Ads Liaison said follow-up calls within 15 days of the first contact are charged once. After 15 days, a new call can be a new lead.

Can I get a credit for a charged missed call? Sometimes, but Google doesn't promise one. Its help pages describe automatic credits for leads its systems judge low quality, and a "Rate this lead" survey in the Leads section. Google says it may occasionally credit leads reported that way.

Sources

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