How to Set Up a Google Local Services Ads Auto Reply

Google Local Services Ads has no auto reply setting in its help documentation: the ways Google lists to answer a lead are manual, from the lead inbox or by replying to Google’s email or text alert. To reply automatically, connect your LSA account to a tool you authorize with Google sign-in. NZ Leads replies to each new LSA lead in under 2 seconds.

Below: the three kinds of LSA leads, what Google measures about your replies, the fastest manual setup, and the steps to automate it.

Paying for LSA leads that wait in the inbox? Start a 7-day free trial and connect your Local Services Ads account in under 2 minutes.

How Google lets you respond to Local Services leads

Local Services Ads sends three kinds of leads, and each one reaches you differently:

Two details from Google’s help center matter for automation. Message replies travel through an anonymized alias, so the customer never sees your email address. And once you respond, a lead moves to your active inbox, which holds leads with a call or message in the past 15 days.

Source: Google Local Services Help, Manage leads and jobs, checked October 2026.

What Google measures about your replies

Speed shows up in three places Google documents:

1. On your ad. With two or more message leads in the last 90 days, Google may show an estimated messaging response time on your ad, from “a few minutes” to “one day”. It averages your replies during the business hours you set, or between 7 AM and 9 PM if you set none, and weights recent leads more.
2. In the auction. Google lists your responsiveness to customer inquiries and requests as one input to how likely your ad is to produce a lead, and notes that missed calls may count against it.
3. In profile quality. Average response time sits beside your rating, reviews, images and verification. Google says higher quality profiles may rank higher and pay lower costs per lead.

Google’s own advice is to respond as soon as leads come in. It also notes that message leads typically cost less than phone leads, and that turning on message and booking leads can bring in more leads at night and on weekends, when you cannot answer the phone.

Sources: Manage leads and jobs and About ad rankings, checked October 2026.

The fastest way to respond to Google Local Services leads by hand

If you are not ready for a tool, set up the manual path so nothing waits:

• Send text alerts to the phone you carry. In Profile & budget, choose text alerts and set the number. It does not have to be your business number. Text alerts are US only.
• Reply straight from the alert. Google lets you answer a message lead by replying to its email or text, without opening the inbox.
• Set your real business hours. The response-time estimate on your ad is measured inside the hours you set, so hours that match when you work keep the number honest.
• Turn message leads off, or pause the ad, when you cannot keep up. Both are toggles in Profile & budget; changes can take a few hours to reach Google Search.
• Call back missed phone leads quickly. Missed calls may count against your responsiveness.

This works while someone is free to look at the phone. The gap is every lead that lands while you are on a job, driving, or asleep.

Automate replies to LSA leads in six steps

Google’s help center does not offer an automatic reply, but the Google Ads API lets authorized tools work with Local Services leads, including a call that appends messages to a lead’s conversation (LocalServicesLeadService, checked October 2026). Here is the setup in NZ Leads:

1. Add the source. Open Sources and click Add Google Local Ads.
2. Sign in with Google. Use the Google account that owns or manages your Local Services Ads profile and approve access to read leads and send replies. Your Google password is never shared.
3. Confirm it is active. The LSA account appears on the Sources page with a green Active status.
4. Write your business facts once. Services, the area you cover, approved price ranges, hours and the questions you need answered. Choose AI replies or predefined messages.
5. Decide on the callback. Google usually includes the customer’s phone number on the lead, so with the voice agent on, NZ Leads can call the customer back instantly.
6. Set follow-ups. For example Day 1, Day 3 and Day 7, stopping the moment the customer replies or books.

Setup takes under 2 minutes. If replies seem to wait, check your messaging settings first: Google has its own messaging rules that can hold replies outside certain windows. More detail is in the Google Local Ads source docs.

What the automatic reply does with each lead type

• Message leads: the AI uses the service the customer chose and your business facts to answer, asks what is missing, and offers a time when scheduling is on.
• Booking leads: the customer already picked a time, so any message should confirm details rather than sell.
• Phone leads: a text cannot answer a ringing phone. If you forward unanswered calls to an AI voice agent, it can pick up, collect the details and book. Google notes that with call forwarding or VoIP on your business number you may not hear the “Call from Google” message, so tell your team where those calls come from. See the AI voice agent for inbound answering and callbacks.

For what a first LSA reply should say and how the responder treats price questions, see our LSA auto responder guide.

What it costs

• Google: you pay for the leads your ads produce, as you do today.
• NZ Leads for Google Local Services Ads: $49/month, with a 7-day free trial, no contracts, no per-lead fees, no lead caps and no setup fees.
• Voice callback (optional): $10/month per number plus $1 per minute of talk time.

If you also buy leads on Yelp or Thumbtack, one account can handle all of them with the same business facts; see AI lead response across all platforms and the lead response automation page.

One exception: if you advertise through a partner affiliate, Google says its lead-inbox guidance does not apply to you, so check with that partner how leads reach you first.

Frequently asked questions

Does Google Local Services Ads have an auto reply setting?

Not in Google’s help documentation. Google lists manual ways to answer a lead: reply to its email or text alert, reply or call from the lead inbox, or decline the request. Replying automatically takes a tool you connect to your account with Google sign-in.

What information does an LSA message lead include?

Google says the customer’s name, ZIP code, job details and phone number are shared with the provider when a customer sends a message. Your replies travel through an anonymized alias, so Google does not show your email address to the customer.

Does an auto reply help with LSA phone leads too?

Phone leads ring your business number through a Google forwarding number, so a text reply does not answer them. For calls you miss, an AI voice agent on forwarded calls, or an instant callback to the lead’s number, covers the gap. Google notes that missed calls may count against your responsiveness.

Will replying automatically lower my LSA cost per lead?

Google does not promise that. It says responsiveness and average response time are inputs to ranking and profile quality, and that higher quality profiles may rank higher and pay lower costs per lead. A faster reply supports those inputs; the outcome is not guaranteed.

Can I still answer some LSA leads myself?

Yes. Every conversation stays on your Leads page, where you can reply by hand at any time, and you decide whether automatic follow-ups continue after your own message.

Answer your next LSA lead first

Set text alerts today so no lead waits unseen. When you want every LSA lead answered in under 2 seconds, day or night, start a 7-day free trial or email support@nzleads.com with questions about connecting your account.