Verified Local Lead Machine

Why it works right now

Campaign architecture

• LSA (70–85%): fund ~10 leads/week minimum at the vertical's CPL^G44; all relevant job types on; service area drawn to actual dispatch radius; post-migration, monitor the PMax pay-per-lead campaign's tCPL against the old baseline.
• Branded Search (10–20%): exact brand + "near me"-brand hybrids; protects the SERP under the LSA unit; geo-holdout periodically to verify incrementality^G35.
• Optional non-brand Search (0–15%): only for job types LSA under-serves (emergency + high-ticket terms), phrase/exact with call assets.

Creative & offer requirements

• The GBP is the creative: 4.5+ rating target, weekly review velocity (68% of consumers require 4+ stars; 74% want reviews under 3 months old)^X27, photos refreshed monthly, sub-1-hour response time.
• Review generation system (post-job SMS ask) — a ranking input, not a nicety^G29.
• Answering discipline: missed calls are billed leads; front desk trained; after-hours routing set.

Setup checklist

• GBP verified and complete (mandatory since Nov 2024)^G29; licenses/insurance docs for Google Verified screening.
• Call recording on; weekly dispute routine for junk leads (≥30-second auto-billing)^G29.
• Migration runbook: download all historical LSA reports before the PMax migration wave hits the account^G30; recompute weekly→daily budgets; expect ~2 weeks of wobble post-migration.
• CRM/job-tracking wired so booked-job rate and ticket size per lead source are visible (CPL alone is the wrong metric)^G7.

Expected performance ranges (benchmarks, not guarantees)

Timeline

1. 01

   Week 1–2: verification/screening (can take days–weeks), GBP hardening, launch. Leads start within days once live; ~2 weeks learning^G44.

2. 02

   Week 3–4: defensible CPL read; dispute rhythm running; brand campaign live.

3. 03

   Month 2: booked-job economics per job type; budget rebalance to profitable types.

4. 04

   Month 3+: steady state. Never pause budgets casually — reactivation costs 2–4 weeks of re-ramp^G44.

Scaling & optimization playbook

• When it works: raise the lead budget before adding campaigns (LSA volume is ranking-gated — reviews and responsiveness raise the ceiling); expand job types and service area; add S13 for form-fill volume or graduate to S16.
• When it doesn't: the profile is almost always the problem — rating, review recency, response time; then dispatch answering; then dispute hygiene. Don't add search spend to fix an LSA ranking problem.
• Key levers: review velocity, answer rate, dispute rate, job-type budget allocation.

Risks & failure modes

• 1 · The August 2026 PMax migration catches the account unmanaged. History lost, budgets misread, ~2-week wobble mid-season^G30. Prevent: run the migration runbook now; warn the client in writing.

• 2 · Billed junk leads erode trust. ≥30-second calls bill even when unqualified^G29. Prevent: weekly disputes; report net (post-dispute) CPL.

• 3 · Weak review profile caps volume. Ranking is profile-gated^G29. Prevent: review system before scaling budget.

• 4 · Pause-and-resume whiplash. Seasonal clients who pause pay a 2–4 week re-ramp^G44. Prevent: throttle budgets down, don't pause.

Minimum viable version