In 60 Seconds
- •Call Fraud: Competitors (or bots) call your LSA number and hang up. This destroys your 'Answer Rate' ranking factor and costs you money.
- •Review Bombing: Fake 1-star reviews from lead-gen networks designed to lower your rank.
- •Invalid Leads: Calls from out of your service area or solicitors. Google sometimes charges for these automatically.
- •The Fix: You must actively dispute invalid leads in the LSA dashboard within the dispute window (usually 30 days).
- •Management: Passive LSA accounts get eaten by spam. Active accounts that dispute bad leads teach the algorithm what a 'Good Lead' looks like.
Google Local Service Ads (LSA) are the most powerful lead source for local trades. But they are under attack.
In 2025, spam networks and unethical competitors are weaponizing the LSA platform to drain your budget and lower your rankings.
The Types of LSA Attacks
1. The "Hang-Up" Attack
Your phone rings. You answer. Silence. Click. What just happened? A bot (or a competitor) just called you to test if you answer.
- The Damage: If you miss it, your "Answer Rate" drops. Google stops showing you.
- The Cost: Sometimes, you still get charged for the lead if it lasted over a certain duration (even if it was dead air).
2. The Lead Gen Trojan Horse
You get a call. "Hi, I have a list of homeowners who need roofs..." What happens: You stay on the phone for 2 minutes telling them to go away.
- The Cost: Google sees a 2-minute call. They charge you $80 for a "Lead." You just paid $80 to be annoyed.
3. Review Bombing
Sudden 1-star reviews from "John Doe" with no text. These lower your overall star rating, pushing you out of the "Google Guaranteed" top 3.
How to Fight Back
You cannot stop them from calling, but you can stop paying for it.
1. Aggressive Disputing
You must log into your LSA dashboard weekly. Listen to every call recording. If it is spam, a solicitor, or out of area, Dispute It.
- ROI: Disputing 5 bad leads a month saves you ~$250 - $400. That pays for your management fee right there.
2. Answer Rate Protection
Use an AI Answering Service to catch every call. Even if it's spam, the AI answers instantly. Your "Answer Rate" stays at 100%. You stay at the top of the rankings.
3. Report Competitors
If you see a competitor using a fake business name or keyword stuffing ("Best Plumber Near Me LLC"), use the "Report Business" form. Google is slow, but they do ban violators eventually.
[!WARNING] Don't Set and Forget LSA is not a passive channel anymore. If you aren't auditing your leads, you are paying a "Spam Tax" of 20-30% of your budget.
Read Next in This Hub:
- LSA Bidding - How to bid.
- Why Ads Fail - Other pitfalls.
Related System:
- Local Visibility Systems - Managed LSA services.