Jobber and Google's Local Services Ads Updated May 10, 2023 15:54

Overview

Book new leads, with less effort. Customers searching for your services on Google will be able to instantly book into your calendar, while you remain in control of your availability.

With Jobber + Google's Local Services Ads, prospective clients searching your services on Google and from the Local Services Ad can book an available arrival window from your calendar, directly from your Local Services Ad. In Jobber, you'll receive a new booking notification so you can assign the work to a team member. 

Local Services Ads help you connect with people who search on Google for the services you offer. Your ads will show up for customers in your area, and you only pay if a customer contacts you directly through the ad. With the Jobber integration, customers will also see a booking option in your ad, to schedule an available time in your Jobber calendar.

The integration with Google's Local Services Ads is available on Core, Connect, and Grow plans. Google enables booking for the following industries in the United States:

• appliance repair

• carpet cleaning

• countertop pro

• electrician

• fencing pro

• flooring pro

• foundation pro

• garage door pro

• HVAC

• junk removal

• landscaper

• lawncare

• locksmith

• mover

• pest control

• plumber

• pool services

• roofer

• siding pro

• tree service

• water damage

• window cleaner

• window repair

To learn more about Local Services Ads, check out our Jobber Academy article. 

Get started

Get started with the Jobber and Google's Local Services Ad integration by clicking Apps from the side navigation.Locate the card for Google's Local Services Ads, then click Get Started. 

This will take you to the landing page with details about the integration. To begin the setup, click Get Started. 

To start using the integration with Google's Local Service Ads, your company must have a Local Services Ads account. If you don't already have one, before starting the setup in Jobber, you can start your application by clicking Sign up with Google. It can take some time for Google to screen applicants so we suggest signing up as early as possible. 

There are multiple steps in the Local Services Ads application process, including a background check, license check, and insurance check. There is also an advanced verification that applies to some industries (for example, locksmith and garage door providers) that includes a review of the company’s Google Ads account, publicly available data, and video interviews conducted by Google. The screening may also include inquiries into business registration validity, as well as searches for evidence of fraudulent or misleading behavior.

If you already have an account, you're ready to start the setup in Jobber! 

Set up in Jobber

After clicking Get Started, there are four steps in Jobber to get you ready to accept bookings from Local Services Ads. If you navigate away from the setup, your progress will be remembered when you return, so you won't have to repeat any steps. 

1. Step 1: Match your ‘job types’

2. Step 2: Set your availability

3. Step 3: Customize your ‘Message from the pro’

4. Step 4: Enable bookings

Step 1: Match your ‘job types’

The job types that are available for your clients to book through Local Services Ads must be set up in both Jobber and Google Local Services Ads. If you've already been using Local Services Ads, you will likely already have some job types set up, but if you are new to Local Services Ads you will need to set up some job types in Local Services Ads and then match them in Jobber. 

Start by clicking Add Job Category. Next, you will be prompted to select your job category from a dropdown.

Next, you'll be shown a list of services from your Local Services Ads profile. Using the checkboxes, select which services you'd like to offer your clients for online booking. Then for each service, enter the minimum price that will be charged for that kind of job. The prices that are entered here will show to potential clients as the price to get an estimate if they book with you. If you set the price as $0, your customers will see that it's 'free' to get an estimate.

Once you've selected the service types you'll be offering and entered a minimum fee, click Save. 

If you want to add additional job categories, click Add Job Category to add any other job categories, service types, and the minimum fee. 

Step 2: Set your availability

Since your clients will be booking directly into your schedule, you'll need to set your availability. This includes: 

• Minimum lead time: this is how many days out your clients can book. To keep more control over your schedule, you may opt to not allow any same-day or next-day appointments. This can be edited, so if different times of the year are busier for you to may want to adjust the lead time during those periods. 
• Booking capacity: how many bookings can happen during a single time slot. If you have a larger team, you may want to allow multiple bookings per arrival window. The booking capacity is based on your schedule in Jobber, including appointments that have been scheduled regularly as well as through Local Services Ads.
• Arrival windows: these are periods of time that your clients will see as available for bookings. You can customize your arrival windows by selecting a start and end time and which days that window will have that availability. If you don't want to allow bookings on a certain day (such as a weekend day), you can deselect the checkboxes for that day to not be available.
  • Note: The arrival windows are a commitment to arrive at a certain time, not the duration of the work. When booked, the arrival window will show in the calendar, but it's possible the work will take longer to complete than the arrival window on the calendar. 

To add an additional arrival window, click Add Arrival Windows. This adds another row in the list of arrival windows where you can select on which days you would like to offer this arrival window, as well as the start and end times for the arrival window. We suggest setting your arrival windows for two hours to account for drive time, but the start and end times can be customized depending on your needs. To remove an arrival window, click Remove. 

Step 3: Customize your ‘Message from the pro’

Before confirming your client's booking, Google displays a 'message from the pro' which is a message from you to your client. If there is anything you need to let your clients know ahead of time, this is a good place to include that messaging. There is a default message from the pro which is: 

"Please provide 24-hours notice to change or cancel your appointment. Thank you for choosing us!" 

To customize this message, click Edit.

Note: your 'message from the pro' has a limit of 300 characters. There is only one 'message from the pro' template available, so this will be the message that appears for every booking. 

Step 4: Enable booking

The last step in the setup is to activate Google's Local Services Ads. When you're ready for clients to start booking into your calendar directly from your Local Services Ads, toggle the switch to ON, then click Confirm.

Note: To enable booking, you must have a company name, website, phone number, and address listed in Settings > Company Settings in Jobber that matches the information in Local Services Ads.

Once you've clicked Confirm, your integration setup is complete! It will take up to 72 hours for the booking feature to appear on your Local Services Ads. If there are ongoing issues, please reach out to Google support at 1-844-242-4513.

Note: While it can be tempting to test out the integration immediately by booking online yourself through Local Services Ads, keep in mind that you do pay per lead for bookings and that includes if you make a booking yourself. Self-booked leads can be disputed with Google. 

Requests in Jobber

When a new booking comes in from Google's Local Services Ads, it will come into Jobber as a request with a scheduled assessment. The assessment will appear on the calendar in the arrival window it was booked for (keep in mind, the duration may need to be adjusted to be longer depending on the services booked) and include the client's name and property address. In the request details, there will be a new section for Booking Source. This is unique to bookings from Google’s Local Services Ads as Google requires their partners to indicate when bookings come from them. The request title will also indicate that the booking came from Google.

If a client who already exists in your Jobber account books through Google's Local Services Ads, we check to see if there are any clients that have a matching first and last name, address, and email address. If there is a match, the request will be for that existing client instead of creating a duplicate. If there are no matches based on the info the client has provided, a new client will be created. 

Note: If you are on the Grow Plan, the client will be labeled as a lead if they are a brand new client.

When a new request is created from a Local Services Ad, you are still notified via activity feed notification for a new request. 

Managing the integration

The settings for managing the Jobber and Google's Local Services Ads integration are found by going to the Gear Icon > Settings > Connected Apps > Google's Local Services Ads. In the future, if you need to update your job types, availability, message from the pro, or turn off bookings; this is where those settings are located. 

Notifications for your clients

Notifications and reminders about booked assessments will be sent from Google rather than Jobber, so as not to overload your clients with multiple notifications about their upcoming assessment. Only the initial assessment that is booked via Local Services Ads will have the reminder sent via Google instead of Jobber. Any changes to the assessment in Jobber that was created through Local Services Ads will also trigger a notification to your client that the appointment has changed. Down the road, if the assessment is converted to a job then reminders about visits will resume and be sent via Jobber instead of Google. 

Turn off bookings

If you ever need to turn off bookings from Google's Local Services Ads so that folks can no longer book directly into your Jobber calendar, bookings can be turned off. Navigate to Settings > Connected Apps > Google’s Local Services Ads, and toggle bookings to OFF.

If you need to pause your ads entirely so they no longer show up as a result in Google, this will be done in Google, not Jobber. Learn how to pause or resume your ads.