A missed call can cost you twice
By Jared Ohman · Updated
You already know a missed call is a lost job. What most Alberta contractors don’t know is that Google is watching too, and it says so in writing.
The short version
If you run Local Services Ads, you are paying Google per lead to put your shop at the very top of the page. Where you sit inside that block is not random. Google publishes the things that affect it, and one of them is how responsive you are.
Its own documentation puts it plainly: “Your responsiveness to customer inquiries and requests: Missed calls may negatively affect your responsiveness.”
So the 4:40pm call you couldn’t take from a crawlspace costs you the job, and it may feed a signal on the channel you are spending money on. That is the part nobody mentions.
What we are not going to tell you
We are not going to tell you that answering your missed calls moves you up two positions. Nobody outside Google can measure that. Google names the factors; it does not publish their weights, and anyone selling you a number is guessing with confidence.
What is fair to say is narrower and more useful: responsiveness is a factor Google names, missed calls are the thing it names as hurting responsiveness, and answering the phone is one of the few inputs on that list you can change this week.
The three you can actually control
Google’s list mixes things you can move with things you can’t. What a customer is searching for, and where, is not up to you, and your bid is a budget decision. That leaves three worth your attention.
Responsiveness. Answer the phone, and answer it when the ad is running. If your ads run evenings and weekends because that is when furnaces quit, but your phone is only answered 8 to 5, you are paying for leads at exactly the hours you cannot take them. Google also notes that turning on message leads gives customers another way to reach you when you can’t answer.
Reviews. Both the score and how many. The best moment to ask is right after a job goes well, which means someone has to remember to ask.
A complete profile. Average response time, photos and the verification checks you have completed all count toward profile quality, so finish the checks Google offers and keep your hours honest. If you list 24/7 and then don’t answer at 9pm, you get the leads and the missed calls both. Either cover the hours or narrow them.
Who can run Local Services Ads in Canada
LSA is limited to a published list of service categories, and in Canada that list is trades and home services: HVAC, plumbers, electricians, locksmiths, roofers, water damage services, appliance repair, cleaning, and a number of other home services. If you are one of those, you are eligible to apply. You also have to pass Google’s screening and verification before the Google Verified badge appears next to your name.
Worth knowing: HeyDiane itself is not eligible. We are a software company, and software companies are not on that list. We are telling you about a channel we cannot buy, because the shops we build for can.
Where a receptionist fits
Diane answers the calls you can’t, after hours, mid-job, two at once. She tells a caller she is an AI when they ask, works out whether a no-heat call in January is an emergency or a Tuesday appointment, takes the routine ones as booking requests your team confirms, and tries to text your cell when it is genuinely urgent. On a lead you already paid Google for, the difference between that and a voicemail box is the whole return.
If you want to put numbers on your own situation before deciding anything, the missed-call calculator runs the arithmetic on your call volume, and the HVAC page walks through what she does on a real no-heat call.