Google is clearly moving into the home service professionals recommendation space with a new advertising product called Home Service beta ads.
Dr. Pete was the first one to spot these new ads, and then AdWords confirmed them.
@BryantGarvin No, not the ad that @dr_pete had a screenshot of. This is a beta Home Service ad, not a location extension ad format. -Grace
— Google AdWords (@adwords) July 29, 2015
They are only appearing in the San Francisco area at this time.
@dr_pete Hi Pete, yes – currently only for the SF Bay Area. If this changes, however, we'll be sure to let you know! -Grace
— Google AdWords (@adwords) July 29, 2015
They only seem to be appearing in a couple of verticals at this time. We could only trigger them for “plumbers” and “locksmiths”
Here is how they display in the Google search results.
When you click to expand you see this:
You can then select up to three and receive quotes from them.
Home service ads are different from traditional ads on Google in 3 important ways:
They allow you to contact up to 3 qualified home service professionals directly from the search results page. Traditional ads point to websites, but when your sink is clogged or you are locked out of your car, you might not have time to jump from page to page to book a service.
You get detailed information about the professionals—a bio, services offered, areas served, hours of operation, and more—right from their profiles.
All professionals who appear in home service ads go through a screening process, and they can’t pay to be ranked higher in the ad units.
It is not clear exactly how they are ranked, other than Google states they cannot pay to be ranked higher. But it doesn’t seem to be based on ratings, since the person with the highest rating doesn’t appear until the top of the page.
The reviews themselves seem to state that these are reviews only from those who have booked through Google’s Home Service ads, in order to ensure their quality and that they “remain helpful”.
You can also expand an individual listing to see more details, including hours and contact information, as well as see the Google reviews left for the business.
One big difference with these new Google Home Service Ads is that they require a background check by Pinkerton.
All businesses shown in home service ads must require each of their in-home workers to undergo background checks by Pinkerton Consulting and Investigations, Inc., a third-party risk management and security company. You can read more about the requirements in our Policy Center.
The background check process includes inquiries about the validity of home service professionals’ Social Security numbers, criminal history (including cross-checks against national sex offender, terrorist, and sanctions registries and lists), and trade license and insurance verifications.
This is quite a change, but shows that Google wants users to be comfortable with the service professional they choose. But also, it gives Google a bit of confidence that the services they “recommend” are fully licensed for the work they do.
These ads are quite a game changer, as Dr. Pete said. If this moves into other cities and other professional areas, it will mean that it could become quite necessary for local service professionals to advertise in these.
Jennifer Slegg
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