Google Tests Bigger Local Services Ads With Bigger Photos

Google is testing a bigger version of the Local Services Ad, and the photo attached to your listing is about to do a lot more work.

What Google is testing

Search Engine Roundtable reported on September 24, 2026 that Google is testing a redesigned Local Services Ad format with a larger image and a highlight box displayed under the listing (Search Engine Roundtable). The bigger image makes the ad harder to scroll past. It's a test, not a rollout to every advertiser yet. Treat it as a preview of where the format is headed.

The 100-photo limit after migration

Separately, Google Ads Help confirms that once a Local Services Ads account migrates into standard Google Ads, the advertiser can upload up to 100 additional business photos (Google Ads Help). That's a wide allowance most home service businesses aren't close to using, which leaves plenty of room to build a real photo library instead of leaning on one or two images.

What photos to upload, by trade

• Roofers and remodelers: Before-and-after shots of finished jobs do more work than almost anything else you can upload. A torn-off roof next to the finished one, or a dated kitchen next to the remodel, tells the story in a single glance.
• Landscapers and pressure washers: The same before-and-after logic applies, especially for exterior cleaning and hardscaping, where the visual change is dramatic and easy to capture in two quick phone photos.
• HVAC and plumbing: Equipment installs, trucks parked at a job site, and techs actually working read as more credible than a stock photo of a smiling homeowner.
• Every trade: Show a clean, branded truck and a crew in uniform. That's what a bigger ad image is built to do: stop the scroll and look legitimate.

What not to upload

Skip stock photography, logo-only graphics, and blurry phone shots taken in bad light. When Google makes the image bigger, as this test does, a weak photo gets more noticeable, not less. A fuzzy or generic image in a large format reads worse than the same image did small.

A 10-minute photo routine for your crews

Give every crew a simple rule: snap three photos at every finished job. One wide shot of the completed work, one close-up detail shot, and one with the truck or a team member in frame. That's a 10-minute habit that builds a real photo library over weeks, which matters more than any single great photo, since you'll have fresh material to rotate as Google's formats change.

Matt's take

A great job photo for a home service ad comes down to light, angle, and timing. Shoot in daylight, shoot the finished work from the angle a homeowner would actually see it, and shoot it the same day the job wraps while everything still looks sharp. Before-and-afters beat single shots almost every time, because the viewer doesn't have to imagine the improvement. They can see it.

This specific test might not roll out widely, but the direction is clear. Google keeps giving advertisers more room for photos, and bigger ad formats make a weak image cost you more than it used to. Start building the habit of capturing real job photos now, so you're ready no matter which way the format lands.

FAQ

Sources

• Search Engine Roundtable: Google testing larger LSA image and highlight box, Sep 24, 2026
• Google Ads Help: Local Services in Google Ads, read Oct 5, 2026

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