LSA Lead Quality and Responsiveness

What AdGradr checks

AdGradr evaluates three connected dimensions of LSA performance: lead quality, responsiveness, and dispute management. This is one of the most comprehensive LSA checks. It only runs when your account has active LSA campaigns.

Lead quality

AdGradr flags accounts with zero leads despite active spend as the most serious finding. It also flags high CPL (above $200), a high percentage of zero-duration calls (above 25%), and excessive credit/dispute rates (above 30%). These findings can stack, meaning an account with multiple lead quality problems will receive compounding flags.

Responsiveness

AdGradr evaluates phone answer rates and message response times. Phone answer rates below 50% are a serious concern, and rates between 50% and 70% receive a moderate flag. Similarly, message response rates below 50% or response times above 4 hours are flagged. Responsiveness directly affects your LSA ranking.

Dispute management

AdGradr flags two opposing problems: credit rates above 30% (suggesting fundamental targeting issues) and accounts with high CPL that have never filed a single dispute (suggesting you are paying for junk leads that should be credited).

Why this matters

Lead quality: LSA charges per lead, not per click. If you are getting leads but the cost per lead exceeds $200, or a quarter of your calls have zero duration (meaning the caller hung up immediately or never connected), you are paying for leads that never had a chance to convert. These are symptoms of poor category targeting, overly broad service areas, or mismatched customer expectations.

Responsiveness: Google tracks how quickly and consistently you respond to LSA leads. Answer rates and response times directly affect your LSA ranking. Businesses that answer more calls and respond to messages faster get shown more often and pay less per lead. A phone answer rate below 50% means you are missing more than half of the leads you are paying for.

Disputes: Google allows you to dispute LSA leads that are irrelevant (wrong service, spam, wrong location). If more than 30% of your leads qualify for credits, something fundamental is wrong with your targeting. Conversely, if your CPL is above $150 and you have never filed a single dispute, you are almost certainly paying for junk leads that should have been credited.

What good looks like

A healthy LSA account maintains:

• CPL below $100 for most service categories (varies by industry)
• Zero-duration calls below 10% of total calls
• Phone answer rate above 80%
• Message response time under 1 hour
• Dispute/credit rate between 5% and 15% (enough to filter junk, not so much that it signals targeting problems)

Common mistakes

1. Not answering the phone during business hours. This is the single most impactful LSA mistake. Every missed call is a paid lead wasted and a signal to Google that you are not a reliable provider.
2. Ignoring message leads. Many LSA advertisers focus on phone calls and let message leads sit for hours or days. Google tracks this.
3. Never disputing bad leads. Some advertisers accept every lead as a cost of business. Google built the dispute system for a reason. Spam calls, wrong-service inquiries, and out-of-area leads should be disputed within 30 days.
4. Disputing too aggressively. Filing disputes on every lead that does not close is not what the system is for. Only dispute leads that are genuinely irrelevant. An excessive dispute rate can trigger Google review of your account.
5. Broad service categories. Listing every possible service category attracts leads for services you do not actually prioritize, driving up junk lead volume.

How to fix it

1. Improve phone answer rates. Route LSA calls to a dedicated line with staff trained to answer during all business hours. Consider a call answering service for after-hours coverage.
2. Set up message auto-replies. Even a quick “Thanks for reaching out, we will call you within 30 minutes” buys time and satisfies Google’s responsiveness tracking.
3. Review leads weekly and dispute bad ones. Check for zero-duration calls, spam, wrong-service inquiries, and leads from outside your service area. Dispute within 30 days of the lead.
4. Tighten service categories. Remove categories that consistently generate irrelevant leads. Focus your LSA presence on the services that match your core business.
5. Monitor CPL trends. If CPL climbs above $150, review your bidding (see the Budget and Bidding check), service area size, and lead quality patterns.

When to ignore this check

New LSA accounts (under 30 days) may not have enough lead volume for these ratios to be statistically meaningful. Allow at least 20 to 30 leads to accumulate before evaluating lead quality metrics. Responsiveness metrics, however, should be strong from day one.

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