Google now charges for missed calls. Here's what changed.

This is what Google's help page says, in plainer words:

• A call you miss during your business hours is charged as a lead if the caller stays on the line more than 20 seconds.
• A call that goes to voicemail or an automated greeting during business hours counts as connected. It's charged if the caller stays on more than 20 seconds.
• If callers have to press a key to reach you, the 20 seconds start when they press it. If they never press one, there's no charge.
• Once a lead is charged, more calls or messages with that same customer within 15 days, from the same number or email, aren't charged again.
• Charged leads are reviewed over time, and Google may credit low-quality ones by itself. You can also report a poor lead in its feedback survey.

Source: Google Local Services Help, “How leads work”. This is our plain-words summary, not billing advice. Google's page is the final word, and Google can change it.

Local Services Ads are the boxes at the very top of Google when someone searches “plumber near me” or “AC repair.” They cover plumbers, HVAC, electricians, roofers, pest control, locksmiths, house cleaning, lawn care, tree services, water damage restoration, handyman services and more.

If you pay for those ads, every call they send you now matters twice. Answer it and you have a shot at the job. Miss it during business hours and you can pay for it anyway.

Not sure if you run them? Look for a Local Services account in your Google login, or a “Google Guaranteed” or “Google Screened” badge when you search for your own business.

A missed call always cost you something. People with a leak or a dead AC rarely wait. They call the next company on the list.

Now there can be a second cost on top: the lead fee. You set your own budget, and what you pay per lead depends on your trade and your area. Check your Local Services account to see what a lead costs you. Whatever that number is, a missed call during business hours can cost it, and you still don't get the job.

The busiest days are the worst. That's when you're on a roof, under a house or driving between jobs, and that's when the most people are calling.

You can't make every call free. Google charges for real leads, and it should. What you can stop is paying for a lead and getting nothing for it.

• Pick up when you can. That part doesn't change.
• When you can't, don't let the call fall into voicemail. Under the new rule, voicemail during business hours can be charged like a real call, and many callers hang up instead of leaving a message.
• Send the calls you don't pick up to someone who answers. That's what Ringbrook does.
• Check the business hours in your Local Services account so they match the hours you actually answer.

Brook is Ringbrook's AI receptionist. You dial a short code from your cell, and the calls you don't pick up go to her instead of voicemail. You keep your number.

• She answers in your business name. No menu, no “press 1.”
• She gets the caller's name, callback number, address and what they need.
• Seconds after the call ends, you get a text with all of it, so you can call back while they're still waiting.
• Every call is recorded and written out on your dashboard.

To be straight with you: an answered call is still a lead, and Google can still charge for it. The difference is that you get the job details instead of a hang-up you paid for.