Things to do and Local Services Ads

Let's be blunt about how Google works in 2025. For the last few years, buying Google Ads has been the Premier League. It wasn't always like this. SEO was always the best game to play as the ROI was always there. As more and ads appeared, the dynamic changed. Now there is a new hierarchy.

Here's the new league structure, and it's time we all started playing accordingly:

SEO is The Championship. It's a brutal, 46-game season where you invest a ton of resources for the chance of promotion. You might make it, but the prize money is shrinking, the game is rigged by algorithm changes. This will be the Conference South League once AI mode becomes default.

Google Ads is The Premier League. This is the top flight. It's where you have to be to compete week in, week out. It's fast, expensive, and crowded. You can win here, but you're fighting against every other big-budget team for the same limited spots. It's the standard, and frankly, it's becoming a baseline requirement, not a competitive edge.

Then, there's the tournament that truly matters.

The Champions League: Local Services Ads & Things to Do

This is the elite tier. Not everyone gets to play. You have to qualify. But if your business fits, you get to bypass the weekly league grind and compete for the most valuable prize in search: the top of the SERP, with Google's official blessing. These along with Google My Business listings are things on top of the Ads.

Local Services Ads (LSAs): Your Golden Ticket to the Top

For service businesses, this is your ticket to the big time. Forget bidding on keywords and watching your budget disappear on tyre-kickers. The “Google Guaranteed” badge isn't just an ad enhancement – it's a trophy displayed right at the top, telling users you are the vetted, trusted champion for that search.

Here's what makes LSAs the Champions League of local search in 2025:

You don't pay for clicks from curious browsers scrolling through their lunch break. You pay when a potential customer picks up the phone and calls you. It's not just playing the game; it's changing the rules in your favour. While your competitors are burning through ad budgets on clicks that go nowhere, you're only investing in genuine leads.

The setup isn't simple – Google's verification process is thorough, requiring proof of insurance, business registration, and a background check. But that's exactly why it works. The barriers to entry keep out the cowboys and create a premium tier where customers know they're dealing with verified professionals.

I only discovered this myself recently, but the advantages are clear. When you see a plumber appearing as one of just three businesses at the very top of Google, complete with their phone number prominently displayed, you realize this isn't just another advertising option – it's a completely different game.

Google Things to Do (TTD): The Super League for Tourism

This is where tour operators, attractions, and activity providers can truly dominate. While others fight for blue links buried below the fold, you get a direct, bookable integration at the point of highest intent. You're not just another search result; you're a featured event.

Think about how tourists plan their trips in 2025. They search “things to do in [Your Area]” and Google shows them a curated selection of activities right in the search results. No clicking through to comparison sites. No scrolling past ads. Your business appears in Google's travel section, complete with photos, prices, and booking options.

The difference is staggering. Instead of competing with every hotel, restaurant, and attraction in your area for generic search visibility, you're featured in a specific, high-intent section that Google has created specifically for travellers looking to book activities.

I stumbled across Google Things to Do quite by accident while running a standard ads campaign that was getting zero impressions. Something wasn't right. That's when I realized there's an entirely different layout for “Things To Do” queries – a separate ecosystem most businesses don't even know exists.

When I saw how tour operators could appear in Google's travel interface instead of competing in regular search results, it was like discovering a secret tournament running alongside the main competition. Instead of fighting for blue links buried below the fold, these businesses get featured placement with photos, prices, and direct booking options.

Ready to Play in the Champions League?

This isn't about being an expert, I am not. I am a Google ads guy that simply discovered these options exist and realised their potential. The beauty is in their simplicity and effectiveness compared to the increasingly complex world of traditional PPC and SEO.

If you're ready to move beyond the endless grind of traditional digital marketing and start playing where the real opportunities exist, let's talk. The Champions League isn't for everyone, but for those who qualify, it's where the real money is made.

Because in 2025, the biggest risk is LLMs and the SERPs changing. If you are not everywhere you can be, you will regret it when the SERPs change.

Who knows how its going to end up but its going to be grim for most people.

• Search is Becoming Obsolete: He compares the current search engine to the “yellow pages,” suggesting it's in the early stages of becoming outdated and irrelevant due to the rise of AI.
• Loss of a Dominant Channel: Many companies, particularly in the Fortune 5000, have built their business models around Google AdWords. The new AI-driven search landscape will be much more fragmented, with players like OpenAI, Apple, and Meta competing. Google will not have the same level of control, disrupting the reliable customer acquisition channel these companies depend on.
• A “Lazy” Strategy is Now a Liability: Vaynerchuk claims many companies have been “lazy,” simply overpaying to capture existing customer intent through search. This strategy will no longer be viable.
• Shift from Capturing to Creating Demand: Companies will need to pivot their strategies from simply capturing demand (people already searching for something) to actively creating demand for their products and services through other forms of marketing.
• The Rise of “AI Optimization”: A new skill set, which he calls “AI Optimization” (AIO), will be required. Just like SEO (Search Engine Optimization), companies will need to figure out how to get AI chatbots to recommend their products and services.

Ben

Ben Luong is a technical marketing consultant who operates where AI falls short. In a world flooded with cheap, mediocre code and automated strategies, he provides the expert integration, verification, and strategic accountability required to make modern marketing stacks profitable. He specialises in architecting Google Ads, SEO, and GA4 into a single, high-performance system that is accountable to the bottom line.