Why are Google Services using so much battery and how can I stop them from doing so?

I had this issue and what solved it was turning Google Now completely off. I hardly used it anyway, and I think the power hog is related to the new search feature that allows you to select something on your screen when you hold the home button. Either way I stopped it completely and my battery life has been immensely better, or at least up to normal expected life.

This is super specific to me but did you add a widget from Google and are constantly using it? (I.E. Launching okay Google into weather) Happened to me and started that application like 10 times and had to close each one of them. If not try uninstslling the updates and reupdating. There are a few threads in this sub about this already.

Google Services is a set of instructions for doing common things any app can utilize. So realistically any app can be calling Google Services and only the former will be identified as chewing up your battery.

Restrict background data and set it so it doesnt automatically download updates.