Google recently announced that it will soon be rolling out a new feature for Local Service Ads. Starting on October 20th, 2025, all existing Local Service Ads badges – “Google Guaranteed,” “Google Screened,” and “License Verified by Google” – will be consolidated under one new badge: “Google Verified.”
Previously, the badge displayed on your Local Service Ad would vary depending on what vertical your company was categorized as. If your account fell under the home services vertical, your ad would be shown with a “Google Guaranteed” badge, whereas if you were in the healthcare industry, your ad would show a “Google Screened” badge.
Importance of Badges to Advertisers
These badges have long been one of the main attractions for advertisers to use Local Service Ads. Google is basically vouching for your company to any potential searcher, telling searchers, “Hey, we’ve vetted these people and we guarantee you they are legitimate professionals.”
This is also probably why the onboarding process is so rigorous – having to upload licenses and insurance, and completing background checks. Google wants to make sure you are properly vetted before they give you this endorsement to make sure they are covered themselves.
Official Statement from Google
Here’s what Google stated in their release: “Google is continuously looking to innovate and improve our advertiser and user experience. In that spirit, we are simplifying our advertiser badging by launching a single badge for all advertisers. Eligible Local Services Ads profiles will display this badge along with the specific verification checks completed, offering more transparency for consumers.”
Discontinuation of the Money Back Guarantee
One pretty major caveat to this announcement is the discontinuation of the “Money Back Guarantee” that accompanied the “Google Guaranteed” badge. This was a feature specific to Local Service Ads that would potentially reimburse customers who aren’t satisfied with the work done by a company they hired via Local Service Ads. The money-back guarantee would cover customers up to $2,000 USD.
It’s hard to say how the discontinuation of this feature will impact Local Service Ads performance going forward, since that type of guarantee can help give people confidence to try a service provider.
This is the current view:
Clicking the details brings you to this screen:
I’d venture to guess that this could potentially lead to a decline in leads for home services verticals. Searchers not having that additional security may cause them to be a bit more hesitant in booking someone for the job. But again, this is all speculation; we’ll have to wait until October 20th and see how this all plays out.
As far as what advertisers have to do to prepare for this upcoming rollout, the answer is nothing. Per Google’s announcement, “No action is required – all eligible advertisers who have completed the Local Services Ads verification requirements for their selected business category and location will automatically be eligible to display the new Google Verified badge. For new advertisers, the Google Verified badge will be issued once all verification requirements have been completed”.
