NightshiftDirect

Glossary

Google Verified badge

The Google Verified badge is the one badge Google now shows on Local Services Ads for a business that has passed its screening and verification checks.

By NightshiftDirect Research. Published . Updated .

What the badge is

Google has simplified its Local Services Ads badging to a single badge, Google Verified (Google Local Services Help). A new advertiser earns it by completing the screening and verification process. Advertisers who had already been through verification were given the new badge automatically.

The badge shows on your Local Services Ads profile and may turn up in other places on Google. Verified profiles also list the checks the business has completed, so a customer can see what was confirmed (same page).

What the screening covers

The checks depend on your category and where you work. They may include background checks, business registration, insurance and license checks, and a minimum number of reviews (Google Local Services Help).

In some categories and places, the owners and the workers who go into customers' homes or workplaces pass identity and criminal history checks. There is no credit check, and the business is not charged for them (same page).

Where a category needs insurance, you send a certificate of insurance. Google verifies licenses where it can and shows the ones it verified on your profile, and your Business Profile must be linked by someone who owns or manages it (same page). Some categories also let a business start advertising before it has the badge, with what Google calls pre-badge ads. Those need a license, or a business registration where no license is required (Google Local Services Help).

What became of the money back offer

The badge that came before it, the Google Guarantee, carried a Money Back Guarantee for customers. Google has retired both, and reimbursement applies only to services booked before December 7, 2025 (Google Local Services Help).

Look through your website, your quotes and any printed material for a line that still tells customers Google will pay them back, and take it out.

What it tells a customer

The badge tells a customer that Google ran the checks your category calls for, such as a license or insurance check where those apply. It is not a rating of your work.

The checks behind it also count toward where your ad appears. Local Services Ads are ordered by an auction that weighs your bid, how responsive you are, how relevant you are to the search and the quality of your profile, and profile quality takes in the verification checks you have completed (Google Local Services Help).

Keeping the badge takes some attention. Google re-evaluates advertisers regularly, and a business that does not complete a requested review can lose the badge, see its ads paused or have its account suspended (Google Local Services Help).

Where we stand on ads

We do not manage ads of any kind yet, Local Services Ads included. Paid search has a waitlist, and joining it commits you to nothing. The badge is between you and Google. What we can look at today is the website a customer may visit before they call, and the free scan reads it.

Questions

Do I need the badge before I can run Local Services Ads?

It depends on your category. In categories where Google offers pre-badge ads, you can start before the badge once you meet their requirements, which include a license or a business registration (Google Local Services Help). In the other categories your ads wait until you have passed Google's screening and verification, which every Local Services advertiser has to complete (Google Local Services Help).

Do the background checks cost the business anything?

No money. Google says businesses are not charged for the background check, and it involves no credit check (Google Local Services Help). The cost is time: gathering insurance papers and licenses, and getting each owner and field worker through the checks where your category needs them.

If a job goes wrong, will Google refund my customer?

No. The Money Back Guarantee went away with the old badge, so a job booked now carries no refund from Google (Google Local Services Help).

Where this fits in our work

We handle this as part of PPC and Local Services Ads: Google Ads and Local Services Ads management with hard budget caps. Not open yet: join the waitlist.

Related reading

Related terms

Sources