Google Guaranteed is now Google Verified. Here's what changed.

The badge change

Before

Google GuaranteedHome services, with a money-back guarantee for customers

Google ScreenedProfessional services such as lawyers and real estate agents

→

Now

Google VerifiedOne badge for every Local Services Ads advertiser. No money-back guarantee.

What changed, exactly

	Before	Now
The badge	Google Guaranteed for home services. Google Screened for professional services such as lawyers, financial planners and real estate agents.	One Google Verified badge for every advertiser.
Money-back guarantee	If a customer booked through the ad and was unhappy, Google could reimburse them, up to $2,000 in some countries.	Discontinued. Claims are only accepted for services booked before December 7, 2025, within 30 days of the job being finished.
Existing advertisers		Received the new badge automatically. No action needed, and ads kept running.
Your ranking in the ads		Google says the switch didn't change how ads are ranked.
Where the badge shows	On your Local Services Ads profile.	On your ad profile. Google says it "may dynamically appear on other surfaces," and its ads page mentions your Business Profile.

Google's old help page about the guarantee now sends you to the page about the Verified badge. One thing never changed: the guarantee protected customers, not businesses. In an r/smallbusiness thread with 56 comments, a contractor whose customer from a Google Guaranteed ad never paid learned that the program only ever reimbursed customers. Unpaid invoices were always the business's problem to collect.

Do this now: if your website, your van, your estimates or your Facebook page still say "Google Guaranteed," update them. If you offer your own guarantee, say it in your own words, so it doesn't depend on Google's program.

What the Google Verified badge means

It means the business passed Google's screening for its category and location. The checks vary by trade and state, and Google lists these:

• Background checks for the business, the owner and, in some categories, every field worker who goes into customers' homes: identity and criminal history, plus court judgments and liens against the company. Google says there's no credit check, and businesses aren't charged for it.
• License checks against state databases, for the business and its owner or manager. You also confirm that you hold any county or city licenses.
• Insurance for categories that require it. You upload your certificate, and the minimum amount depends on your trade and location.
• Business registration, using your D-U-N-S number from Dun & Bradstreet. If you don't have one, a Secretary of State registration, your EIN letter from the IRS or a Department of Revenue registration works instead. Applying for a D-U-N-S number can take up to 30 days, so start early.
• An ID check on the person setting up the account, using a government photo ID.
• A verified Google Business Profile that you own or manage. If yours isn't verified yet, do that first.
• Advanced Verification for some categories, which can include video interviews with Google.

Google says screening takes three to four weeks on average after you submit your documents. Some businesses qualify for faster verification and get the badge quickly, then have 14 days to finish the remaining steps. Google re-checks businesses over time, and skipping a requested review can cost you the badge, pause your ads or suspend the account.

Who can get it

Local Services Ads are only open to certain categories. In the United States they include:

• Home services: electricians, general contractors, HVAC, plumbers, roofers, landscapers, painters, pest control, house cleaning, garage doors, handymen, solar, tree service, water damage and more than 25 others.
• Professional services: lawyers in 17 practice areas, from personal injury and family law to estate, immigration and real estate law, plus real estate agents and brokers, financial planners and tax specialists.
• Others: health care, auto care, beauty, pet care and learning businesses.

A few categories, such as architects and interior designers, are only available in California and Florida for now. Restaurants are in a small test and can't get the badge.

What it costs

Google doesn't list a fee for the badge itself. You pay for leads. You set an average weekly budget, and Google never spends more in a month than that budget times the average number of weeks in a month. When you hit that limit, your ad stops showing until the next month.

Google counts a lead as valid when:

• You answer a call, or call the customer back and talk to them.
• You miss a call during your business hours and the caller stays on the line for more than 20 seconds.
• A customer sends a text or email, leaves a voicemail or sends a booking request.

Google filters out spam and duplicate contacts before charging and keeps reviewing leads for 30 days. Leads it decides were poor quality are credited back automatically. Message leads usually cost less than calls, though not always.

Google doesn't publish prices per lead, because they change with your trade, your town and how you bid. The best recent numbers we found come from a California agency that manages these ads:

Cost per lead by trade, 30 days to Oct 19, 2026

Locksmith~$22 Carpet cleaning~$33 HVAC and plumbing~$64 Garage doors~$73 Carpet cleaning, calls only~$117 Remodeling~$191 Remodeling and roofing~$197 Water damage~$246 $0$125$250

Two things stand out. Bigger jobs cost more per lead: a lockout is quick and cheap, while a remodel or a water damage claim can be worth tens of thousands. And setup matters. The two carpet cleaners differ mostly because one takes messages and calls all day, while the other only answers the phone during a narrow schedule. In one remodeling account, 66 leads came in over 30 days, but only 40 were charged, thanks to Google's credits.

Will it pay off? Do the math first

The number that matters isn't cost per lead. It is cost per job you actually book. Divide your cost per lead by the share of leads you turn into jobs:

If you book	At $64 a lead	At $191 a lead
1 lead in 2	$128 per job	$382 per job
1 lead in 4	$256 per job	$764 per job
1 lead in 6	$384 per job	$1,146 per job

Compare that with your profit on an average job, not the invoice total. If you clear $600 on an average job and book one lead in four at $64 a lead, $256 per job works. If you clear $150, it doesn't. Track which leads became jobs from the first week, or you'll be guessing.

How Google decides who shows first

The ads are ordered by an auction, but the bid is only part of it. Google says these also count:

• How responsive you are. Missed calls can push you down.
• How well you match the search: the services you've turned on and your business description.
• Your profile: your rating, number of reviews, average response time, good photos and the verification checks you've completed. Google says higher-quality profiles "may rank higher and may also pay lower costs per lead."
• More ways to reach you. Turning on message and booking leads helps at night and on weekends, when you can't answer the phone.

If you have several locations covering the same area, Google only shows the highest-ranked one.

Is it worth it for your business?

It usually works when

• Someone answers the phone during the business hours you set.
• Your profit on an average job is several times your cost per booked job.
• You have reviews, or a habit of asking every customer for one.
• You can name the exact towns and job types you want.

Think twice when

• You're on the tools all day with no one on the phone. A missed call that rings past 20 seconds during your hours still counts as a lead, and missed calls hurt your ranking. Shorten your hours or turn on messages.
• Your service area is too wide. In the same r/smallbusiness thread, the contractor had driven two hours each way to replace a garbage disposal because he hadn't limited his service area. He then went unpaid.
• You need control over which searches you show for. There are no keywords to exclude, only job types and areas. One commenter on r/smallbusiness pointed out that a water damage company can end up showing for searches about leaky pipes.
• You plan to dispute leads in bulk. Rate and dispute leads as they come in. One advertiser on r/PPC said their results dropped after they reported a month's worth of leads all at once. That's one person's experience, but it's an easy risk to avoid.

How to get Google Verified, step by step

1. Check that your category is eligible on Google's Local Services Ads page.
2. Verify your Google Business Profile and make sure the person signing up is an owner or manager on it.
3. Gather your documents: license numbers, your insurance certificate, a D-U-N-S number or your state registration or EIN, a government photo ID, and a list of field workers if your trade needs background checks.
4. Set your service area, job types and business hours to match the work you want and the hours you'll actually answer.
5. Set a weekly budget from the number of leads you want. For example, ten leads a week at about $64 each is roughly $640 a week.
6. After you go live, answer fast, reply to messages, ask every customer for a review, rate your leads and check each one's charge status for credits.

Local Services Ads, Google Ads or getting found for free?

	Local Services Ads	Google Ads	Search and Maps results
You pay	Per lead	Per click	Nothing per visit. You pay with time or an SEO provider.
What you control	Job types, service area, hours, budget	Keywords, the ad's wording, the page people land on	Your website and your Google Business Profile
What you need	Google's screening and a verified Business Profile	A page that turns clicks into calls	A good website, a complete Business Profile and reviews
When you stop paying	The leads stop	The clicks stop	Your rankings don't depend on a payment

They work together. The verified Business Profile that Local Services Ads require is the same one that puts you on Google Maps, and reviews help you in all three places.

Where Primilink fits

We don't run Local Services Ads. We build the website and set up the Google Business Profile that the ads require, and we help you show up in the regular and map results, the ones you don't pay for per lead. See websites for contractors and local SEO. Plans start at $249 a month. If your site isn't showing up at all, start with why your website isn't showing up on Google.

Where this comes from

Checked October 30, 2026.

• The badge change: Google Local Services Help, About Google Verified badge.
• Screening: Google on the screening and verification process and requirements by business category.
• Leads and ranking: Google on how leads work and ad rankings, and Google's Local Services Ads page.
• Cost per lead: Cohen Marketing, eight managed accounts, September 20 to October 19, 2026.
• The old badges: AgencyAnalytics on Guaranteed versus Screened and Phos Creative on the former $2,000 reimbursement.
• Owners' experiences: r/smallbusiness on a customer who didn't pay and whether the program is worth it, and r/PPC on disputing leads.