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Google may have removed the license number from business details in the Local Service Ads. I checked a number of LSAs and noticed that Google will say if a business passed the license check or not but not list the license number anymore.
Curtis Boyd first spotted this and posted about this on Twitter, and said "Looks like Google removed licensing information from some home service LSA's including garage doors. It used to have the contractor's license number right on there. Making it even harder for consumers to research companies." The debate is that some are saying the license details are often wrong anyway, so why does it matter. But if Google is verifying the license details, then it should be valid and accurate...
In any event, he shared this screenshot and again, I could find any license number in any local service ads, when I wrote this story (on Friday, September 23rd - yes, I am offline today).
Clicking to see more details also does not show the license number.
This site has an old screenshot of when Google did show the license number:
Do we care that Google removed it? Is it gone forever or is it a bug?
Forum discussion at Twitter.
Note: This was pre-written and scheduled to be posted today, I am currently offline for Rosh Hashanah.
Update from Google: "Thanks for pointing this out. There was a bug that resulted in some license information not accurately showing up in our Local Service Ads. This bug is being fixed." - A Google Spokesperson
