Local Services Ads has been sending calls to the wrong number since September. Here's how to check yours

If you run Local Services Ads with both a location asset and a call asset switched on, the phone number your campaign reports and the phone number that actually rings may not be the same thing. Google confirmed it twice in September, has not reverted it, and five weeks later added a second change on top: the number is now hidden by default behind a hover. Neither change shows up as an error anywhere in your account. Here is what changed, how to check whether it is costing you leads, and what to do if it is.

What actually changed, with dates

Local Services Ads is a pay-per-lead format: Google charges you when a customer calls, messages or books through the ad, and the Google Guarantee or Google Screened badge is the format's main trust signal. It is one of the more hands-off channels in performance marketing, which is exactly why a quiet change to how the call connects is easy to miss. Two separate changes to how that call connection works landed five weeks apart.

• 1 September 2026 onward: PPC specialist Anthony Higman, who tracks Local Services Ads issues closely, flagged on X that calls from ads showing a specific business location were ringing the phone number attached to that location's Google Business Profile, not the number configured in the account's call asset. Google confirmed the behavior, stating that when an account uses both location assets and call assets, "ads featuring specific business locations may direct calls to the phone numbers associated with those locations rather than those set within your call assets." As of early October, Google has not reverted it and has not said whether it will.
• 2 October 2026: Search Engine Roundtable reported that Local Services Ads had started hiding the phone number by default. Instead of showing the digits directly, the ad now shows a "Get phone number" button; on desktop, hovering near the ad reveals the number without a click.

Neither change throws a warning in your account. Your call asset still shows the number you configured; it is the live ad that is showing something else. That is what makes this easy to miss until a reconciliation check, or a customer, tells you otherwise.

Why this happens: location assets plus call assets

Google's own explanation points at the specific combination that triggers it. Location assets attach your Google Business Profile address and service area to the ad, which matters for multi-location businesses and for proximity-based trust. Call assets set the phone number you want displayed and tracked. Run both together, and an ad that is showing a specific location can pull that location's Business Profile number instead of your call asset number. Run location assets without a call asset, or a call asset without location assets, and the override has no second number to prefer.

This is not a billing change. Leads routed to the Business Profile number can still be attributed correctly inside the Local Services app itself; the breakage is specifically in anything downstream that was built around the number you configured, such as a dynamic number insertion script, a CallRail or WhatConverts pool, or a CRM rule that tags a lead source by the number it came in on.

Are you affected? A three-step check

Account settings will not show you this, because the override happens at serve time, not at configuration time. You have to check the live ad.

1. Confirm you run both asset types. In Google Ads, open your Local Services campaign's assets and check whether location assets and call assets are both active. If only one is active, Google's stated trigger does not apply to you.
2. Search your own ad and read the number. From a private browser window, or a phone signed out of your business account, search your trade and city. Find your Local Services Ad. On desktop, hover near the ad to reveal the number without clicking the "Get phone number" button, which itself can trigger a tracked click you did not intend. On mobile, tap through to see what connects.
3. Compare three numbers. Write down the number the live ad shows, the number set in your call asset, and the primary number on the Google Business Profile tied to that location. If the live number matches the Business Profile and not the call asset, you are affected.

The reconciliation table: finding the gap in your own numbers

If you cannot tell from a live search alone, or you want to quantify how much call volume moved, compare three independent counts for the same week, the same location, the same trade category.

The practical risk is not that leads vanish. Google's own attribution inside Local Services Ads still functions, so billing and the app's own lead count should hold up. The risk is everything you built on top of the number: cost per qualified lead models, CRM source tagging, call recording and coaching, and any report that cross-references call volume against ad spend using the call-tracking number as the join key. If your cost per qualified lead math treats call-tracking volume as the source of truth for Local Services Ads leads, run the reconciliation above before you trust this month's number.

What to do about it, ranked by effort

1. Lowest effort: remove location assets if you do not need them. If a single number across your service area is acceptable, dropping location assets removes the specific combination Google says triggers the override. You lose the address and proximity signal in the ad; weigh that against how much multi-location trust actually drives your leads today.
2. Medium effort: point tracking at the Business Profile number instead. If you need location assets, treat the Google Business Profile number as the number of record for that location and configure your call-tracking platform or DNI script to monitor it, not your call asset number. This is the realistic fix for most multi-location accounts, since it works with the current behavior rather than against it.
3. Ongoing: reconcile monthly, not once. Google has not said this is temporary. Build the three-way check above into a recurring monthly audit alongside your other ad account health checks, the same way you would check a Performance Max asset group or a Shopping feed.
4. If a vendor manages your tracking script: loop them in directly. A website development company that installed your DNI code or call-tracking tag needs to know which number it should be listening for now, per location, not just which number it was given at setup.

Does the hidden phone number actually cost you calls?

Less than the headline suggests, and the device split explains why. The "Get phone number" hover button only changes anything for a visitor on a device with a hover state, which in practice means desktop and some tablets with a trackpad or mouse. Local Services Ads traffic skews heavily mobile, since the format exists to catch someone searching for a plumber or a locksmith from their phone, right now. On a touchscreen there is no hover; a tap on the ad has always opened the call or message action directly, number unseen, exactly as it did before 2 October. The friction this change adds lands almost entirely on the smaller desktop share of your traffic, not on the channel's primary use case. Worth monitoring, not worth panicking over, and far smaller than the routing issue above.

Part of a pattern, not an isolated glitch

2026 has been a volatile year for Local Services Ads specifically. Google began folding the format into Performance Max starting in August, syncing business data from Google Business Profile directly into the ad account for the first time. Advertisers also reported Local Services Ads unlinking from Business Profiles and serving the wrong locations earlier in the year. The call-routing change fits that pattern: the deeper Local Services Ads gets wired into Google Business Profile, the more a profile-level change, like which number is marked primary, can reach into your ad account and change what a customer experiences without touching your Google Ads settings at all. If you manage both surfaces, audit them together going forward, not as separate products with separate login screens.

Frequently asked questions

Why is my Local Services Ads call tracking number not showing?

Google confirmed that when a Local Services Ads account uses both location assets and call assets together, ads that feature a specific business location can display the phone number tied to that Google Business Profile location rather than the number set in your call asset. The call asset number is overridden, not missing from your settings, so checking your account configuration alone will not reveal the problem; you have to check what number the live ad is actually showing.

Will Google fix the Local Services Ads phone number bug?

There is no fix date. Google has acknowledged the behavior twice but has not reverted it as of early October 2026, and has not said whether it will. Treat it as the current behavior of the product rather than a bug with an imminent patch, and build your reconciliation process around that assumption.

Does hiding the phone number by default reduce my Local Services Ads calls?

Probably less than it looks. The change, spotted on 2 October 2026, hides the number behind a "Get phone number" button that reveals the digits on mouse hover. That adds friction only on desktop and trackpad devices with a hover state; on a phone, which is how most Local Services Ads traffic arrives, a tap on the ad has always opened the call or message action without the user needing to read a number first. The bigger risk to your call volume right now is the routing bug, not the display change.

How do I know which number Google is actually showing my customers?

Search your own business name or trade plus city from a private browser window or a phone not logged into your Google account, find your Local Services Ad, and either reveal the number on hover or tap through on mobile. Write down the digits and compare them against the number in your call asset settings and the primary number on your Google Business Profile. If the live number matches your Business Profile rather than your call asset, you are affected.

Should I remove location assets from my Local Services Ads campaign?

Only if you do not need them. Location assets exist to show your address and service area, which matters for multi-location businesses and for trust signals like proximity. If a single phone number across all locations is acceptable for your business, removing location assets is the most reliable way to stop the override, since Google's own explanation ties the behavior specifically to running location and call assets together. If you need location assets, your fallback is to treat the Google Business Profile number as the number of record and point your call-tracking platform at that number instead.

The takeaway

Local Services Ads accounts combining location and call assets have had calls routing to a Business Profile number instead of their configured call asset since the start of September, confirmed twice by Google and not reverted. A second change on 2 October adds a hover step before the number displays, which matters far more on desktop than on the mobile traffic the format mostly runs on. Run the three-number check this week, per location, and reconcile your Local Services app lead count against your call-tracking platform before you trust either dashboard for budget decisions. If the two disagree, your pipeline is probably fine; your reporting is what needs the fix.