There seems to be a bug with Google Local Service Ads showing ads from advertisers who are not targeting specific locations. With Local Service Ads, an advertiser can say they serve a specific city or location, but Google seems to be showing ads from advertisers who do not serve in those locations.
Len Raleigh first notified me of this last night on X and said, "Something is wrong here.. California LSAs are showing advertisers from Illinois, New Jersey, Florida and Texas." Here is the screenshot he shared:
I asked Anthony Higman, an LSA expert, for more details and he broke it down super well for me. He said on X, "In each profile is show you what geos they have selected. These NJ firms DO NOT have Fresno or Arizona selected. So yeah, Len is right and there is a bug here right now. These should NOT be serving in Fresno. My B! Took me a min to get this one."
He then showed these screenshots showing where to see which areas these businesses are serving:
Google has not confirmed the bug yet but if Anthony and Len both thing there is a bug here, there probably is. Or maybe Google is just auto-expanding how these advertisers target without permission? If Google replies, we will update this story.
yea, I am getting NJ and Arizona listings? is this normal cc @AnthonyHigman @adsliaison pic.twitter.com/oYSNuS4jo0
— Barry Schwartz (@rustybrick) October 1, 2026
Here is how I confirmed. In each profile is show you what geos they have selected. These NJ firms DO NOT have fresno or arizona selected. So yeah, Len is right and there is a bug here right now. These should NOT be serving in Fresno. My B! Took me a min to get this one. pic.twitter.com/ZjvWFtljox
— Anthony Higman (@AnthonyHigman) October 1, 2026
Forum discussion at X.
Update: Google said it is working as intended:
Confirming that this is working as intended. The results in the screenshots include firms that serve customers seeking that type of legal service in the Fresno area.
— AdsLiaison (@adsliaison) October 2, 2026
More details here: https://t.co/scuuc9NDce pic.twitter.com/HklNKtwcDw
Update 2: On October 13/14th, Google updated this help document to note "If your location assets were created by linking a Business Profile (GBP), and you notice a phone number in your ad that does not match your direct business number or call asset, you likely implemented a 'Google Ads phone number' in that location's GBP Advanced Settings. It can be added or removed in GBP Advanced Settings."
Google just updated a help document to clarify the 'Google Ads phone number' versus the Google Business Profile number thing that confused some - story updated at https://t.co/AehP8SFZRv https://t.co/GU8qS6SCMS
— Barry Schwartz (@rustybrick) October 14, 2026
