Trades August 5, 2026 Updated October 17, 2026

Your Contractor License on Your Website: What California Requires and What Google Checks

If you're a licensed contractor in California, your license number has to appear in your advertising, and that includes your website and your directory listings. You can only advertise the trades you're actually licensed for. Beyond the legal minimum, the license is also the strongest proof of identity your business has: a public record anyone can check. We put it on every page, show the trade next to the number, link it to the state's own lookup page, and make sure every listing matches the name and address on the record.

This is a rewrite of an earlier post on the same subject. The legal points below are quoted from the Contractors State License Board's own published guidance, and the Google points from Google's help pages. It isn't legal advice, and the rules differ by state. Check with your licensing board, or a lawyer who knows your trade.

What California actually requires

The CSLB's guidance for online advertising spells it out (CSLB: Fast Facts on online marketplaces):

The number goes in every ad. "BPC § 7030.5 requires inclusion of a license number in all forms of advertising for construction requiring a contractor's license." The definition of advertising includes "any electronic transmission, and any form of directory under any listing denoting 'Contractor.'" A website counts. So does a directory listing.
You can only advertise what you're licensed for. "It is a criminal misdemeanor (BPC § 7027.1) for any person to advertise for construction or work of improvement unless that person holds a valid license in the classification so advertised."
Advertising outside your classification is a violation. BPC § 7117.6 makes it "a violation and cause for discipline for a licensed contractor to advertise and contract for construction work outside of the classification for which they are licensed." The CSLB's own example: a masonry contractor who advertises electrical work can be disciplined unless they also hold an electrical license.
Small jobs are the narrow exception. Unlicensed operators can advertise "only for jobs valued at less than $500," and the ad "must state that he or she is not licensed."

Read those together and they cover more than your website's footer. A service page for a trade you don't hold is advertising that trade. So is a directory category, or a Google Business Profile category. That's why our category guide says a category is a public claim about what your business is.

What Google checks

For Local Services Ads, Google runs its own screening. Its help page says that "depending on the country, Google verifies that businesses hold applicable state, provincial, or country-level licenses," and that "businesses must also confirm that they hold applicable county, city, and province-level licenses." It also requires a certificate of insurance, with minimums that depend "on the category and location." (Google: screening and verification)

In practice, that means the license, the business name and the Business Profile all have to agree before the ads run. If they don't, you find out during verification, which takes weeks rather than days, so start early.

How we put the license on a site

On the contractor sites we build, the license is part of how the site is built, not something typed into one page:

Stored once. The license number, its trade and the link to the state's lookup page live in a single settings file. The footer, the contact page and the structured data all read from it, so they can't disagree.
On every page. The footer shows the number with its trade and a link to verify it on the CSLB site. A visitor checking you out shouldn't have to hunt for it.
The trade always sits next to the number. A bare number reads as if it covers everything you advertise. If your license is for plumbing and your site also offers remodeling done by a partner, say which license covers what. A claim that fails the check you invited is worse than making no claim at all.
Linked to the state's own record. We link the number to its CSLB detail page. The license lookup is an independent government record, so it's the most credible proof of identity a contractor can point to.
In the structured data. The business is marked up with an hasCredential entry that names the license, its classification and the board that issued it, and the state lookup page is listed in sameAs. Google doesn't say this markup helps rankings, and we don't claim it does. It makes the license machine-readable and unambiguous for search engines and AI assistants, the same way it's unambiguous for a person.
Never invented, never left as a placeholder. If a license is still pending, the site says so. A build check fails if a placeholder license field ever reaches a live page. A license number you don't hold is far worse than a missing one.

The name has to match the record

A license is issued to someone: a company, or sometimes the individual who qualified for it. Before a site launches, we look the license up on the state board and note exactly whose name it's under, and at what address. Then we make the website, the Business Profile and the main directories match.

That ties directly to name, address and phone consistency. The licensing record is often the source other databases copy, so if it's wrong or out of date, fix it first. If the business has moved, update the board's record before you update the directories.

Common problems worth checking for

A license number that isn't yours. Numbers get copied from old sites, templates or a previous business. Look up the number on your own site and confirm it's yours and current.
An expired or inactive license still displayed. The state's lookup shows status. Your customers can see it too.
Service pages for trades you don't hold. Remove them, or make it clear which licensed company does that work.
Directory categories for trades you don't hold. Under California's definition, a directory listing is advertising.
Credentials nobody can verify. If a "certification" can't be checked with the organization that supposedly issued it, don't publish it, and don't put it in your structured data either.
A license name that doesn't match your listings. If the license is under a different name than the one your listings use, customers and Google are looking at what seem to be two different businesses.

A fifteen-minute license check

Look yourself up on the CSLB license check (or your state's board). Note the exact name, address, classifications and status.
Check your website footer. Is the number there on every page, next to its trade, linking to that record?
Compare your service pages to your classifications. Is everything you advertise covered?
Compare your Google Business Profile categories and directory categories to your classifications.
Compare the name and address on the license record with your website and your Business Profile.
If you run or plan Local Services Ads, make sure the license, insurance and profile all line up before you apply.

We build this into every contractor website and plumbing site we ship. If your current site has problems with any of this, it's usually part of a website rescue or a systems audit.