Google may ask for your tax ID to edit your listing
An Employer Identification Number is showing up as a verification step for some people editing their business listing.
Google is asking some business owners for an Employer Identification Number, a business tax ID in the US, when they update information on their Google Business Profile. That profile is the free listing that shows your business on Google Search and Google Maps.
The report comes from Barry Schwartz (@rustybrick), who credited @SyedMAmirHassa1 for spotting it. Schwartz described it as Google Business Profiles asking for an EIN when updating information. That is the whole of what has been reported so far.
How widely this is happening is unknown
Nobody has said how many businesses are seeing the request, which countries it covers, or what triggers it. There is no announcement from Google about it in the source. Treat it as one report rather than a confirmed change to how every listing works.
It does fit a pattern we have seen before. Google has also been asking some owners for a government ID to verify their business. The EIN request looks like another identity check, aimed at proving the business behind the listing is real, though no one has confirmed that is the reason.
What to do
Nothing, unless you are editing your listing. If you go in to change your hours, address, phone number or business name and Google asks for an EIN, have the number ready so the edit is not left hanging.
If you are a US business with employees or a registered company, you already have an EIN on your tax paperwork. Find it before you start the edit rather than after Google has asked for it, because a half finished verification can leave your updated details sitting unpublished.
If you do not have an EIN, there is nothing in the report about what Google offers as an alternative. Sole traders and businesses outside the US have not been mentioned at all.
For everyone else, this changes nothing about how your listing ranks or appears today. Keep your opening hours, phone number and address accurate, and expect identity checks to come up more often when you make changes.
Google Business Profiles asking for Employer Identification Number (EIN) when updating information
Be the person who already knew
One email a day. Under three minutes. You will hear about a Google change before it shows up in your traffic.