Lead Form Download Cleaner for Google Ads

How to clean a Google Ads lead form download

A Google Ads lead form download is the fastest way to get leads out of your account, but it only covers the last 30 days and its columns depend on the questions you asked. Google's Download leads page offers two files, CSV and CSV for CRM, without listing their columns. So this cleaner reads the headers in your file and matches them to the field list Google publishes for lead forms.

1. Download your leads. In Google Ads, open Campaigns > Assets, find the lead form summary card and choose CSV or CSV for CRM. Load the file here, or click Try sample data.
2. Check the matched columns. Names, email, phone and postal code are found whether the header says “User Email” or EMAIL. Questions such as “Which service are you interested in?” are matched to their short names, like SERVICE.
3. Pick the settings. Choose your default country, the time zone your team works in and the column names your CRM import uses.
4. Fix what's flagged. Invalid emails and phones, click IDs Google could never match and two people sharing one phone are listed by row.
5. Download the clean file. Import it into your CRM. The rows that were taken out come as a second file.

Why the click ID column matters

If your file has a Google click ID (GCLID) for a lead, keep it. When that lead buys weeks later, the click ID lets you import the sale as an offline conversion, so Google Ads sees which search or Performance Max campaign brought a paying customer. The cleaner pulls a click ID out of a pasted URL and leaves out values like {gclid} that can never match a click.

What to do next with your Google Ads leads

1. Import into your CRM today. Leads leave the CSV download after 30 days, and Google deletes them after 60.
2. Keep the lead ID and click ID. The lead ID is unique across all your forms, so it is the safest way to spot a lead you already imported.
3. Send results back to Google. When a lead becomes a customer, upload it with enhanced conversions for leads (hashed email or phone) or as an offline conversion with its click ID.
4. Stop downloading by hand. Google can also send leads by email notification, the Google Ads API, a webhook or a CRM integration such as HubSpot or Salesforce. A webhook posts each new lead to your system as JSON.

Common Google Ads lead form download problems

google ads lead form csv is empty

Google keeps the CSV empty until the first lead comes in. Check that the form is on a live Search or Performance Max campaign, and that the leads are less than 30 days old.

You can't download leads

You need Standard or Admin access. Billing, Email only and Read only users can't download. From a manager account, the client account must have granted ownership first.

Question headers in another language

The CSV option translates question headers into the language of the Google Ads account. If you manage accounts in different languages, the same form gives different headers. CSV for CRM uses short field names instead, which keeps your CRM mapping the same. The cleaner knows the common Spanish, French, German and Italian name, email, phone and address headers, but check “Columns matched” for other languages.

google ads lead form phone number format

Google's lead form field list describes phone numbers in E.164, like +11234567890. Numbers typed without a country code are checked against the default country you pick and rewritten in E.164.

The same lead twice

Overlapping downloads or two forms on one campaign can bring the same person in twice. The cleaner matches by lead ID and email, keeps the first row and copies over anything it lacks, such as a click ID. Rows with different details are both kept and flagged.

{gclid} instead of a click ID

If your CRM or a hidden field stored {gclid}, the placeholder was never replaced by a real click ID. It can't be used for a conversion import, so the cleaner leaves it out and lists the row.