How to Add a Lead Form to a Google Ad
Short answer. A lead form lets a person submit contact info inside the ad. Google says you can add lead forms to Search and Performance Max campaigns. A normal lead form asset on Search is the simpler path. The extra spend bar applies only to other formats, not to every form.
What does a lead form on a Google ad do?
Someone can open a form on the ad and send an email or a phone number without visiting your site. You create the lead form in Google Ads and add it to a campaign. When a person interacts with an ad that contains the asset, they can open the form and submit.
That is not a quote form on your website, and it is not a pay-per-lead call. Those are different pipes. The comparison is in quote form on your website or inside the ad.
Which campaigns can use one?
The About lead form assets page says you can add lead forms to Search and Performance Max campaigns. Responsive search ads can serve. Expanded text ads cannot. Lead forms are available to eligible advertisers in supported countries. Approval is not guaranteed.
What does Google require on the simple path?
For lead forms in general, Google lists three requirements. You need a good history of policy compliance. The account must be in an eligible vertical or sub-vertical. Sensitive verticals or sub-verticals, for example sexual content, are not eligible. You also need a privacy policy. You provide the link when you create the form, and the privacy policy appears at the end of the form.
The lead form requirements page repeats those three points. It also says advertisements for healthcare-related content are not allowed for lead forms. A dental office should read that sentence before counting on a form inside the ad. Approval is still Google’s decision. A normal Search lead form asset uses this simpler list, not a spend minimum.
When does the extra spend bar apply?
Do not tell a small shop that a spend bar applies to every lead form. It does not.
On the About page, the extra bar is for a Display campaign, or for a Search ad whose headline opens straight into the form. Reputable advertisers spending more than $1,000 USD per account, or more than $15,000 USD across accounts, may be eligible, subject to further verification of account status and good standing. They must complete the Advertiser verification program.
The requirements page adds a rule for a lead form on a Video or Display campaign, or a Search campaign where the headline opens directly to the form. Those formats need more than $50,000 USD total spend in Google Ads. The same page says reputable advertisers on the lower spend path may also be eligible, again with verification and good standing.
An ordinary lead form asset on Search stays on the first path: compliance history, an eligible vertical, and a privacy-policy URL.
What has to be true before the form can serve?
Google lists three serving rules for an active lead form asset. The campaign should use a conversion-focused bidding strategy. It must be optimized toward a Google lead form conversion goal. If it also optimizes toward other conversions, it should still include the Google lead form conversion. Responsive search ads are eligible. Expanded text ads are not.
If that goal is missing, the form is not eligible to serve. That is setup, not a forecast of booked jobs.
How do you actually receive the leads?
Google lists five delivery options.
CSV download includes only the last 30 days. Google Ads stores leads for 60 days, so download often. Email for each lead arrives only if you enter an address under Notifications. The API can export up to 60 days and needs API access. A webhook sends leads to a CRM, with your code or a third party. Zapier does the same after you authorize it and finish setup.
Pick a path someone will watch the same day. The follow-up habit is in what to do in the first hour after a form lead.
What should the form ask?
The About page does not set the questions for these trades. On a form you control, the short list is shop practice, not a Google rule: name, phone, city or ZIP, what is wrong, and when they need someone. Leave photos and budget for the call. Dental should not ask for medical detail, an insurance member ID, or a date of birth on the first form. Put a privacy line next to your own button. The list is in what to ask on a home service quote form. None of this guarantees lead quality.
FAQ
Can every campaign use a lead form?
Search and Performance Max are the campaigns the About page names. Display, Video, and a headline that opens the form use the extra bar. Expanded text ads cannot serve.
Do I still need a form on my website?
No. A person can submit inside the ad. A site form is a separate collection point if you want one.
Will Google email every lead on its own?
Only if you enter an address under Notifications. Otherwise use CSV, the API, a webhook, or Zapier.
Does a small account need $1,000 or $50,000 in spend first?
Not for a normal lead form asset on Search. Those figures are only for the formats named above.
Sources
https://support.google.com/google-ads/answer/9423234 https://support.google.com/adspolicy/answer/9472930
