How to capture the GCLID in Formsite
Learn how to capture the GCLID every time someone submits a Formsite form, then pass it to your CRM and other tools (and send it back to Google Ads as an Offline Conversion).
Google Ads can be a powerful channel for generating new leads for your business.
But here's the thing. If you're not tracking which of those leads actually convert into paying customers, you could be pouring budget into campaigns that rack up plenty of impressions and clicks but don't deliver real results.
The good news? There's a straightforward way to solve this.
In this article, we'll walk you through how to use Attributer to capture the GCLID every time someone submits a Formsite form and pass it directly to your CRM and other tools. We'll also show you how to send that data back to Google Ads so you can track offline conversions and see exactly which campaigns are driving real business.
3 steps for capturing the GCLID in Formsite
Capturing the GCLID with Formsite forms is simple when you use Attributer. Here's how to get it done:
1. Install Attributer on your website and add a hidden field
When you sign up for a free 14 day trial of Attributer, you'll receive a small piece of code to install on your website.
How you add it will depend on your website builder (whether that's WordPress, Squarespace, Wix, or something else), but most platforms let you do it through their settings area or through Google Tag Manager (and you can see full step-by-step instructions here).
Once the code is in place, the next step is to add a hidden GCLID field to your Formsite forms. This gives Attributer somewhere to write the GCLID value, so it gets captured automatically every time a visitor submits your form.
2. Attributer writes the GCLID into the hidden field
As soon as a visitor clicks on one of your Google Ads and arrives on your website, Attributer grabs the GCLID from the URL and saves it in their browser. So even if they browse through multiple pages on your site or leave and return another day to fill out a form, the original GCLID is remembered.
Then, when that visitor eventually submits a Formsite form on your website, Attributer writes the GCLID into the hidden field you added earlier.
3. GCLID is captured with each form submission
After the form is submitted, the GCLID is captured in Formsite alongside all the other details the person provided, like their name, email address, phone number, and anything else on the form.
From there, you can send the GCLID to your CRM using Formsite's built-in Salesforce integration, or through a third-party connector like Zapier (which connects Formsite with CRMs like HubSpot, Pipedrive, and others).
How to send the GCLID back to Google Ads and mark it as an offline conversion
Before you can send the GCLID back to Google Ads, you'll need to set up a new conversion action first.
To get started, log into your Google Ads account, navigate to the sidebar, and select Goals, then Conversions. From there, hit the button to create a new conversion and choose Offline Conversion as the type.
Then, in the final screen when it asks you to add a data source, select the option to ‘Add data source later’.
Now that your conversion action is ready in Google Ads, you can start sending GCLID data back. But first, you need to decide which point in your sales process you want to count as the conversion.
A lot of people choose to wait until a deal is fully closed before sending the conversion to Google Ads. That makes sense, but it can create a problem. Google's smart bidding strategies like Maximise Conversions, Maximise Conversion Value, and Target CPA need roughly 50 conversions per month to work effectively. If your business closes fewer than 50 deals in a typical month, it's better to pick an earlier stage in your pipeline instead (like when a new deal is created) so Google has enough conversion data to optimise properly.
Once you've settled on your conversion point, head into your Zapier account and set up a new Zap. Configure the trigger to match the milestone you chose. For instance, if you decided to send the offline conversion when a deal gets created for a contact, select that event as your trigger.
Next, select Google Ads as the Action and then select the ‘Send Offline Conversion’ as the event.
Finally, you just need to map the GCLID from your CRM (or wherever you are storing it) to the correct field in Zapier.
That’s it! You have now set up offline conversions in Google Ads. It’s a good idea to test it’s working before piling money into ads, and you can read more about how to do that here.
Why Attributer is the best way to capture the GCLID in Formsite
There are a few different ways to capture the GCLID in Formsite forms, so what makes Attributer the better option?
Here's why it stands out:
1. Remembers the GCLID as visitors browse your site
The biggest issue with most GCLID capture methods is that they rely on the GCLID being present in the URL when the form is submitted. And in practice, that's rarely how things play out.
Picture this: a potential customer clicks your Google Ad and lands on your homepage. They look around, read a few pages, and eventually head to your Contact Us page to get in touch. The problem? The GCLID was only in the URL of that first page they landed on. By the time they reach your form, it's gone.
Attributer solves this by saving the GCLID in the visitor's browser the moment they arrive on your site. From that point on, it doesn't matter how many pages they visit or whether they leave and come back a week later. When they finally fill out a form, the original GCLID is still stored and gets written into the hidden field automatically.
2. Captures UTM parameters as well
On top of storing the GCLID, Attributer also captures any UTM parameters you've added to your ad URLs and passes them through every time someone submits a Formsite form.
To show you what this looks like, let's say you run an accounting firm. When someone clicks one of your Google Ads and fills out a form on your site, Attributer can capture details like:
- Channel = Paid Search
- Channel Drilldown 1 = Google
- Channel Drilldown 2 = Tax Services Campaign (or whatever you named your campaign)
- Channel Drilldown 3 = Small Business Accountant Melbourne (or the keyword you bid on)
- Channel Drilldown 4 = Free Consultation Ad (or the specific ad they clicked)
Once this data flows into your CRM and reporting tools, you get a clear picture of where every lead originated and which ads are actually delivering results.
3. Captures information on users from organic channels
Attributer doesn't just work with paid campaigns either. It also captures data on leads who arrive at your website through organic channels like Organic Search, Organic Social, Referral, Direct Traffic, and more.
Sticking with the accounting firm example, if a lead discovered your site through a regular Google search, Attributer would pass through information like:
- Channel = Organic Search
- Channel Drilldown 1 = Google
- Channel Drilldown 2 = www.google.com (or whichever search engine domain they came from)
- Channel Drilldown 3 = Small Business Accountant Melbourne (or whatever keyword they searched for, when available)
Wrap Up
If you're looking to capture the GCLID in your Formsite forms and send it to your CRM and other tools so you can pass it back to Google Ads as an offline conversion, Attributer makes the whole process easy.
It stores the GCLID in the visitor's browser as they browse your site, and it holds onto it even if they leave and return another day.
Then, when they fill out a form on your website, the GCLID gets included with the submission and can be sent straight to your CRM and other tools.
The best part? Getting started is free and setup usually takes less than 10 minutes. Start your 14 day free trial today and begin capturing the GCLID in your Formsite forms!
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About the Author
Aaron Beashel is the founder of Attributer and has over 15 years of experience in marketing & analytics. He is a recognized expert in the subject and has written articles for leading websites such as Hubspot, Zapier, Search Engine Journal, Buffer, Unbounce & more. Learn more about Aaron here.