Google Ads Customer Match formatter: a customer list file Google can match
In short: Upload any contact export (.xlsx or CSV) or paste cells. Columns are matched by header and written with Google's exact English headers (Email, Phone, First Name, Last Name, Country, Zip), each cleaned to Google's rules; repeats merge, and email, phone and names can be SHA-256 hashed. Limit: Columns are found by header name; rename unusual headers (say, "Contact pt.") to Email, Phone or Name first.
A Google Ads Customer Match file is a UTF-8 CSV with English headers: Email, Phone, First Name, Last Name, Country and Zip. Emails have no spaces, phones use E.164 with the country code, and the name, country and ZIP columns must all be filled to match on address. Upload your export here and it writes that file, plain or hashed.
Price: this tool is free. Checking a whole email list is from $9/mo, and the first 100 checks are free with Google, no card. Check your list free nowSee pricing
Also used for phone numbers written without a + country code.
Sample result
Jane O'Neil's row becomes [email protected], +14155550132, Jane, O'Neil, US, 94105-1234 under Google's headers.
- Customer Match
- 3 contacts
- Phone
- +14155550132
- Country
- US
What this means for you
Every column has the exact English name Google Ads expects, so the upload maps without manual matching.
- Google's exact headers
- E.164 phones, clean emails
- Address fields only when complete
- Plain or SHA-256
- Google Ads
- Customer Match
- CSV
By SimpleVerifier Team · Last updated · Runs in your browser; nothing you paste is sent to us
Dead addresses can't match a Google account. Check the list first.
- Export the email column from the list you just formatted.
- Upload or paste it at /verify. Every address gets a live mailbox check, and the first 100 email checks are free with a Google sign-in, no card.
How do I prepare a CSV for Google Ads Customer Match?
- Upload the contact export (.xlsx or CSV), or paste the cells with the header row first. Email, phone, name, ZIP and country columns are found by their headers.
- Choose the country for rows that don't have one; it is also used for phone numbers written without a + country code.
- Check the columns the tool found, and tick SHA-256 if you want email, phone and names hashed (API uploads must be hashed; the Google Ads upload hashes plain text for you).
- Download the CSV and in Google Ads, open Audience manager, create a customer list segment and upload it there.
Example
- You enter
- A sheet with Name, Email, Phone, Zip and Country:
Dr. Jane O'Neil Jr.,[email protected],(415) 555-0132,94105-1234,United States;Leo Martinat[email protected]; a repeat row for[email protected]; a row with no contact details; andAna Ruizwith+44 20 7946 0958,SW1A 1AA,United Kingdom. - You get
- Three rows under Email, Phone, First Name, Last Name, Country, Zip:
[email protected],+14155550132,Jane,O'Neil,US,94105-1234;[email protected]with the address fields empty; and Ana with+442079460958,GB,SW1A 1AA. The repeat is merged and the empty row skipped. - Limits
- Runs in your browser; nothing is uploaded. Files up to 25 MB.
What does a Customer Match file have to contain?
Google's help page for the file format asks for a CSV encoded in ASCII or UTF-8, with column headers in English using the exact names: Email, Phone, First Name, Last Name, Country and Zip. You can include any of them, and several Email or Phone columns are allowed. This tool writes only the columns your data fills. See Google's file format page.
How is each column cleaned?
Emails are trimmed, lower-cased and stripped of spaces. Phone numbers become E.164, such as +14155550132, using the country you pick for numbers without a country code. Names lose titles and suffixes such as Dr or Jr and keep their accents. Country becomes the two-letter ISO code. US ZIP codes are kept as 5 digits or 5+4.
Google matches on address only when First Name, Last Name, Country and Zip are all present, so a contact missing one of them gets those four cells left empty, and still counts if it has an email or phone.
Should I hash the file?
In the Google Ads interface you can upload plain text and Google hashes it with SHA-256, or you can hash it yourself. API uploads must be hashed. When hashing, Google says to lower-case and trim values, and to remove the periods before the @ in gmail.com and googlemail.com addresses; the tool does this. Country and Zip are never hashed.
Who uses this tool, and for what?
- Paid search marketers
- Turn a CRM export into a Customer Match file with Google's headers, with no column renaming.
- Ecommerce teams
- Build a customer list audience from a store's customer export, with E.164 phones and clean emails.
- Agencies
- Hash a client's list before it goes to the Google Ads API or a partner.
What can’t this tool tell you?
- Columns are found by header name; rename unusual headers (say, "Contact pt.") to Email, Phone or Name first.
- One email and one phone per person; extra address columns aren't merged in.
- Mobile device IDs, IP addresses and interaction timestamps aren't written.
- Formatting can't make a closed or rarely used address match a Google account.
Common questions
- What columns does a Google Ads Customer Match CSV need?
- Any of Email, Phone, and the four address fields First Name, Last Name, Country and Zip. Address matching needs all four of those together.
- How should phone numbers be formatted for Customer Match?
- In E.164: a + then the country code and number, such as +14155550132. The + is required when the values are hashed.
- Do I have to hash the file before uploading to Google Ads?
- No in the Google Ads interface, where plain text is hashed for you. Yes for uploads through the API.
- Which columns are never hashed?
- Country and Zip. Google's page says not to hash them. Mobile device IDs, IP addresses and timestamps stay unhashed too, and this tool doesn't write them.
- Is my customer list uploaded to SimpleVerifier?
- No. The file is read and formatted in your browser.
Sources
A tidy list can still be full of dead addresses.
Extracting, deduplicating and syntax checks all work on the text of an address. None of them can tell whether the mailbox exists. Only the server that hosts it can answer that, through an SMTP check, and that is what the paid product does.
- Upload the cleaned file as it is: CSVs up to 100,000 rows
- A real SMTP mailbox check on every row, with catch-all detection
- Small list? Starter at $9/mo covers 2,500 emails a month, cancel anytime
Plans from $9 a month, cancel anytime, no contract. Sign in with Google and your first 100 email checks are free, no card. The free tools stay free either way.