Add a Contact Form to Google Sites (2026 Guide)

Why Google Sites doesn't have a real contact form

Open the Insert panel in the new Google Sites editor and you'll find Text box, Images, Embed, Drive files, YouTube, Calendar — and Forms. That last one is the closest thing Google Sites has to a "contact form," and it isn't one: it drops in an iframe pointing at a separate Google Form, with Google's own styling, hosted on a different domain, writing rows into Google Sheets or the Forms responses tab.

That's fine for a quick internal survey. It's not great for a business contact page: no dashboard, no owner email the moment someone submits, no spam filtering beyond Google's account-wide checks, and a form that visually announces "this is a Google Form" instead of matching your site.

The fix doesn't require Apps Script or a Workspace add-on. Google Sites' Embed → Embed code option lets you paste raw HTML, including a <form> tag that posts straight to a hosted form backend — splitforms, in this guide.

Step 1: Get a splitforms access key (1 minute)

Go to splitforms.com/login, enter your email, paste the 6-digit code you receive, and you're in — the dashboard generates an access key on first load. Copy it; you'll paste it into the form snippet in Step 3.

The free plan is $0 for 500 submissions total, unlimited forms, email notifications on every plan, spam filtering (honeypot, time-trap, rate limiting, optional reCAPTCHA v2), and a hosted dashboard — no credit card. If you outgrow it, Starter is $1/month for 1,000 submissions plus signed webhooks and autoresponders, Pro is $5/month for 5,000, or $59 for the first three years, then $59/year, on the 3-Year plan. Full breakdown at /pricing.

Step 2: Open Insert → Embed → Embed code

In the Google Sites editor, open the page you want the form on and click into the section where it should live.

1. Click Insert in the right-hand panel.
2. Choose Embed from the list of insertable elements.
3. A dialog opens with two tabs: Embed code and By URL. Click Embed code.
4. Paste the HTML from Step 3 into the text box.
5. Click Next, then Insert.

Google Sites drops the embed onto the page as a resizable box. Drag its handles to size it — the box doesn't auto-grow to fit content that changes after the page loads, which matters once you get to the submit behavior in Step 4.

Step 3: Paste the form snippet

Because Google Sites renders Embed-code content inside its own sandboxed frame, the snippet needs to be self-contained — it can't inherit fonts or colors from the rest of your Google Site the way a same-origin code block on some other builders can. So this snippet carries its own minimal CSS. Replace YOUR_ACCESS_KEY with the key from Step 1.

<style>
  .sf-form {
    font-family: -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Arial, sans-serif;
    max-width: 480px;
    margin: 0 auto;
    color: #1a1a1a;
  }
  .sf-form label { display: block; margin: 14px 0 6px; font-size: 14px; font-weight: 600; }
  .sf-form input, .sf-form textarea {
    width: 100%;
    box-sizing: border-box;
    padding: 10px 12px;
    border: 1px solid #d0d0d0;
    border-radius: 8px;
    font: inherit;
    font-size: 15px;
  }
  .sf-form input:focus, .sf-form textarea:focus {
    outline: 2px solid #1a73e8;
    border-color: transparent;
  }
  .sf-form button {
    margin-top: 16px;
    padding: 12px 22px;
    background: #1a73e8; /* swap for your brand color */
    color: #fff;
    border: 0;
    border-radius: 8px;
    font-weight: 700;
    font-size: 15px;
    cursor: pointer;
  }
  .sf-form button:disabled { opacity: 0.6; cursor: default; }
  .sf-thanks { display: none; text-align: center; padding: 40px 12px; font-family: inherit; }
</style>

<form id="sf-contact" class="sf-form" action="https://splitforms.com/api/submit" method="POST">
  <input type="hidden" name="access_key" value="YOUR_ACCESS_KEY" />
  <input type="hidden" name="subject" value="New message from your Google Site" />

  <label>Name
    <input type="text" name="name" required autocomplete="name" />
  </label>

  <label>Email
    <input type="email" name="email" required autocomplete="email" />
  </label>

  <label>Message
    <textarea name="message" rows="5" required></textarea>
  </label>

  <!-- Honeypot: bots fill this, real visitors never see it -->
  <input type="checkbox" name="botcheck" style="display:none" tabindex="-1" autocomplete="off" />

  <button type="submit">Send message</button>
</form>

<div id="sf-thanks" class="sf-thanks">
  <p>Thanks — your message is in. We&apos;ll get back to you soon.</p>
</div>

<script>
  document.getElementById('sf-contact').addEventListener('submit', async function (e) {
    e.preventDefault();
    var form = e.target;
    var btn = form.querySelector('button');
    btn.disabled = true;
    btn.textContent = 'Sending...';
    try {
      var res = await fetch(form.action, { method: 'POST', body: new FormData(form) });
      var data = await res.json();
      if (data.success) {
        form.style.display = 'none';
        document.getElementById('sf-thanks').style.display = 'block';
      } else {
        btn.disabled = false;
        btn.textContent = 'Send message';
      }
    } catch (err) {
      btn.disabled = false;
      btn.textContent = 'Send message';
    }
  });
</script>

Three things worth knowing about this snippet:

• Honeypot (botcheck) is a hidden checkbox. Bots that scrape and auto-fill every field trip it; real visitors never see it or fill it. More on this in honeypot vs reCAPTCHA.
• The <script> block intercepts the submit and swaps the form for a thank-you message in place, instead of letting the browser navigate. See Step 4 for why that matters inside an embedded box.
• Field names are arbitrary. Add name="phone" or name="company" and splitforms includes them in the notification email automatically — no schema to configure.

A note on redirects inside an embedded frame

As of mid-2026, in our testing, Google Sites renders Embed-code HTML inside its own sandboxed frame, and a plain HTML form POST works fine from inside it — the request reaches splitforms.com/api/submit exactly as it would from any other page. What's worth watching is what happens after the submit: a plain redirect field navigates inside the embedded box, not the whole page, so a full-size thank-you page renders squeezed into whatever pixel size you set the embed to in Step 2 — usually looking broken.

Two ways around it, both compatible with the snippet in Step 3:

1. Inline "thanks" swap (what Step 3 uses). A small fetch() call submits the form via JavaScript and, on success, hides the form and reveals a short message in the same box — splitforms' standard AJAX submit pattern, and the safer default for a small embedded frame.
2. Plain POST with a compact redirect target. To skip JavaScript entirely, add <input type="hidden" name="redirect" value="https://yoursite.com/thanks" /> pointing at a minimal, embed-sized thank-you page rather than a full layout.

Either way, verify on the published site — Google Sites' editor preview doesn't always run embedded scripts identically to the live page, so behavior may vary between the two.

Step 4: Publish and test

1. Click Publish in the top-right of the Google Sites editor (or Republish if the site is already live).
2. Open the published URL in an incognito window, not the editor preview.
3. Fill out the form with a real-looking test message, using an email address you can check.
4. Click Send message. With the snippet above, the form should swap to the thank-you text in place within a second or two.
5. Check your splitforms dashboard and the inbox tied to your splitforms account — both should show the submission almost immediately.

If the button spins forever or nothing happens, open the browser's developer console on the published page — a blocked-script or CORS error there usually points straight at the fix (see Troubleshooting below).

Step 5: Where submissions go

Every submission lands in two places automatically, with nothing to connect manually:

• Your splitforms dashboard. Every submission is stored and searchable by date, form, or field content — a real lead list, not a Sheets export you have to remember to open.
• Your inbox. Owner email notifications are included on every plan. Accepted submissions are saved to the dashboard before owner notification email is attempted; delivery time and inbox placement depend on provider and recipient settings.

Want the raw fields wired into your own inbox flow instead of splitforms'? See /form-to-email for how the email delivery pipeline works under the hood.

Step 6 (optional): Spam settings and autoresponders

The honeypot field in Step 3 already blocks the dumbest bots for free. splitforms layers two more checks server-side on every plan, no configuration needed: a time-trap that flags submissions sent implausibly fast after the form loaded, and rate limiting per access key. If you still see spam after that — unlikely for a low-traffic Google Site — you can turn on optional reCAPTCHA v2 from the dashboard.

On the Pro plan ($5/month), you can also turn on an autoresponder — an automatic confirmation email sent back to whoever filled out the form ("Thanks for reaching out, we'll reply within 1 business day"), configured once in the dashboard with no change to the embed snippet.

Custom HTML form vs. embedding a Google Form

Embedding a Google Form via Insert → Forms is still the default answer for a lot of Google Sites owners, and it's a reasonable one if all you need is to collect a few responses with zero setup. Here's the honest comparison:

• Cost. Google Forms is free, no account tier required. splitforms is also free up to 500 submissions total — comparable for most contact pages.
• Appearance. A Google Form looks like a Google Form: Google's fonts, Google's layout, hosted in its own iframe. A splitforms-backed HTML form is yours to style, matching your site's fonts and colors as shown in Step 3.
• Spam filtering. Google Forms relies on Google's account-level spam signals with no per-form controls. splitforms adds a honeypot, a time-trap, rate limiting, and optional reCAPTCHA — visible and configurable per form.
• Where responses go. Google Forms writes rows into Sheets — fine for tallying survey answers, less useful as a lead inbox. SplitForms saves accepted submissions to a searchable dashboard before attempting owner notification email; delivery time and inbox placement depend on provider and recipient settings.
• Notifications. Google Forms notification emails are opt-in per form and easy to miss. SplitForms includes owner email notifications on every plan and attempts them after accepted submissions are saved; delivery timing and inbox placement depend on provider and recipient settings.

Quick internal feedback? Google Forms is fine. A contact page, quote request, or waitlist that represents your business's first impression is worth the extra five minutes for a form that matches your site and lands in a real dashboard.

Troubleshooting Google Sites-specific gotchas

• The embed box shows a scrollbar or clipped content. Google Sites sizes the embed to whatever pixel dimensions you set when you inserted it and doesn't auto-grow. Drag the resize handles to add headroom, especially after adding extra fields.
• Form appears in the editor but does nothing on the published page (or vice versa). Embedded scripts don't always run identically in preview versus the live page — always confirm on the published URL.
• splitforms returns 401 Unauthorized. The access key has a typo, trailing whitespace, or a domain restriction excluding your Google Sites URL. Re-copy it and check Settings → Allowed Domains.
• Nothing happens on submit, no visible error. Open the browser console on the published page — a missing action attribute or a fetch URL typo is the usual cause. Confirm it reads exactly https://splitforms.com/api/submit.
• Email never arrives but the dashboard shows the submission. Check spam/junk first. Full diagnostic: contact form not working.

Still stuck? /docs has the full request contract, /api-reference covers response codes, and /faq answers plan and security questions.

Next steps

• Want a ready-made starting point instead of typing the snippet by hand? Grab a free HTML contact form template, pre-wired to splitforms.
• Need the plain HTML reference without the Google Sites steps? See /contact-form-html.
• Want the quick-reference version of this tutorial — snippet, spam layers, and FAQ on one page? See contact form for Google Sites.
• Comparing pricing before you commit? /pricing has the full plan ladder.
• Building on another site builder too? See Squarespace, Notion-built sites, or browse all guides.
• Ready to wire it up? Get a free access key — no credit card.

FAQ