What Is Google Ads Quality Score and How Do You Improve It?
What Quality Score is
Quality Score is a rating from 1 to 10 that Google Ads shows at the keyword level. It estimates how relevant and useful your ad and landing page are to people searching that keyword, compared with other advertisers. You can see it by adding the Quality Score columns to the Keywords report.
The three components
| Component | What it measures | Ratings |
|---|---|---|
| Expected click-through rate | How likely people are to click your ad when it shows for that keyword | Above average, average, below average |
| Ad relevance | How closely the ad matches the intent behind the search | Above average, average, below average |
| Landing page experience | How relevant, useful and easy to use the page is after the click | Above average, average, below average |
Each component tells you where to look. A "below average" landing page experience, for example, points to the page, not the ad.
Why it affects what you pay
Google ranks ads in each auction using your bid together with quality factors. An ad Google expects to be more relevant and useful can win a higher position at a lower cost per click than a less relevant competitor. Quality Score itself is a summary shown for diagnosis, but improving the factors behind it improves your auctions.
A practical improvement checklist
- Tighten ad groups. Group keywords by one service and intent, such as "water heater replacement", not a mix of repairs and installs.
- Echo the search in the ad. Put the main service and city in headlines. Someone searching "emergency plumber Surrey" should see those words.
- Use all relevant assets. Sitelinks, callouts, call and location assets make ads larger and more clickable.
- Send each ad group to a matching page. A water heater ad should land on a water heater page, not the home page.
- Make the page fast on mobile. Compress images and remove heavy scripts. Most local searches happen on phones.
- Add negative keywords. Blocking irrelevant searches such as jobs, DIY or free raises click-through rate.
- Pause poor ads. Keep testing new headlines and remove the ones that consistently lose.
What not to obsess over
Some keywords will never score highly, for example broad research terms or competitor names. That is fine if they convert profitably. Focus on keywords with meaningful spend and a score of 5 or below. Improving those usually has the biggest effect on cost.
If you want a second opinion, our Google Ads audit reviews Quality Score, search terms and landing pages together.
Frequently asked questions
What is a good Quality Score in Google Ads?
Scores of 7 or higher are generally considered good. Focus first on keywords with meaningful spend and a score of 5 or lower, since improving those usually lowers costs the most.
Does Quality Score affect cost per click?
Indirectly, yes. Google uses real-time quality signals in each auction. More relevant ads and better landing pages can win higher positions at lower costs.
How long does it take for Quality Score to improve?
Changes to ads and landing pages can show up within days to a few weeks, depending on how much traffic the keyword gets.
Why is my landing page experience below average?
Common causes are slow mobile loading, a page that does not match the ad's offer, intrusive pop-ups and unclear next steps such as a missing phone number or form.