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 for each keyword. It summarises how your ads compare with other advertisers’ ads for the same keyword, based on three components. Google describes it as a diagnostic tool: a signal of where your ad quality may be holding you back.
It is not used directly in the auction. In each auction, Google calculates ad quality in real time using many signals, including the search, device and location. But the ideas are the same, so improving the components of Quality Score usually improves your real-time ad quality too.
You can see it by adding the Quality Score, Exp. CTR, Ad relevance and Landing page exp. columns in the Keywords view. Keywords with too little traffic show a dash instead of a score.
The three components
| Component | What it measures | What usually fixes it |
|---|---|---|
| Expected click-through rate | How likely your ad is to be clicked when shown for this keyword, compared with others | Headlines that repeat the search, strong offers, assets like sitelinks and calls |
| Ad relevance | How closely your ad matches the intent behind the search | Smaller, tightly themed ad groups with ads written for those keywords |
| Landing page experience | How relevant and useful your page is to people who click | A page about exactly that service, fast on mobile, easy to act on |
Each is rated below average, average or above average. Start with whichever component is below average.
Why Quality Score saves you money
Your position in the auction depends on Ad Rank, which combines your bid with ad quality and other factors. Because quality counts, a more relevant ad can rank higher than a competitor’s while bidding less. You also typically pay only what is needed to beat the Ad Rank of the ad below you, so better quality can lower what you actually pay per click.
Quality also affects whether your ad is eligible to show at all, because ads must meet minimum quality thresholds, and whether assets like sitelinks are shown.
How to improve expected click-through rate
Low expected CTR
- “Quality Home Services”
- “We offer many services. Call us.”
- No sitelinks or call asset
- No city or offer
Higher expected CTR
- “Furnace Repair Winnipeg | Same-Day Service”
- “Licensed techs, upfront pricing, 7 days a week”
- Sitelinks: Pricing, Reviews, Book online
- Call asset during open hours
- Put the main keyword, or its meaning, in headline 1.
- Add the city or area for local services.
- Include a specific benefit or offer: same-day, free quote, upfront pricing, financing, years in business.
- Use responsive search ads with 10–15 distinct headlines and several descriptions. Pin only when you must.
- Add sitelinks, callouts, structured snippets, call and location assets. They make ads bigger and more clickable.
- Stop showing for searches you should not win. Irrelevant impressions drag CTR down, so add negative keywords.
Your Business
yourbusiness.ca › furnace-repair
Furnace Repair Winnipeg | Same-Day Service | Licensed Technicians
No heat? Licensed technicians 7 days a week with upfront pricing before any work starts. Book online in 60 seconds.
How to improve ad relevance
Ad relevance is mostly about structure. If one ad group contains “furnace repair”, “AC installation” and “duct cleaning”, no single ad can be highly relevant to all three.
- Group keywords by close meaning, one service per ad group.
- Write ads specifically for each ad group, not one generic ad copied everywhere.
- Use the search terms report to find new themes that deserve their own ad group.
How to improve landing page experience
- Match the search. Someone searching “water heater replacement” should land on a water heater replacement page, not the home page.
- Make it fast on mobile. Most local searches happen on phones. Compress images and remove heavy scripts. Test with PageSpeed Insights.
- Make it easy to act. Phone number and a short form visible without scrolling on mobile.
- Be trustworthy and transparent. Real reviews, licences, a physical service area, clear pricing information and contact details.
- Avoid pop-ups and interstitials that block content on mobile.
See the full landing page checklist.
- Headline matches the adSomeone who searched “furnace repair Calgary” sees exactly that.
- Phone number and call buttonTap-to-call at the top, because most service searches happen on phones.
- Short formName, phone, postal code and job type. Every extra field costs leads.
- ProofReviews, licence and insurance, and real photos of your team.
- Service areaThe cities and neighbourhoods you cover, so out-of-area people don’t call.
What Quality Score is not
- Not a KPI. A 10/10 keyword that brings no customers is worth less than a 6/10 keyword that fills your calendar. Use Quality Score to diagnose, and judge success on cost per lead and booked jobs.
- Not affected by your bid. Bidding more does not raise Quality Score.
- Not something to chase on tiny keywords. Focus on the keywords that carry most of your spend.
- Not fixed forever. It updates as your ads, pages and competitors change.
Quality Score improvement checklist
Work through this for your top-spending keywords:
- Add Quality Score and component columns to the Keywords view
- Sort by cost and start with the most expensive keywords
- Split ad groups that mix different services
- Write ads that repeat each ad group’s main keyword in headline 1
- Add sitelinks, callouts, call and location assets
- Add negative keywords for irrelevant searches
- Point each ad group to a page about exactly that service
- Test mobile speed and fix the slowest pages
- Recheck components after two to four weeks
Frequently asked questions
What is a good Google Ads Quality Score?
Scores of 7 or higher are generally healthy. More important is that components are average or above average on the keywords that carry most of your spend.
Does Quality Score affect cost per click?
Quality Score itself is diagnostic, but the real-time ad quality used in auctions follows the same factors. Higher quality usually means better positions at lower cost per click.
Why does my keyword show no Quality Score?
Keywords need enough impressions for Google to calculate a score. New or low-traffic keywords show a dash until there is enough data.
How long does it take to improve Quality Score?
Changes to ads and landing pages can show in the components within a few weeks, as Google collects new data.
Does raising my bid improve Quality Score?
No. Bids affect Ad Rank but not Quality Score. Relevance, expected click-through rate and landing page experience drive quality.