What Quality Score is based on
- Expected click-through rate: how likely your ad is to be clicked when it is shown.
- Ad relevance: how closely your ad matches the intent behind the search.
- Landing page experience: how relevant, useful and easy to use your landing page is.
Each part is rated above average, average or below average.
How it affects your ads
Quality Score itself isn’t used in the ad auction; it summarizes the quality signals that are. Ad Rank combines your bid with that real-time quality, so a strong ad and landing page can win a higher position at a lower cost per click than a competitor with a higher bid.
How to improve it
- Group keywords tightly, so each ad can match its keywords closely.
- Write ads that use the searcher’s words and answer their need.
- Send clicks to a fast landing page that delivers what the ad promised.
- Add negative keywords to stop showing for irrelevant searches.
Quality Score is a Google Ads metric. It has nothing to do with how your site ranks in organic search.
Quality Score example
An ad group has the keyword “wedding photographer Leeds” with a Quality Score of 4. The report shows “below average” for ad relevance and landing page experience. The advertiser writes an ad that repeats the keyword and the city, and sends clicks to a Leeds wedding page with photos, prices and a short form instead of the home page. The score rises to 8 and the cost per click falls.
How to improve Quality Score
- Group keywords tightly, so each ad group has one theme.
- Write ads that include the main keyword and a clear benefit.
- Use all relevant assets, such as sitelinks.
- Make the landing page match the ad, with fast loading and clear content.
- Pause keywords with very low scores that do not convert.
Quality Score mistakes
- Treating Quality Score as a goal. It is a diagnostic, not a business result.
- Ignoring conversion value because the score looks good.
- Making mass changes in one day, which makes it hard to see what worked.
- Pointing different keywords to the same generic page.
Quality Score FAQs
Does Quality Score directly set what I pay?
No, but the signals behind it affect your Ad Rank and so your cost. See cost per click and ad extensions.
Where is it shown?
As a column at keyword level in Google Ads. See also landing pages and relevance score.