Quality Score is a 1 to 10 rating that Google Ads gives each keyword in a Search campaign, estimating how relevant your ad and landing page are to people searching that term. According to Google, it is a diagnostic tool: it shows where your ads may be improved, but it is not an input in the ad auction. Here is how to read it and what to do with it.
What is Quality Score?
It is a comparison. Google rates your ad against other advertisers whose ads showed for the same search over the last 90 days. A higher score means your ad and landing page are more relevant to someone searching that keyword. It lives at the keyword level, not the campaign level.
One point causes confusion: Google’s help page says Quality Score is “not an input in the ad auction.” It summarizes quality, but position and price are decided by Ad Rank, which combines other factors.
What are the 3 components?
Each component is rated “Above average,” “Average” or “Below average.”
- Expected click-through rate (CTR): how likely your ad is to be clicked when it shows.
- Ad relevance: how closely the ad matches the intent behind the search.
- Landing page experience: how relevant and useful the page is to people who click.
Google says an “Average” or “Below average” rating may signal room to improve. The help page does not spell out the fixes, so the suggestions below are our practical guidance, not Google rules.
Where do you see Quality Score in your account?
The columns are not on by default. To turn them on:
- Under Campaigns, open Keywords.
- Click the columns icon in the upper right of the table.
- Under “Modify columns for keywords,” open the Quality score section.
- Add Quality Score, Landing Page Exp., Exp. CTR and Ad Relevance.
- For past data, add the “(hist.)” versions and segment the table by day.
- Click Apply.
What should you change for each component?
This is our reading. Treat each component as a separate question:
- Expected CTR below average: the ad is not convincing the people who see it. Test a headline that states clearly what you sell, the price or a condition such as shipping time, and cut generic wording.
- Ad relevance below average: the search term and the ad text are not talking to each other. A common fix is to split keywords with different intents into separate ad groups, each with its own ad copy.
- Landing page experience below average: people click and do not find what the ad promised. Send them to the exact product or category page, not the home page, and check that the page loads well on a phone.
Change one thing at a time and wait for enough data before judging. Because the score relies on the history of exact searches, it does not move overnight.
How does it relate to Ad Rank and cost?
Ad Rank is the set of values that decides whether your ad can show and where. Google lists six factors: your bid, ad and landing page quality, the minimum thresholds set to keep quality high, auction competitiveness, search context (terms, location, device, time) and the expected impact of assets and formats.
According to the help page, higher quality can lower your cost per click. To improve position, Google points to raising quality or raising your bid. If you are still deciding how much to spend, see how much to spend on Google and Meta ads, and use ROAS to judge whether a click pays off.
Why does a dash show instead of a score?
When the column shows only a dash, it means there are not enough exact searches to calculate a score. Google suggests using Keyword Planner to find higher-volume relevant keywords and broadening match types so the keyword enters more auctions and collects data. Changing match type does not change how the score is calculated.
What does Quality Score not capture?
Google lists factors the score may not reflect: the device used in the search, user location, time of day and assets. That is why a keyword can have a low score and still sell, or a high score and not. Google also says Quality Score is not a key performance indicator and should not be optimized or aggregated with your other metrics. Watch sales, cost per sale and margin.
Common mistakes
- Chasing a 10 instead of sales. A high score with a thin margin does not pay for the ad.
- Cramming many keywords into one ad group, which drags relevance down.
- Sending every click to the home page.
- Pausing low-score keywords without checking conversions. They may be selling.
- Judging too early. Without volume, the score does not even appear.
Who is this not for?
If you have no Search campaign running, there is nothing to analyze: the score comes from impression history. Advertisers using only formats without keywords will not get this per-term rating either. In that case, look at the campaign’s other metrics.
Frequently asked questions
Does Quality Score raise my cost?
Google does not describe it as a charge. Through Ad Rank, higher quality can lower your cost per click, but the actual price depends on the auction, competition and search context.
Does a low score stop my ad from running?
The help page has no such rule. The score is a diagnostic. But Ad Rank uses minimum quality thresholds, and an ad below the threshold may not show.
Can I compare scores across different keywords?
Quality Score is per keyword and compares you with advertisers on the same search, so use it to find weak spots inside your account, not to rank terms by profit.
How long until the score changes?
Google gives no timeline. Since the comparison covers the last 90 days and exact-search history, expect days or weeks after you change an ad or a page.
