Quality Score (Google Ads): what it is and what affects it

Quality Score is Google's per-keyword 1-10 rating that reflects how relevant your ad and landing page are to the search query. Higher Quality Score means lower cost per click and better ad position. The three components that drive it: expected click-through rate, ad relevance, and landing page experience.

What it measures

For each keyword in your account, Google calculates a Quality Score on a 1-10 scale based on three factors:

1. Expected click-through rate: how likely your ad is to be clicked when shown for searches related to the keyword, compared to other ads on the same query
2. Ad relevance: how closely the ad's content matches the keyword's intent
3. Landing page experience: how relevant and useful the landing page is to people who click

Each component is rated as Above average, Average, or Below average. The combined score determines your Quality Score number.

Why it matters

Quality Score affects two outcomes:

1. Cost per click: higher Quality Score keywords pay less per click for the same ad position. The savings can be substantial. a Quality Score of 8 vs 4 can mean 30-50% lower CPC.
2. Ad position: Quality Score is a factor in the ad rank formula that determines who shows up where in the search results.

A poor Quality Score keyword in a competitive auction can be priced out entirely, or relegated to positions where conversion is unlikely.

What hurts it

Common causes of low Quality Score:

• Mismatched ad copy: ad does not speak to the keyword's intent
• Generic landing page: landing page does not contain the keyword or address its specific intent
• Wide match types with diluted intent: broad match keywords serving against off-target queries
• High bounce rate or short time-on-page: signals the landing page does not satisfy the searcher

Note that Quality Score is calculated per keyword, but it reflects the ad-and-landing-page experience for the queries that keyword matches. If your broad-match keyword is serving against junk queries, the bad experiences from those queries drag down the keyword's score.

What helps it

Three reliable improvements:

1. Tighten match types or add negatives: stop the keyword from serving against irrelevant queries
2. Match ad copy to keyword intent: write ads that explicitly mention the keyword and address its intent
3. Make landing pages keyword-specific: the landing page should make obvious to a 5-second visitor that they are in the right place

A focused negative keyword sweep often improves Quality Score for the surviving keywords because the ad-and-landing-page mismatch on the blocked queries is gone.

Related

• The role of negatives in Quality Score: negative keywords pillar
• Ad relevance and intent: search terms vs keywords