Paid Search
Quality Score
Quality Score is Google Ads' 1 to 10 rating of the relevance and quality of your keywords, ads, and landing pages.
A higher score lowers your cost per click and improves ad position, so it directly affects how far your budget stretches. It is driven by expected CTR, ad relevance, and landing page experience, which means improving the landing page often moves it more than raising bids. It rewards genuinely relevant, useful ads.
The reported score updates slowly and is diagnostic rather than actionable on its own. The three component ratings underneath are where the work is. Landing page experience is the one most often left alone, and it is frequently the weakest, because campaigns get restructured while the destination page stays untouched for years. It is also the component that compounds: a better landing page raises the score, lowers the cost per click, and converts more of the traffic it receives. Historical account performance carries weight as well, so a new account starts at a disadvantage on an identical setup.
Example
A keyword shows Quality Score 4/10: expected CTR below average, landing page experience below average. The ad group holds 40 loosely related keywords sharing three generic ads, sending everyone to the homepage. Split into four tight groups with ads naming each service and pages to match, the score climbs to 8 over six weeks, and average CPC falls 34% for identical positions.
Frequently asked questions
- Why does Quality Score matter?
- It affects both cost and eligibility. A stronger score means cheaper clicks and better ad rank, so two advertisers bidding the same amount can pay very different prices. It is Google's way of rewarding relevance, not pure budget.
- How do I improve a low Quality Score?
- Work on the weakest of its three components. Tighten ad groups so ads match keywords closely, rewrite ads to include the actual search terms, and make sure the landing page delivers what the ad promised instead of dropping visitors on a generic homepage.
Related terms
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