Adalysis Study: Higher Ad Strength RSAs Get More Impressions but Convert Better Only 45% of the Time

Adalysis, the PPC software company, published a data study on 27 October 2026 covering more than 5,900 Google Ads accounts, and it found that when an ad group runs two responsive search ads with different ad strength ratings, Google gives more impressions to the higher-rated ad in 63% of cases, yet that ad has the better conversion rate only 45.1% of the time. The study is a rerun of Adalysis's 2022 ad strength research. Search Engine Journal covered it on 3 November, naming Adalysis co-founder Brad Geddes as the author. The short version: for unpinned ads, a higher rating generally lines up with better results, but once you pin headlines, Adalysis says, ad strength stops being a good guide to how to build your ads.

What the Adalysis ad strength study measured

Adalysis set out to answer five questions it says advertisers ask most: whether an Excellent rating is worth chasing, how ad strength relates to impressions and conversion rates, what it takes to reach Excellent, how pinning affects ad strength, and what happens when ads in the same ad group carry different ratings.

The study leans on CPI, conversions per 1,000 impressions, which it calls one of the best measures of ad effectiveness because it combines click-through rate and conversion rate in one number. It reports both weighted data, where ads with more impressions count for more, and unweighted data, where every ad counts the same so that ads with millions of impressions do not swamp smaller ones.

According to the study's "About the data" section, ads had to be active for at least 30 days with at least 250 impressions, ad groups needed at least one conversion so tracking was known to work, branded ads were excluded, ads with data anomalies such as 100% conversion rates were removed, and campaigns using final URL expansion were left out because that feature can ignore pinning.

Unpinned ads: higher ad strength, better results

For unpinned ads on non-branded search terms, Adalysis reports that CTR increases with every step up in ad strength. Conversion rates also rise slightly at each step, except between Poor and Average. Because CTR improves sharply, CPI rises at each rating level. The study says the weighted and unweighted analyses gave very similar results.

Excellent ads make up 33% of all unpinned ads in the data. Adalysis's conclusion for this group is direct: if you do not pin, aim for Excellent.

Reaching Excellent depends on variety as much as volume. Only 44% of ads with 15 or more headlines achieved Excellent, and only 49% of ads with 16 or more headlines did (some ads exceed 15 headlines when automatically created assets are on; the most any ad in the study had was 62). In the most extreme case, an ad with 38 assets was rated Poor. Adalysis recommends at least 11 different headlines mixing keyword-related lines, benefits, features, calls to action and authority statements.

Pinned ads: how pinning changes ad strength

Pinning usually lowers ad strength, because Google counts fewer unique lines. Among pinned ads, higher ad strength still improved CPI for every pinning combination except ads with every headline pinned. The study's pinning findings are among its most specific:

• Ads pinning only headline 2 had lower CPI and conversion rates than ads pinning headline 1, or headlines 1 and 2. Adalysis says assets pinned to headline 2 often pre-qualify users, which is common in B2B.
• Ads that pin headline 3 alongside headline 1 or 2 had the highest CTRs but the lowest conversion rates, a result the study calls harder to explain.
• Fully pinned ads rated Poor, with a single headline pinned to each position, had the highest conversion rates. Adalysis attributes that to the advertisers behind them, who its earlier pinning study found tend to be the most active ad testers.
• Pinning two or more positions means an ad cannot reach Excellent. Pinning three or more assets to a single position still leaves room for Excellent; pinning one or two caps the ad at Good.
• Without pinning, an ad can reach Good with as few as 7 assets. Once you pin, the minimum rises to 10. For ads with all three headlines pinned, Adalysis suggests aiming for 13 assets.

The study also reports that Google weights headline positions differently when you pin: headline 1 gets the most weight, then headline 2, with much less focus on headline 3.

Two ads, one ad group: who gets the impressions

The study's within-ad-group test isolates ad groups with exactly two active RSAs that carry different ad strength ratings, using the same targeting and the original data criteria, analysed unweighted.

The table below sets the 2026 results against Adalysis's 2022 study, as the study reports them.

The bigger the gap in ratings, the more often the higher-rated ad got more impressions. An Excellent ad beat a Poor ad on impressions in 78% of ad groups. Ads two ratings apart, such as Excellent against Average or Good against Poor, won 66% of the time. The closest pairing, Good against Average, went to the higher-rated ad 59% of the time. Overall, higher-rated ads had 63% more impressions than lower-rated ones.

Performance pointed the other way. The lower-rated ad converted better in 55% of ad groups, and the conversion rate difference was 9.2%: in the study's example, if the lower-rated ad converted at 5%, the higher-rated ad converted at 4.59%. On CPI, the lower-rated ad won in 54.3% of ad groups. On cost, the lower-rated ad had the lower CPA in 51.5% of ad groups, and across all ad groups the higher-rated ads had an 11.8% higher CPA, or $111.80 against $100 in the study's example.

Adalysis says pinning explains much of this. In most mixed-strength ad groups, one ad is pinned and the other is not, and pinned ads tend to carry lower ratings and higher conversion rates.

What Google says about ad strength

Google's own help page, "About Ad Strength for responsive search ads", describes the rating as feedback on the potential effectiveness of an ad, ranging from Incomplete and Poor through Average and Good to Excellent. It states that the rating "doesn't directly influence your ad's serving eligibility", and lists as a common misconception that ad strength is used in auctions: it "isn't used to calculate Ad Rank, Quality Score, or auction wins." The same page says advertisers who improve ad strength from Poor to Excellent see 15% more conversions on average, recommends at least two RSAs rated Good or Excellent per ad group, and advises pinning sparingly, with several unique versions pinned to the same position if you must pin.

Search Engine Journal also quoted Google Ads Product Liaison Ginny Marvin, who wrote on X in March 2024 that ad strength "isn't used directly in the auction." Adalysis's own conclusion is that Google "has increased its reliance on ad strength to determine what ad to show in an auction over the years." That is Adalysis's reading of observational data. Google's statements are about auction inputs; the study measures which ad ended up with the impressions. Both can be true at once, and the study does not show the mechanism behind the serving pattern.

What the study does not tell you

Adalysis does not say which countries or industries the 5,900 accounts come from, so the dataset cannot be read as a picture of any one market. The study is observational: it shows how ads with different ratings performed, not why Google served them as it did. It excludes branded ads and campaigns with final URL expansion. It does not compare ROAS or CPA in its aggregate data, which Adalysis says would not be meaningful across accounts with very different costs; CPA is compared only within ad groups. And because Adalysis sells ad testing software, readers should note that its recommendations favour active testing, which is also what its tool does. The figures themselves are the study's own and are given with their method.

What to check in your Google Ads account

The steps below are analysis based on the study's findings, not instructions from Google.

• Sort RSAs by pinning status first. The study shows ad strength means different things for unpinned, partly pinned and fully pinned ads. Judge each group separately.
• Push unpinned ads toward Excellent with distinct headlines. Adalysis's floor is 11 different headlines. If an unpinned ad sits low with 15 headlines, repetition is a likely cause given the 44% figure.
• Rebuild pinned ads in Adalysis's order. Remove the pins, edit until Excellent, re-pin, then keep editing until the ad is at least Average (or Good if only one headline is pinned).
• Read mixed-strength tests on CPI and CPA, not impressions. With the higher-rated ad taking more impressions in 63% of ad groups, a lower-rated ad may need far longer to reach statistical significance.
• Do not pause a converting ad because of its label. In this data the lower-rated ad had the better conversion rate in 55% of pairs.

Those checks depend on clean conversion data. If your tracking is uncertain, a GA4 setup and conversion tracking review comes before any ad test. For ongoing RSA testing and account structure, see our Google Ads management service.

What this means for Thai marketers

The study does not say whether any Thai accounts are in its data, so its percentages are a global reference, not a Thai benchmark. The practical point carries over: Thai advertisers who pin headlines for compliance, pricing or brand reasons should expect lower ratings and should judge those ads on conversions and CPA. An RSA that converts well but carries a Poor label is worth checking against its CPA before anyone replaces it.

FAQ: Google Ads ad strength and RSA performance

Does higher ad strength mean better Google Ads performance?

For unpinned ads, generally yes: Adalysis found CTR, CPI and, with one small exception, conversion rate all rise with ad strength. The exceptions are fully pinned ads, where Poor-rated ads had the highest conversion rates, and ad groups testing two ads with different ratings, where the lower-rated ad usually converted better.

Does Google show higher ad strength ads more often?

In the Adalysis data, yes: the higher-rated ad got more impressions in 63% of two-ad ad groups, and in 78% when Excellent was paired with Poor. Google states that ad strength is not used to calculate Ad Rank, Quality Score or auction wins.

Should I stop pinning headlines to get Excellent ad strength?

Not necessarily: fully pinned ads rated Poor had the highest conversion rates in the study. Adalysis advises pinning several assets per position if you pin, and says advertisers who test rigorously can judge fully pinned ads on results rather than the rating.

How many headlines do I need for Excellent ad strength?

Adalysis recommends at least 11 different headlines for unpinned ads, but quantity alone is not enough: only 44% of ads with 15 or more headlines reached Excellent.

Is this study relevant to Google Ads accounts in Thailand?

Adalysis does not state which countries its 5,900+ accounts are in, so treat the percentages as a reference point and test against your own conversion data.

The full study, with charts and data criteria, is on the Adalysis blog. If you want a second look at how pinning and ad strength are affecting your RSAs, Relevant Audience can review your Search campaigns with you.