TL;DR
- Google's Help documentation states that Quality Score is not an input in the ad auction; it is a diagnostic tool shown per keyword on a 1 to 10 scale.
- The three components are expected clickthrough rate, ad relevance and landing page experience, each reported as Above average, Average or Below average.
- Ad Rank is built from auction-time quality plus bid, thresholds, competitiveness, context and ad assets, and Google says higher quality ads can often lead to lower CPCs.
Google Ads quality score is a 1 to 10 diagnostic rating that Google shows for each keyword in a Search campaign. It summarises how your ad quality compares with other advertisers across three components: expected clickthrough rate, ad relevance and landing page experience. Google's own Help documentation states that Quality Score is not an input in the ad auction. It is a diagnostic tool, so the useful question is not "how do I raise the number?" but "what is the number telling me about my ads and landing pages?"
What Google Ads quality score is, and what it is not
Quality Score is a keyword-level diagnostic. Google Ads reports it on a scale of 1 to 10 for keywords, and the score is meant to give you a sense of how well your ad quality compares with other advertisers. It sits next to the keyword in your reporting table, which makes it look like a lever. It is not one. Google's Help page says plainly that it is a diagnostic and that it should not be treated as a key performance indicator.
Two practical consequences follow. First, a low score will not by itself stop your ads from running, and a high score will not by itself win you an auction. Second, chasing a "7 out of 10" target for its own sake is a poor use of time. A keyword with a modest score that brings in profitable enquiries is doing its job. A keyword with a score of 9 that never converts is not.
The auction itself is decided fresh each time someone searches, which is covered in the section on ad rank below.
The three components of Quality Score
Google documents three components. Each one is reported with one of three statuses: "Above average", "Average" or "Below average". The statuses are the part worth reading, because they point to a specific fix, while the single 1 to 10 number does not.
Expected clickthrough rate
Expected clickthrough rate (expected CTR) is Google's estimate of how likely your ad is to be clicked when it shows for that keyword. A "Below average" status here tells you that the ad, as it reads today, is less likely to attract the click than ads from other advertisers on the same term. The causes are usually in the ad itself: a generic headline, no mention of the thing the searcher typed, weak or missing ad assets, or a keyword that is broader than the ad can speak to.
Ad relevance
Ad relevance describes how closely your ad matches the intent behind the searcher's query. It is most often weak when many unrelated keywords sit in one ad group and share the same ads. If an ad group contains "emergency plumber", "bathroom renovation" and "water heater price", no single ad can be closely relevant to all three.
Landing page experience
Landing page experience is Google's view of how useful and relevant your landing page is to people who click your ad. It is about the page, not the ad. Typical causes of a weak status include a page that does not mention what the ad promised, a slow or hard-to-use mobile layout, or a destination that sends every keyword to the same generic home page.
| Component | What it describes | First place to look |
|---|---|---|
| Expected clickthrough rate | How likely the ad is to be clicked for this keyword | Ad headlines, ad assets, keyword breadth |
| Ad relevance | How closely the ad matches the search intent | Ad group structure, keyword-to-ad match |
| Landing page experience | How useful and relevant the page is after the click | Page content, mobile usability, destination choice |
Where to see Quality Score in your account
In Google Ads, open the Keywords page under Campaigns. Use the columns icon in the reporting table to add the Quality Score column and the columns for the three component statuses. Once they are visible you can sort by status, which is far more useful than sorting by the overall number.
Because Quality Score is reported per keyword, the view is only as informative as your keyword list is clean. Keywords that have very few impressions will give you little to read. Start with the keywords that carry most of your spend or most of your impressions, since those are where a weak component costs you most.
Does Quality Score affect CPC and ad rank?
Quality Score itself does not feed the auction, but the things it describes do matter. Google's Help page on Ad Rank lists the factors that decide where an ad appears: your bid, ad and landing page quality, the Ad Rank thresholds, the competitiveness of the auction, the search context and the expected impact of ad assets. The same page says that higher quality ads can often lead to lower CPCs.
The page also separates the two ideas. Ad Rank uses auction-time quality, which can include measurements such as expected CTR, ad relevance and landing page experience, recalculated for each search. Quality Score is the reported summary you read in your account. So the accurate way to put it is: Quality Score is not what the auction uses, but the same underlying qualities influence your ad rank and, through it, what you tend to pay per click.
What moves each component
Raise expected CTR by writing for the query
Review the ads on your weakest keywords against the actual search terms that triggered them. If searchers type "dental implant cost" and your headline says "Premium dental care", the ad does not mirror the question. Rewrite headlines so that the main idea of the query appears in the ad, add relevant ad assets such as sitelinks and callouts, and test more than one headline angle. Judge the result on clickthrough rate over a long enough period, not on a single day.
Raise ad relevance by tightening ad groups
The cleanest fix is structural. Group keywords that share a single intent and give them ads written for that intent. This does not mean one keyword per ad group by default. It means that every keyword in a group could honestly be answered by the same ad. When the list does not pass that test, split it.
Raise landing page experience by matching the promise
Send each ad group to the page that answers it. A keyword about a specific service should land on that service page, not a menu. Check the page on a phone, because a layout that looks fine on a desktop can be awkward on a small screen. Confirm that the headline on the page repeats the offer in the ad, that the form or contact method is visible without hunting, and that the page loads quickly on a normal mobile connection.
Common mistakes with Quality Score
- Treating the number as the goal. Google calls it a diagnostic. Optimising to the number can lead you to cut broad keywords that were converting.
- Pausing keywords only because of a low score. Check conversions and cost per conversion first. A low-scoring keyword that brings leads at an acceptable cost is not the problem.
- Stuffing the keyword into every headline. Repeating the exact phrase can make ads read as robotic and does not fix a weak landing page.
- Ignoring the landing page. Teams often rewrite ads for weeks while the page is the component marked "Below average".
- One ad group for everything. A single ad group with dozens of unrelated keywords makes high ad relevance close to impossible.
- Reading too little data. Keywords with only a handful of impressions give a thin basis for any conclusion.
A worked example (illustrative numbers)
The following figures are invented to show the reasoning, not real benchmarks. Suppose a clinic's Search campaign has a keyword "teeth whitening price" with the three statuses reading Average, Below average and Average. The component that stands out is ad relevance. Looking at the ad group, the clinic finds that the same ads also serve "braces cost" and "wisdom tooth removal", so the ads talk about "dental treatments" in general.
The fix is to move the whitening keywords into their own ad group, write headlines that mention whitening and the price question, and point the ads to the whitening page. After a few weeks the clinic reviews the same keyword. If ad relevance has moved to Average or Above average, and clickthrough rate and enquiries have improved, the change worked. If the status has not moved, the next place to look is the search terms that trigger the ad, because the keyword may be matching queries the ad cannot answer.
Notice what the example does not do. It does not set a target score. It reads one weak component, forms one hypothesis and tests one change.
What this means for Thai marketers
This section is analysis, not a statement from Google about Thailand. Google's documentation describes Quality Score in general terms and does not give Thailand-specific guidance. Applying it locally raises a few practical questions.
Thai-language queries are often written without spaces between words and can mix Thai and English terms, for example a product name in English followed by a Thai question word. That makes the match between query and ad harder to judge by eye, so reading the search terms report matters more than reading the keyword list. If your ads use Thai headlines but the landing page is in English, or the reverse, the page may not feel relevant to a visitor who searched in Thai. Keep the language of the ad and the page consistent.
Mobile behaviour is the second point. If the page is slow or awkward on a phone, a weak landing page experience status is a reasonable thing to expect. Check mobile first, and check the page on a normal connection rather than office Wi-Fi.
Finally, businesses that sell several services often run them all from one ad group because it is quicker to set up. In a Thai market where searchers tend to type specific service or price questions, splitting by service is usually the way to make ads and pages answer the query. A sensible account review of your Google Ads campaigns can start at exactly this point, with structure before copy.
How to review Quality Score in your own account
- Open Keywords and add the Quality Score column and the three component columns.
- Filter to keywords with meaningful impressions or spend, and ignore the long tail with almost no data.
- Sort by the component statuses and list the keywords marked "Below average" in each.
- For ad relevance, check whether the keyword and its ad group's ads share one clear intent.
- For expected CTR, compare ad headlines with the real search terms in the search terms report.
- For landing page experience, open the destination on a phone and check that it matches the ad promise.
- Change one thing at a time, note the date, and review the same keyword after enough traffic has accumulated.
If landing pages are the weak component, the page itself may need work. A dedicated landing page design that matches each ad group's offer is a common remedy, and a review of Search campaign management can show whether the structure behind the ads is the real issue.
What Quality Score cannot tell you
Quality Score cannot tell you whether a keyword is profitable. It does not include your conversion rate, your margins or your sales cycle. It is a comparison of ad quality, and a business can have excellent scores and still lose money on poor targeting or an uncompetitive offer. It also cannot tell you why a competitor outranks you on a given search, since Ad Rank depends on bid, thresholds, auction competitiveness and context as well. Use it to find weak spots in ads and pages, then judge success with conversion data.
Google Ads quality score FAQ
Is Quality Score used in the Google Ads auction?
No, Google's Help documentation states that Quality Score is not an input in the ad auction. It is a diagnostic tool. The auction uses auction-time quality measurements that can include expected CTR, ad relevance and landing page experience, recalculated for each search.
What are the three components of Quality Score?
The three components are expected clickthrough rate, ad relevance and landing page experience. Each is shown as Above average, Average or Below average, which tells you which part of the ad or page to fix.
Where do I find Quality Score in Google Ads?
Go to Keywords under Campaigns and use the columns icon in the table to add the Quality Score and component columns. The data is reported per keyword, so it appears on Search keyword rows.
Does a higher Quality Score lower my CPC?
Not directly, because Quality Score is not an auction input, but Google says higher quality ads can often lead to lower CPCs.
Should I pause keywords with a low Quality Score?
Not on the score alone. Check conversions and cost per conversion first, then look at which component is weak and whether a change to the ad, ad group or landing page could fix it before you pause anything.
If you would like a second pair of eyes on your account structure, ad copy and landing pages, Relevant Audience can review them as part of its Google Ads service.
