Google Ads Quality Score: what the number tells you, and what to do with it.

Open the keywords table in almost any Google Ads account, add the Quality Score column, and you will find a few keywords stuck at 4 or 5. The obvious next question is how to push that number up. The honest answer starts somewhere else. Google itself says you should not optimise the number. It is a diagnosis that points to where your ad, your keyword or your landing page falls short of the competition.

Read the score as a diagnosis and it becomes useful. This guide covers the three components, how much each one weighs according to a reverse-engineered model, and what the score does and does not do to your position and your cost per click. You will see where to find it, what to put next to it in GA4 and Meta Ads Manager, and how to improve each component. Definitions and examples come from the Google Ads Help Center, the weights from the PPC software company Adalysis. At Viralistic we use Quality Score the way Google intends: as a magnifying glass on one keyword, never as a target in a report. If you want the wider picture of the auction first, read what SEA is and how Google Ads works.

What is Quality Score in Google Ads?

Quality Score is a 1 to 10 rating that Google Ads reports for each keyword in your Search campaigns. A higher score means your ad and landing page are more relevant and useful to someone searching for that keyword than those of other advertisers. You may still see it called AdWords Quality Score. It is the same thing: Google AdWords was renamed Google Ads in 2018.

Google’s Help Center page on Quality Score is unusually blunt about what the score is for. It calls Quality Score “a diagnostic tool” and adds two lines worth remembering: Quality Score “is not a key performance indicator and should not be optimized or aggregated with the rest of your data”, and it “is not an input in the ad auction”. The number summarises how Google rates your ad quality. That quality counts in the auction. The number itself does not.

The score only exists at keyword level, in Search campaigns. Shopping campaigns run on a product feed without keywords, so they show no Quality Score. Microsoft Advertising uses a similar 1 to 10 quality score with the same three components, and unlike Google it also rolls the score up to ad group and campaign level.

What are the three Quality Score components?

Google calculates Quality Score from the combined performance of three components. Each one gets a status of above average, average or below average. That status comes from a comparison with other advertisers whose ads showed for the exact same search over the last 90 days.

The comparison per exact search explains a lot. An average status means you perform roughly as well as your competitors on that one search. That is not a failing grade, although Google notes it can still point to room for improvement. A below average status is the stronger signal: on that search, you are leaving something on the table compared with the rest of the auction.

Because Google looks back 90 days, a new ad or a better page will not show up in the score the next morning. The historical columns, covered further down, show how the score develops.

How Quality Score is calculated

Google does not publish a formula. What it does say is that Quality Score is based on historical impressions for exact searches of your keyword. That is why changing a keyword’s match type does not change its Quality Score. A broad match keyword can even have a score without impressions of its own, as long as a matching exact match keyword in the same ad group had impressions in the last 90 days.

If you see a dash in the Quality Score column, there are not enough searches that exactly match your keyword to calculate a score. Google suggests using Keyword Planner to find relevant keywords with more volume, or broadening match types so the keyword enters more auctions and collects exact match data faster.

Google also lists factors related to ad quality that might not be captured by Quality Score: the device someone searches on, their location and the time of day. The auction weighs more context per search than the single number in your account shows.

How much does each component weigh?

Because Google gives no formula, the PPC software company Adalysis reverse-engineered the visible score from account data. In their model, every keyword starts with 1 point and earns points per component:

Quality Score = 1 + expected CTR points + ad relevance points + landing page experience points

Expected CTR and landing page experience are each worth 3.5 points when above average and 1.75 when average. Ad relevance is worth 2 points when above average and 1 when average. Below average earns nothing. This is not an official Google formula, but it matches what many advertisers see in practice: landing page experience and expected CTR carry the most weight.

Worked example

A bespoke tailor bids on the keyword “made to measure suits”. The ad promises suits cut in the studio after two fittings, and people click it often: expected CTR is above average, and so is ad relevance. But the ad sends everyone to the homepage, which opens with a seasonal lookbook. The made-to-measure service sits two menus deeper. Landing page experience is below average.

In the Adalysis model that adds up to 1 + 3.5 + 2 + 0 = 6.5. Google shows a whole number in your account, but the model shows where the points are. If the tailor sends the same ad to a page about made-to-measure suits, with the fitting process at the top, and that page rates above average, the score becomes 1 + 3.5 + 2 + 3.5 = 10. All of the gain comes from the page. The ad was already fine.

Try it with the statuses from your own account. Use 0 for below average, 1 for average and 2 for above average.

Does Quality Score matter? Ad Rank, position and CPC

The number itself changes nothing. The ad quality behind it changes a lot. According to Google’s page about ad quality, ad quality affects whether your ad can show at all, where it appears on the page, whether certain assets show (some only appear above the search results) and how much you pay per click. Google writes that higher quality ads typically cost less per click than lower quality ads. If your ads are low quality, your actual CPC may end up close to your maximum CPC even when there is little competition.

Your position comes from Ad Rank, which Google calculates every time your ad is eligible: once to decide whether it can show, and again to rank it against other eligible ads. Ad Rank takes into account your bid, the quality of your ads and landing page, Ad Rank thresholds, the competitiveness of the auction, the context of the search and the expected impact of assets. Google states that even if competitors bid more, you can still win a higher position at a lower price with highly relevant keywords and ads.

Many explanations still describe Ad Rank as bid multiplied by Quality Score. That shortcut is too simple, and Google contradicts it: Quality Score is not an input in the auction. Just as persistent is the idea that a higher bid improves your quality. It does not. Your bid may affect your Ad Rank, but not the assessment of your ad quality. The same goes for how often your ads show and how many conversions you report. Moving an ad group with the same ads and keywords to another campaign or account does not change ad quality either.

One nuance for manual bidders: when your ad shows, you are never charged more than your maximum CPC for a click, however low your ad quality. With automated bidding that cap does not apply in the same way.

What is a good Google Ads Quality Score?

A good Quality Score is one where none of the three components is below average, on a keyword that brings in enquiries or sales at a cost that fits your margin. Google publishes no benchmark and advises against optimising the number itself. There is no universal good score.

If you want a rule of thumb anyway, Adalysis considers 7 a good score for non-branded keywords and expects your brand terms to score 10 almost every time. That second point makes sense. Someone searching your name wants you, so your ad and your site are the most relevant answer by definition. Adalysis also adds that revenue matters more than Quality Score: a keyword with a 4 that converts well is performing well.

That is our view too. We judge a campaign on what the business notices: how many enquiries come in, how good they are and what a new client costs. Quality Score is the magnifying glass. It shows which ad group needs better copy and which landing page lets visitors go. That is how we work in our marketing approach. How to pick the numbers that matter for your business is covered in our guide to KPIs, and how to work out the return on your ads in how to calculate ROAS.

How to check your Quality Score

Quality Score is not visible in Google Ads by default. You add it as a column in your keywords table:

1. Go to Keywords within the Campaigns menu.
2. In the upper right corner of the table, select the columns icon.
3. Under “Modify columns for keywords”, open the drop-down next to All columns and open the Quality score section.
4. Select Quality Score, Exp. CTR, Ad Relevance and Landing Page Exp.
5. To see how the score developed, also add Quality Score (hist.) and the other historical columns, then select Apply.

The standard columns show the current score. The (hist.) columns show the score for the reporting period you are looking at, and if you segment the table by day, you can follow the change day by day. That is how you check whether a new landing page made a difference.

Quality Score tells you where things go wrong, not why. For that you need other sources next to it.

In GA4, filter on google / cpc to see how long ad visitors stay and how many key events they trigger, such as a submitted form. If those numbers lag behind your other traffic, you know why landing page experience is not reaching above average.

Meta dropped its 1 to 10 relevance score in 2019. Ads Manager now shows three ad relevance diagnostics: quality ranking, engagement rate ranking and conversion rate ranking. They compare your ad with ads competing for the same audience. According to Meta, they are not available for ads with fewer than 500 impressions and, as with Google, they are not inputs in the auction.

How to improve your Google Ads Quality Score, component by component

Start with the component that has the lowest status, on the keywords that take the most budget. That is where improvement pays off first. Google’s own five ways to use Quality Score to improve performance are a good starting point, and the core advice never changes: give people what they are looking for, and good performance should follow.

Ad relevance: one theme per ad group

Ad relevance usually suffers in ad groups with too many different keywords. One ad can never answer all of them precisely. Google recommends splitting those ad groups into themes, for example by product or service. Google’s own example: if you sell rings, build one group for “engagement rings” and another for “wedding bands”. Then match the language of your ads to the words people actually search with. Check your search terms report to see which searches really triggered your ads, and exclude the ones that do not fit.

Expected CTR: write for the client you want

You raise expected CTR with ads that are more specific and name a clear benefit. Google suggests a strong call to action, a unique benefit and copy that matches the intent of the keyword. But Google also warns that a more specific ad sometimes brings fewer clicks and more conversions. Its example is about luxury dress shoes. A phrase like “free bow tie with order” attracts bargain hunters, while “fine craftsmanship” or “custom Italian design” speaks to people looking for a quality brand. The bargain message may get more clicks, but fewer loyal customers over time.

For premium brands this is the most useful lesson in the whole topic: write for the client you want, not for the click. Your brand script does the groundwork, with the customer as the hero, your brand as the guide and one clear promise. You can read more about that in what brand identity is. Then test two versions against each other, so you know which one works instead of guessing.

Landing page experience: keep the promise

In the Adalysis model this component weighs as much as expected CTR, and it is the one most often left untouched. Rewriting ads takes an afternoon. Improving a page needs someone who is allowed to work on the website.

Google’s guidance is concrete. Someone who searches for “flannel shirts” and clicks your ad for flannel shirts should land on your flannel range, not on your homepage. Keep the message consistent from ad to page, so the page follows through on the offer or call to action in the ad. Make the page easy to use on mobile and fast to load. Google’s help article on landing pages notes that in retail it has seen a one-second delay on mobile affect mobile conversions by up to 20 percent. And use your conversion rate as a proxy: it does not change your landing page status, but Google calls it a good way to measure and optimise the experience.

What Google does not ask for is the search term word for word on your page. Its own example: a search for “South Chicago Chihuahua-friendly budget hotels” does not need a page with that exact headline. A page that delivers what the visitor wants is enough. Google may also use information from its crawlers to assess ad quality, so keep your landing pages open to Google’s crawlers.

A better landing page also pays for itself outside Quality Score. Say you spend EUR 2,000 a month at an average CPC of EUR 4. That buys 500 clicks. At a 2% conversion rate you get 10 enquiries, and each one costs EUR 200. If a better page lifts the conversion rate to 4%, you get 20 enquiries at EUR 100 each, without your CPC dropping at all.

If higher quality lowers your CPC as well, the gap grows. How to make a page convert better step by step is covered in conversion rate optimisation. If the website itself is the problem, the work starts with webdesign.

Quality Score vs CTR, CPC and other Google Ads scores

Quality Score does not stand alone. It moves with the metrics you look at every day, and it resembles a few other Google Ads scores that measure something quite different.

The metrics around it

Expected CTR is Google’s prediction. Your actual CTR is what happened. They usually move together, but your actual CTR also depends on your position on the page. Your CPC typically falls as quality rises, because you need to bid less for the same position. If you lose impressions because your Ad Rank is too low, your impression share shows it, and quality is one of the levers you can pull. And your conversion rate is, in Google’s words, a good proxy for landing page experience, even though it does not feed into the score.

Not to be confused with Ad Strength or optimization score

Google Ads has more scores, and the names invite mix-ups. Here is how they differ.

Google is explicit that Ad Strength does not measure the quality of your landing pages. And you can reach an optimization score of 100% by applying or dismissing every recommendation. Both scores help when you build a campaign. Neither tells you much about what that campaign earns.

Common mistakes

Most misunderstandings about Quality Score come down to treating a diagnosis as a goal. Five mistakes that follow from it:

• Reporting an account-wide average Quality Score as a KPI. Google advises against aggregating the score, and an average hides exactly where the problem is.
• Pausing keywords that convert well, only because their score is low.
• Changing match types to push the score up. The score is based on exact searches, so this has no effect.
• Writing ads for the click instead of for the client, so CTR rises while enquiries stay flat.
• Working only on the ads while the landing page is the weak component.

How we help

At Viralistic, Google Ads does not start with the account. It starts with the foundation. Before any budget goes to ads, we check whether your story is clear, whether your website is fast and easy to use, and whether your measurement works. Those are exactly the things that shape landing page experience, and with it a large part of your Google Ads Quality Score. Often the best first step is not a campaign but a better page. When that is the case, we say so.

When the foundation is healthy and you want more clients, we add Google Ads as an accent on top of your SEO and organic visibility. We build ad copy and landing pages on your brand script, test versions instead of guessing, and review the results with you on enquiries, their quality and what a new client costs. Quality Score stays what Google built it to be: the diagnosis, never the goal. One strategic lead keeps the overview, and a person checks every piece of work, also when AI helped. Read more about our marketing approach or about outsourcing Google Ads.

Frequently asked questions

Is 7 a good Quality Score?

For most non-branded keywords, yes. Adalysis, which reverse-engineered the score from account data, considers 7 a good score and expects branded keywords to reach 10 almost every time. Google itself gives no benchmark. What matters more than the number is that no component is below average and that the keyword brings in enquiries or sales at a cost your margin can carry.

Why does my keyword show no Quality Score?

A dash in the Quality Score column means there are not enough searches that exactly match your keyword. Google cannot yet compare you with other advertisers, which is common for new or rare keywords. Google recommends using Keyword Planner to find relevant keywords with more search volume, or broadening match types so the keyword takes part in more auctions and collects exact match data.

Does a higher Quality Score always lower your CPC?

Usually, but not always. Google writes that higher quality ads typically cost less per click. If better quality lifts you to a higher position, you compete there with stronger ads, and your CPC can even rise. Adalysis points this out too. Judge the change on what an enquiry or a new client costs, not on CPC alone.

How quickly does Quality Score change?

Not overnight. Google compares each component with other advertisers over the last 90 days, so a better ad or landing page shows up gradually. Adalysis notes that scores for high-volume keywords can update within a day, while low-volume keywords may take a week. Add the (hist.) columns and segment by day to follow the change.

What makes a good landing page for Google Ads?

A good landing page gives people exactly what the ad promised, straight away. It matches the search intent, repeats the offer or call to action from the ad, loads fast and works well on mobile. Google suggests using conversion rate as a proxy for landing page experience. It does not change your status, but it tells you whether the page turns clicks into enquiries.

Is there a Google Ads Quality Score calculator?

Google offers no calculator and publishes no formula. The best-known estimate comes from Adalysis: 1 point, plus up to 3.5 points for expected CTR, up to 2 for ad relevance and up to 3.5 for landing page experience. The calculator in this article uses that model. Treat the result as a way to see where your points are, not as Google’s own number.

Do Shopping and Performance Max campaigns have a Quality Score?

No. Google reports Quality Score per keyword in Search campaigns only. Shopping campaigns run on your product feed and have no keywords, so there is no Quality Score, and Performance Max does not show one either. Quality still matters there. Clear product data, strong copy and a landing page that keeps the ad’s promise help in every campaign type.

Does Facebook have a Quality Score?

Not as a single number. Meta replaced its 1 to 10 relevance score in 2019 with three ad relevance diagnostics in Ads Manager: quality ranking, engagement rate ranking and conversion rate ranking. They compare your ad with ads competing for the same audience. They only appear once an ad has 500 impressions, and according to Meta they are not inputs in the ad auction.

Can you see Quality Score at campaign or account level?

Not in Google Ads itself. Google reports Quality Score per keyword only and advises against aggregating it. Tools such as Adalysis calculate an impression-weighted average per ad group or campaign: each keyword’s score times its impressions, divided by total impressions. Microsoft Advertising shows such roll-ups by default. Use an average to decide where to start, never as a target.