Quick answer: Quality Score is Google’s rating of how relevant and useful your keywords, ads, and landing pages are to the people searching. It is scored 1 to 10 per keyword and directly affects what you pay per click and how often your ads show. Higher Quality Score means lower CPC and better ad position.
What Is Quality Score?
Quality Score is Google’s 1 to 10 rating of the overall quality and relevance of your keyword, ad, and landing page in combination. It is one of the two core inputs into Ad Rank, which determines your ad position and what you pay per click.
Think of Quality Score like a customer service rating. Google rewards advertisers who provide a relevant, coherent journey from search to landing page, and penalises those who do not, by making them pay more for the same positions.
The Three Components
- Expected Click-Through Rate: How likely your ad is to be clicked when shown for this keyword
- Ad Relevance: How closely your ad copy matches the intent of the search query
- Landing Page Experience: How relevant, useful, and navigable your landing page is for users who arrive from the ad
Each component is rated Below average, Average, or Above average.
Why Quality Score Matters
A higher Quality Score means: lower cost per click for the same position, better Ad Rank, and greater eligibility for top positions and ad extensions. Moving from a Quality Score of 5 to 8 on a competitive keyword can reduce your CPC by 30 to 40 per cent.
How to Improve It
- Write ad copy that closely mirrors the keyword and user intent
- Keep ad groups tightly themed
- Improve landing page relevance, speed, and experience
- Review and improve expected CTR through ad copy testing
Quality Score improvement is a core focus of our PPC management service.
The Three Components of Quality Score
- Expected click-through rate. How likely Google thinks people are to click your ad relative to others in the same auction.
- Ad relevance. How closely your ad copy matches the keyword’s search intent.
- Landing page experience. Whether your landing page genuinely matches what the ad promises, and whether it loads quickly with useful content.
Each component is rated "below average", "average", or "above average". The overall Quality Score combines them into the 1 to 10 number.
Why Quality Score Matters
A keyword with Quality Score 8 can pay 30 to 50 percent less per click than a competitor with Quality Score 4 for the same ad position. Over a campaign with thousands of clicks, the savings are substantial. High Quality Score also means your ads are eligible to show in higher positions and on more auctions.
How to Improve Quality Score
- Tightly themed ad groups. Each ad group should hold a small set of closely related keywords, all answerable by the same ad copy and landing page.
- Specific ad copy. Use the keyword (or a close variation) in headlines and descriptions. Match the user’s search intent in the call to action.
- Dedicated landing pages. Send each ad group to a landing page that mirrors the ad copy. Generic homepages typically score lower than focused landing pages.
- Mobile-friendly, fast pages. Slow or broken mobile experiences damage Quality Score directly.
Frequently Asked Questions
How is Quality Score calculated?
Google combines three signals (expected CTR, ad relevance, landing page experience) and produces a 1 to 10 score per keyword. The exact algorithm is opaque, but tightly themed ad groups with relevant ad copy and matching landing pages reliably produce higher scores.
Where do I see my Quality Score?
In the Google Ads keyword view, add the Quality Score column. You will also see the three component diagnostics. Below 7 is a warning sign worth investigating; below 5 is usually costing you significantly.
Does pausing low Quality Score keywords help?
Sometimes. Pausing keywords that consistently score 3 or below stops them dragging your average down. But the better fix is usually restructuring (moving low-scoring keywords into a tighter ad group with relevant ad copy) rather than abandoning them.
Is Quality Score relevant for Performance Max campaigns?
Indirectly. Performance Max does not expose Quality Score per keyword, but the same underlying signals (asset relevance, landing page quality) drive performance. The fundamentals translate even when the metric is not visible.
Take this further
Quality Score is one of the cleanest levers for cutting Google Ads costs. Most accounts have keywords scoring 4-6 that could be at 8-9 with a tighter structure.
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