Quality Score
Google's 1–10 rating of how relevant you are — and the cheapest lever in the auction, because relevance is a discount.
Two advertisers can sit in the same position on the same keyword and pay very different amounts.
Quality Score is why.
This is one entry in our performance marketing guide. It covers what the score is built from, what it genuinely affects, and the order to fix things in.
What is Quality Score?
Quality Score is a diagnostic in Google Ads, reported per keyword on a scale of 1 to 10. It estimates how relevant your keyword, your ad and your landing page are to what the person actually searched for.
It is not a ranking factor you can bid on. It is a summary of three things Google is already measuring.
| Component | What Google is asking | What you change to fix it |
|---|---|---|
| Expected CTR | Will people click this ad when they search this term? | The headline. Match it to the exact search. |
| Ad relevance | Does the ad actually address the search? | Ad group structure. Split broad groups into tight ones. |
| Landing page experience | Does the page deliver what the ad promised, quickly? | The page. Speed, message match, mobile behaviour. |
Each is reported as Above average, Average or Below average. Those three words are more useful than the 1–10 number, because they tell you which thing to fix.
What Quality Score actually changes
It affects two things, and both matter.
- Your position. Quality Score feeds Ad Rank, so a more relevant advertiser can outrank a higher bidder.
- Your price. What you pay is calculated using the Ad Rank of the advertiser below you divided by your own Quality Score. A higher score divides the same number by more — so you pay less for the identical position.
What Quality Score does not do
Worth knowing, because a lot of effort gets wasted here.
- It is a diagnostic, not a live auction input in itself. The real-time calculation uses its own signals; the 1–10 number is a reported summary.
- Raising it from 7 to 8 on a keyword nobody searches changes nothing. Work on volume keywords first.
- It does not transfer between accounts, and a brand-new keyword starts on an estimate rather than your history.
- A score of 10 is not a target. Diminishing returns arrive well before that.
How to improve Quality Score, in order
- Find the keywords that matter. Sort by impressions, not by score. A 3/10 on your top-spending keyword is worth more than every low-volume keyword combined.
- Read the three component ratings, not the number. They tell you which of the three problems you have. Fixing the wrong one is the most common waste of effort here.
- If ad relevance is below average, split the ad group. Almost always the cause is one ad group covering too many different searches. Tighter groups let the ad match the query.
- If expected CTR is below average, rewrite the headline. Put the searched phrase in it and lead with something specific. See responsive search ads for asset structure.
- If landing page experience is below average, fix speed first. Then message match — the page should repeat the promise the ad made, in the same words, above the fold.
- Add negative keywords weekly. Irrelevant searches drag expected CTR down across the whole ad group, and this is the fastest cleanup available.
The mistake we see most in Indian accounts
An account gets built around the business's own structure — one ad group per service, because that is how the website is organised.
But people do not search the way your org chart is drawn. One ad group ends up covering "seo services", "seo cost", "what is seo" and "seo company near me". Those are four different intents, one ad, and a permanently below-average relevance rating.
Splitting by intent rather than by service is usually the single largest Quality Score gain available, and it costs nothing but an afternoon.
Where to go next
Ad Rank is where Quality Score gets used, and CPC is what it discounts. For the account structure that makes all of this easier, start with the Google Ads guide.
Frequently asked questions
What is Quality Score in Google Ads?
Quality Score is a diagnostic rating from 1 to 10, reported per keyword, that estimates how relevant your keyword, ad and landing page are to what someone searched. It is built from three components: expected click-through rate, ad relevance and landing page experience.
Does Quality Score affect cost per click?
Yes, directly. What you pay is calculated using the Ad Rank of the advertiser below you divided by your own Quality Score. A higher score means you pay less for the same position, which makes relevance the only lever that lowers cost without lowering visibility.
What is a good Quality Score?
Seven or above is generally healthy, but the number matters less than the three component ratings. A keyword scoring three on high spend deserves far more attention than a keyword scoring six on almost no impressions. Ten is not a target; returns diminish well before it.
How do I improve a low Quality Score?
Read the three component ratings first, because they tell you which problem you have. Below-average ad relevance usually means the ad group covers too many different searches, so split it. Below-average expected click-through rate means rewrite the headline. Below-average landing page experience means fix speed and message match.
Why is my Quality Score low on a new keyword?
New keywords have no click history, so Google starts them on an estimate drawn from similar keywords and your account's overall performance. The score usually settles once the keyword has accumulated enough impressions and clicks to be judged on its own data.
Paying more than your competitors?
Low Quality Score is usually structural, not creative. Send us the account and we will show you where the relevance breaks.