Ad Strength in Google Ads: what the rating measures
Ad Strength is the Poor-to-Excellent rating Google Ads shows while you build an ad. This guide sets out what it checks in each ad format, why an ad shows Incomplete, how to raise it, and why it is a checklist for your assets rather than a measure of results.
This guide is built from Google Ads Help: About Ad Strength for responsive search ads, About Ad Strength for responsive display ads, About Ad Strength for App Campaigns, How asset groups work (Performance Max), About dynamic sitelink assets and About text customization in Search campaigns. Checked on 10 November 2026. Where we add our own view, we say so.
How to write the headlines and descriptions themselves, pinning, and the asset reports are in our responsive search ads guide. This page is about the rating: what Ad Strength checks in each ad format, how to move it up, and how much weight to give it.
What Ad Strength is
Ad Strength is feedback Google Ads gives while you build or edit an ad made of assets. For responsive search ads Google says it has two parts: an overall rating, "a dynamic metric" that runs from Incomplete through Poor, Average and Good to Excellent, and "specific action items that can improve the strength of the ad". For responsive display ads Google adds a third part, "progress indicators by asset".
It is not a score of how the ad performed. Google describes it for search ads as "a feedback tool for asset diversity and combination testing", and for display ads as showing "how well an ad creative is configured vs our best practices". It recalculates whenever you change keywords, assets or account structure, so a rating that was Good last month can drop after you add keywords.
What it checks in responsive search ads
Google says Ad Strength for search ads "primarily evaluates the relationship between the assets you provide and the keywords you are targeting". The factors it lists:
- Keyword relevance: whether your headlines and descriptions contain your most relevant keywords. A keyword only counts if it sits whole in one headline. Keywords longer than 30 characters belong in the 90-character descriptions. During ad creation Google shows the ad group's popular keywords to work from.
- Number of assets: up to 15 headlines and 4 descriptions, because more assets give more combinations to match more searches.
- Diversity: unique headlines and descriptions covering different selling points and calls to action. Repeated words, phrases or ideas pull the rating down.
- Sitelinks: Google calls the number of available sitelinks "a key factor", see the next section.
How many headlines you need depends on the ad group. Google's example: an ad group with many keywords should use the full 15 headlines to cover its popular terms and reach "Good+"; one with few keywords may get there with fewer, because "fewer are required to cover your keyword variety".
Pinning also matters. Google advises against pinning unless necessary, because it limits the combinations the system can test. Pinning several near-identical headlines to the same position "blocks A/B testing and lowers your Ad Strength". If you must pin, for example for a compliance line, Google suggests pinning only 1 or 2 essential headlines and putting several strictly unique versions in that position. Our pinning section explains which positions always show.
The action items in the Ad Strength panel tell you which of these is holding the ad back. Each time you change an asset, Google recalculates the rating.
Sitelinks and Google-generated text count too
Google says having "6 or more sitelinks at the account, campaign, or ad group level improves your score", and that this "is a standard requirement for all advertisers". Two details are easy to miss:
- Sitelinks count by branch. Everything in the account > campaign > ad group branch above the ad counts towards the 6, both the sitelinks you uploaded and dynamic sitelinks. Six account-level sitelinks are enough for every ad group under them.
- Dynamic sitelinks, which Google generates from your site once you opt in, count. Google's dynamic sitelink page says they "help improve your ad's overall Ad strength rating".
Text customization (formerly automatically created assets) changes the count as well. When it is on, Ad Strength counts your own and Google's generated headlines and descriptions "equally". A new ad is rated on your assets only, and the rating updates once Google's assets are added. Google's text customization page still tells you to "stay focused on filling any gaps that remain". In our view, if you would not approve Google's generated lines for your brand, do not switch it on just for the rating; write more of your own headlines instead.
How to set sitelinks up, at which level, is in our sitelinks and assets guide.
Why an ad shows "Incomplete"
"Incomplete" means the ad is missing something basic rather than being weak. For responsive search ads Google lists three common causes:
- No final URL on the ad.
- The ad is not assigned to an ad group.
- The ad group has no keywords. Google notes "Your responsive search ad won’t serve without keywords."
For responsive display ads and App campaign ads, Google says you see "Incomplete" until the ad has its minimum of 2 headlines and 1 description.
Where to see it
Google names two places for search ads:
- While creating or editing the ad: the rating and action items update as you type.
- The "Ad strength" column in the Ads table. Click a rating to see its feedback. If the column is missing, open Columns, then Attributes, tick "Ad strength" and apply.
Google adds that even after an ad reaches Good or better you should keep checking, "as factors like keyword relevance can change over time". In our practice, a monthly look at the column, sorted by rating, is enough to catch ads that slipped after keyword changes.
Display, App and Performance Max
Ad Strength is not only for search ads. What it asks for differs by format:
| Format | What the rating looks at | Prompts Google lists |
|---|---|---|
| Responsive search ads | Keyword relevance, number and variety of headlines and descriptions, sitelinks | Add headlines, make them more unique, include popular keywords, add sitelinks |
| Responsive display ads | Number and variety of assets, plus asset quality parameters | "Add at least 1 square image", "Your headlines are too similar to each other", "Your descriptions are too similar to your headlines" |
| App campaigns | "the number and types of assets you include" | "Try adding a video", add at least 1 landscape, portrait and square video |
| Performance Max asset groups | Whether the asset group "has enough assets to drive best performance", across text, images and videos | Cover every asset type in every asset group |
Responsive display ads. Google says these "perform best when you add many unique creative assets", and that working through every step in the Ad Strength progress menu with "a variety of strong assets" gives an Excellent rating. Our image assets guide covers image sizes.
App campaigns. Google is firmer here: "Poor Ad Strength can contribute to low ad performance or ads not showing." It is not available for App campaigns for pre-registration.
Performance Max. Each asset group has its own rating. Google's asset group page says to "use the Ad strength indicator to determine if an asset group has enough assets", to cover text, images and videos in every group, and to add as many assets as possible, "including up to 15 headlines, 5 descriptions, images in different orientations, and videos in different orientations". Its recommended counts include 11 or more headlines, 2 or more long headlines, 4 or more descriptions, and 4 or more each of landscape and square images. Google also says it may resize your videos to "improve ad strength", and that some optional images "will help your campaign stand out with excellent ad strength". How asset groups fit into the campaign is in our Performance Max guide.
When an ad already rates Excellent, both the display and App pages give the same next step: "try replacing low-performing assets to improve overall performance". At that point the asset report is more useful than the rating.
How much weight to give it
Google is clear on what Ad Strength does not do. It "doesn’t determine whether your ad is eligible to serve", it "isn't used to calculate Ad Rank, Quality Score, or auction wins", and it "does not measure external factors, such as the benefits of adding new keywords or the quality of your landing pages and offerings". For the keyword-level diagnostic that does relate to auctions, see our Quality Score guide.
Google does link it to results. Its search ads page says advertisers who improve Ad Strength for responsive search ads and sitelinks from Poor to Excellent "see 15% more conversions on average", citing Google internal data from August 15 to 20, 2025. The same page says adding a second responsive search ad to an ad group brings "a 6.6% increase in conversions at a similar cost per conversion", and a third an average 3.7%. These are Google's averages across advertisers, not a promise for one account.
Our view: treat the rating as a checklist for coverage, aim for Good or better because it costs little, and judge ads on conversions and cost per conversion. If an ad rated Average beats an Excellent one on conversions over a fair period, keep the Average one. Raising the rating by adding headlines that say nothing new, or that make claims you cannot back up, is not worth it. Conversions have to be tracked for any of this; our conversion tracking guide covers the setup, and our experiments guide shows how to test a change properly.
FAQ
Does Ad Strength affect my ad's ranking or cost?
No. Google says Ad Strength is not used to calculate Ad Rank, Quality Score or auction wins, and it does not decide whether a responsive search ad can serve. It is feedback on whether your assets are numerous, varied and relevant enough.
How do I get Excellent Ad Strength on a responsive search ad?
Follow the action items: add up to 15 headlines and 4 descriptions, make them unique, put your popular keywords whole into headlines, have at least 6 sitelinks across the account, campaign and ad group, and pin only where you must.
Why did my Ad Strength drop when I did not change the ad?
Google calls it a dynamic metric that recalculates when keywords, assets or account structure change. New keywords that your headlines do not mention, or removed sitelinks, can lower the rating of an unchanged ad.
Do dynamic sitelinks and Google-generated text count?
Yes. Google says dynamic sitelinks count towards the 6-sitelink goal, and with text customization on, Ad Strength counts your assets and Google's generated text assets equally.
Does Performance Max have Ad Strength?
Yes, per asset group. Google recommends using it to check that each asset group has enough text, image and video assets, and adding up to 15 headlines and 5 descriptions plus images and videos in different orientations.
A strong ad still needs a landing page that matches it. See our website development service and all our services, or read the rest of our guides.