Google Ads Quality Score: the three parts and how to read them

Everything here comes from Google's own Google Ads Help pages: About Quality Score for Search campaigns, 5 ways to use Quality Score to improve your performance, About ad quality, About Ad Rank, and Google's ad quality best practices guide (Using Quality Score to guide optimizations, What matters (and what doesn't) and Connect ad quality to better performance). Where we give our own view, we say so.

What Quality Score is, and what it is not

Google describes Quality Score as a diagnostic tool meant to give you a sense of how well your ad quality compares to other advertisers. It is a number from 1 to 10, shown per keyword, and only for Search campaigns. A higher number means your ad and landing page are more relevant and useful to someone searching for that keyword than other advertisers' are.

Two sentences on Google's page matter more than the number itself:

• Quality Score is not a key performance indicator and should not be optimized or aggregated with the rest of your data.
• Quality Score is not an input in the ad auction.

Google's best practices guide compares it to a warning light for a car's engine: it tells you something may need attention, not how well the account is doing. In our view, a campaign full of 5s can make money, and a 9 on a keyword that never converts is no comfort. Our Google Ads basics guide explains the auction and Ad Rank; this page goes into the score itself and how to use it.

The three parts

Quality Score is calculated from the combined performance of three components. Each one gets a status of "Above average", "Average" or "Below average", based on a comparison with other advertisers whose ads showed for the exact same search over the last 90 days.

The third column is our reading of Google's improvement advice, not a Google label. Google says an "Average" or "Below average" status may indicate an opportunity to make improvements. The component statuses are more useful than the 1-10 number because they tell you where to look. Google's own guide says the quality component columns are far more important than the 1-10 number.

Because the score is built from exact searches of the keyword, Google says changing keyword match types will not impact Quality Score. A broad match keyword can also show 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; both keywords then report the same score.

Adding the columns

Quality Score is not shown in the keyword table by default. To add it:

1. Go to Keywords in the Campaigns menu.
2. Select the columns icon at the top right of the table.
3. Under "Modify columns for keywords", open the drop-down next to "All columns" and open the Quality score section.
4. Pick the columns you want and select Apply.

There are two sets of columns:

• Current: Quality Score, Landing Page Exp., Exp. CTR and Ad Relevance. These show the latest values.
• Historical: Quality Score (hist.), Landing Page Exper. (hist.), Ad Relevance (hist.) and Exp. CTR. (hist.). These show the values for the reporting period you have selected, and you can segment the table by day to see daily changes.

The historical columns are handy after a change: if you rewrote the ads in an ad group or moved traffic to a new landing page, you can see whether the component statuses moved afterwards. Google's advice is to watch trends but value current performance most, and to use these columns only alongside more business-critical metrics.

When the score shows "—"

A dash in the Quality Score column means there are not enough searches that exactly match the keyword to calculate a score. Google suggests two ways to gather data: use Keyword Planner to find relevant keywords with more search volume, or broaden the match type so the keyword takes part in more auctions. Broadening does not change how the score is calculated; it just raises the chance of collecting enough exact-match searches.

In our experience a dash on a niche keyword is normal and not a problem in itself. If the keyword brings in conversions at a cost you are happy with, there is nothing to fix.

Quality Score versus auction-time quality

This is the part that confuses people most. Google's Ad Rank page says your ad's position and eligibility depend on, among other things, the quality of your ads and landing page, and that the calculation uses auction-time measurements like expected CTR, ad relevance, and landing page experience, among other factors. The Quality Score in your account is a summary of that assessment, not the value used in the auction.

Google's best practices guide puts it plainly: The real-time evaluations of these three components are used in the ad auction, while your Quality Score itself is not. Auction-time quality is worked out for each search, with its context. Google's Quality Score page lists factors that the score may not capture, including the device, the user's location, the time of day and assets.

Ad quality still matters for what you pay and where you show. According to Google's ad quality page, it affects:

• whether your ad can show at all, since ads must meet a quality level;
• where on the page it appears, through Ad Rank;
• whether assets such as sitelinks show, since some only appear in higher positions;
• how much you pay per click: Higher quality ads typically cost less per click than lower quality ads. Google adds that with low quality ads your actual CPC may come close to your maximum CPC even when competition is low.

Ad Rank thresholds, the minimum an ad needs to show, also depend on ad quality, so Google says higher quality ads will have a lower minimum bid to show.

What affects ad quality and what does not

Google lists several common beliefs about ad quality and says which ones hold. In short:

One detail is worth knowing about structure: moving a keyword into a new ad group with different ad text can change its quality, because the searcher now sees a different ad. Splitting ad groups helps when it changes what people see, not on its own. Google also says you don't need to bid for higher positions to increase Quality Score, so you can bid for the clicks and costs that suit your business.

What to do about each part

Google's "5 ways" page gives advice per component. In summary:

Expected CTR is Below average or Average

• Make the offer in the ad text more compelling and more specific.
• Make sure the ad matches the intent of the keywords.
• Highlight a unique benefit, such as free shipping.
• Test calls to action that connect closely to the landing page.

Google adds a caveat: a more specific ad can bring a lower CTR but a higher conversion rate, so look for the balance that works for your goals. Our responsive search ads guide covers writing headlines and descriptions, and why Ad Strength is a separate measure that does not feed into Quality Score.

Ad relevance is Below average or Average

• Match the language of the ad more directly to what people search for.
• Split ad groups whose keywords are too different to be served by the same ad.
• Group keywords into themes, such as products or services. Google's example is separate groups for "engagement rings" and "wedding bands".

The search terms report shows what people actually typed, which is the best guide to how an ad group should be split.

Landing page experience is Below average or Average

• Give people what they searched for: a click on an ad for flannel shirts should land on your flannel shirts.
• Keep the message consistent from ad to page, so the page delivers the ad's offer.
• Make the page easy to use on mobile and quick to load.

Google says the exact words of the search do not need to appear on the page, and suggests conversion rate as a proxy for a good landing page experience, while noting that it does not affect the status. Google also says information from its crawlers may be used to assess ad quality, so a page that blocks or breaks for crawlers is worth checking. Our landing page basics guide covers message match and page structure, and Core Web Vitals covers speed.

How we read it

This is our own working method, not Google's:

• We start from keywords that spend money, sorted by cost, not from the lowest scores. A 3 on a keyword with ten impressions a month is not worth an afternoon.
• We look at the three component columns, not the 1-10 number, and fix the part that is "Below average".
• When the same component is weak across many keywords in an ad group, we treat it as an ad group problem: one landing page or one ad that does not fit.
• We judge changes by conversions and cost per conversion. If the score rises and those do not improve, the change did not work.
• We never average Quality Score across an account to report it. Google says it should not be aggregated, and a weighted average hides the keywords that matter.

Google's own "5 ways" page suggests a similar approach: use the score as a filter alongside CTR, conversion rate and site engagement, both to find good keywords that could do better and to spot weak patterns across the account.

Frequently asked questions

Is Quality Score used in the Google Ads auction?

No. Google says Quality Score is not an input in the ad auction. The auction uses real-time evaluations of expected CTR, ad relevance and landing page experience, among other factors, and Quality Score summarises them.

What is a good Quality Score?

Google does not name a target. It calls the score a diagnostic, not a key performance indicator. An "Average" or "Below average" component status points at something worth improving; the number alone does not.

Why does my keyword show a dash instead of a score?

There are not enough searches that exactly match the keyword yet. Google suggests finding higher-volume keywords with Keyword Planner or broadening the match type to gather data.

Does raising my bid improve Quality Score?

No. Google says your bid may affect Ad Rank but does not affect the assessment of ad quality, and expected CTR is normalised for ad position.

Does Performance Max have a Quality Score?

Google describes Quality Score for Search campaigns and shows it per keyword. Performance Max campaigns do not use keywords, so there is no keyword table to show it in.

A "Below average" landing page experience is often the quickest win, and it is a website job. See our website development service and all our services, or read the rest of our guides.