Quality Score: what Google is grading, and the part your website controls
Google's score out of ten for how your ads and landing pages compare with other advertisers on the same keyword. It's a warning light, not the price you pay.
- 108Quality Score
- A diagnostic rating from one to ten that Google Ads gives each keyword, estimating how relevant your ads and landing page are compared with other advertisers. Google says the score itself isn't used in the auction, though the quality signals behind it shape ad rank and costs.
- Scored for
- Each keyword in a Search campaign, out of ten
- Built from
- Expected click-through rate, ad relevance and landing page experience
- Google calls it
- A diagnostic tool, not an input in the ad auction
A diagnostic out of ten, not a price tag
Here's the bit most explanations get wrong. Google says Quality Score itself isn't an input in the ad auction. Its Quality Score guide calls it a diagnostic tool, scored for each keyword in a Search campaign.
What does count is what the score is built from. Google's Ad Rank guide says the auction measures quality live, at the moment of each search, and that higher quality ads can often lead to lower costs per click. Fix the parts and the score follows.
The three parts of Quality Score, and who fixes each one
| Part | What Google is asking | Where it gets fixed |
|---|---|---|
| Expected click-through rate | Will people click this ad for this search? | The ad copy, and which searches you bid on |
| Ad relevance | Does the ad match what they searched for? | Tighter ad groups, using the search's own words |
| Landing page experience | Does the page deliver what the ad promised? | Your website |
Each part is rated above average, average or below average against other advertisers. Below average is the useful flag. The number on its own isn't.
Landing page experience is a website problem
The first two parts live in the ad account. The third lives on your site, and no amount of bid tweaking fixes a page that's slow on a phone, buries the product or says something different from the ad. That's conversion rate optimisation territory.
The page should also catch the people who aren't buying today, with a sign-up offer that suits the search and a welcome flow that picks up where the ad left off. You paid for that visit once. Don't pay for it twice.
Related terms
FAQs
What is a good Quality Score?
Google would rather you didn't chase one. Its own guide says the score isn't a number to optimise. Read the three ratings instead. Anything below average tells you where the problem is, and above average on all three means the ad and the page are both doing their jobs.
Does a low Quality Score mean we pay more per click?
Not directly, because the score isn't used in the auction. The quality signals behind it are, and Google says higher quality ads can often lead to lower costs per click. A low score tells you those signals are weak, so it tends to travel with a higher price.
Do Shopping ads have a Quality Score?
No. Quality Score is reported for keywords in Search campaigns, and Shopping ads don't use keywords, so there's nothing for it to grade. The equivalent work there happens in your product feed: titles, images, prices and stock that match the page.
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