Quality Score is a 1 to 10 rating Google Ads gives each keyword in a Search campaign, showing how your ads and landing page compare with other advertisers for the same searches. It is built from three parts: expected clickthrough rate, ad relevance and landing page experience. Google describes it as a diagnostic tool. It is not itself used in the ad auction, but the ad quality it reflects is.
That last point is where most confusion comes from, so this page explains what Quality Score measures, what it does not, and how to use it.
How Quality Score is calculated
According to Google’s help page About Quality Score for Search campaigns (read September 2026), Quality Score is “measured on a scale from 1-10 and available at the keyword level”, and is “calculated based on the combined performance of 3 components”:
| Component | Google’s definition |
|---|---|
| Expected clickthrough rate (CTR) | “The likelihood that your ad will be clicked when shown.” |
| Ad relevance | “How closely your ad matches the intent behind a user’s search.” |
| Landing page experience | “How relevant and useful your landing page is to people who click your ad.” |
Each component is rated “Above average”, “Average” or “Below average”. Google says this rating is “based on a comparison with other advertisers whose ads showed for the exact same search over the last 90 days.”
So Quality Score is relative. A score of 5 does not mean your ad is half as good as it could be. It means that, compared with others bidding on the same searches, your ad and page sit around the middle.
What Quality Score is not
Google is direct about two limits on the same help page:
- “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. It’s a diagnostic tool.”
This surprises many advertisers, because Quality Score is often described as the thing that sets your cost. The auction uses Ad Rank instead.
How it connects to cost: Ad Rank
Ad Rank is, in Google’s words on About Ad Rank (read September 2026), “a set of values that are used to determine whether your ads are eligible to show and if eligible, where on the page your ads are shown”. Google says these values are “calculated based on several factors, including your competition, the context of the person’s search, and your ad quality at that moment.”
Quality Score and Ad Rank both draw on ad quality, but they are different things:
| Quality Score | Ad Rank | |
|---|---|---|
| What it is | A 1–10 diagnostic per keyword | The values used in each auction |
| Used in the auction? | No | Yes |
| Time frame | Based on the last 90 days of comparable searches | Calculated at the moment of each search |
| Best use | Finding which ads, keywords or pages need work | Deciding whether and where an ad shows |
A low Quality Score is a signal that your ad quality is weak for that keyword, and weak ad quality can hurt your Ad Rank. Fixing the cause helps; chasing the number for its own sake does not.
A simple example
Imagine two keywords in the same account for a renovation company in Kuala Lumpur. These numbers are for illustration, not from a real account.
- “kitchen renovation kl” shows a Quality Score of 8. Expected CTR is “Above average”, ad relevance is “Above average”, and landing page experience is “Average”. The ad headline repeats the search, and the ad sends people to a kitchen renovation page.
- “renovation contractor” shows a Quality Score of 3. Expected CTR is “Below average” and landing page experience is “Below average”. The same general ad is used, and it sends people to the homepage.
The second keyword does not need a higher bid first. It needs its own ad group, an ad that speaks to people looking for a contractor, and a landing page about contracting work. Once those change, the components usually improve, and so does the ad’s ability to compete in the auction.
Common reasons for a “Below average” rating
| Component marked “Below average” | Common causes |
|---|---|
| Expected CTR | Headline does not include the searcher’s words; offer is unclear; keyword is too broad and attracts unrelated searches |
| Ad relevance | One ad group covers too many different themes; ad text is generic |
| Landing page experience | Ad goes to the homepage; page is slow on mobile; page does not match the promise in the ad; no clear way to enquire |
Check the component ratings, not just the overall number. A keyword with a score of 6 and one “Below average” component has a clear, fixable problem.
How to improve the three components
Expected CTR
- Put the searcher’s words in the headline.
- Make the offer clear: price from, delivery time, location or a free consultation.
- Pause keywords that bring the wrong searches, and add negative keywords.
Ad relevance
- Group keywords tightly so each ad group covers one theme.
- Write ads for that theme, not one general ad for everything.
Landing page experience
- Send each ad to the most relevant page, not your homepage.
- Match the page headline to the ad.
- Make the page load quickly on mobile, with a clear form or WhatsApp button.
What not to do
A few common fixes do more harm than good:
- Raising bids to “fix” a low score. A higher bid can buy a better position for a while, but it does not change the ad quality behind the score. You pay more for the same weak ad.
- Deleting every low-score keyword. Some keywords with average scores still bring profitable enquiries. Judge keywords on cost per lead and sales first, and use Quality Score to find what to improve.
- Writing ads stuffed with keywords. Repeating the keyword many times makes ads harder to read, which can lower clicks. One natural mention in the headline is usually enough.
- Sending every ad to one page. A single landing page for all services is simple to build, but it rarely matches each search closely.
The work that improves landing page experience, such as a clear page that matches what people searched for, also helps the same page rank in normal search results.
Our guide to the landing page formula behind profitable Google Ads covers the page side in detail, and common Google Ads mistakes covers the account side. Speed is also part of the page experience; see our website maintenance checklist for regular speed checks. If you want someone to manage the account, see our Google Ads services.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is a good Quality Score in Google Ads?
Google does not publish a target number. Because the score compares you with other advertisers for the same searches, use it to find weak keywords and fix the component marked “Below average”.
Does Quality Score affect how much I pay per click?
Quality Score itself is not used in the auction. The auction uses Ad Rank, which includes your ad quality at the moment of the search, so improving the causes of a low Quality Score can help your ads compete.
Why does my keyword show no Quality Score?
Quality Score is based on comparable searches over the last 90 days. A keyword with little or no recent traffic may not have enough data to show a score.
How often is Quality Score updated?
Google evaluates the components against other advertisers’ ads for the exact same search over the last 90 days, so the score changes as new data comes in.
