The Complete Guide to Google Ads Quality Score

Mastering paid search advertising on platforms like Google Ads or Microsoft Ads requires a solid understanding of Quality Score. Just as your credit score determines loan eligibility and interest rates, Quality Score affects how your PPC ads perform and how much you pay for each click. Higher Quality Scores lead to lower costs per click (CPC) and higher ad positions in search results.

What is Quality Score?

Quality Score is a 1-to-10 rating of the quality and relevance of your keywords in relation to your ads. It is a critical component of the Ad Rank formula, where Google multiplies your Quality Score by your maximum bid to determine your ad position. Microsoft Ads employs Quality Score in the exact same manner.

There are two types of Quality Scores in your account:

  • Visible Quality Score: This is the 1-to-10 rating displayed in your account reports that guides your optimization efforts.
  • Auction Quality Score: Calculated during every search auction based on millions of queries, this score is not displayed in your account. However, improving your Visible Quality Score directly boosts your Auction Quality Score.

How Quality Score is Calculated

Your Quality Score is calculated using three primary factors, each rated as Above Average, Average, or Below Average:

  • Expected Click-Through Rate (eCTR): An estimation of how likely a user is to click your ad based on historical data and how well your keywords match search queries.
  • Ad Relevance: How closely your keywords align with your ad copy.
  • Landing Page Experience: An estimation of page speed, device compatibility, content usefulness, and clear privacy transparency.

The formula for calculating the visible keyword Quality Score weights these factors as follows:

Visible Quality Score = 1 + Landing Page Experience Points + Ad Relevance Points + Click Through Rate Points

How to Find Your Quality Score

To view your keyword Quality Score in Google Ads, select "Keywords" under the left-hand "Audiences, keywords, and content" menu. From there, customize your columns to add Quality Score, Expected CTR, Ad Relevance, and Landing Page Experience. If you see dashes instead of a number, it simply means the keyword has not gathered enough historical data or has low search volume.

What is a Good Quality Score?

Quality Scores are not static. What constitutes a "good" score depends on your strategy and keyword types:

  • 7-10 (Amazing): Scores in this range are outstanding. A perfect 10/10 is difficult to achieve, so any score of 7 or above is excellent.
  • 4-6 (Great/Average): This is highly common, and most keywords fall into this range.
  • 1-3 (Low): These keywords need improvement, but do not pause them if they are still hitting your cost or conversion goals.

Bidding on your own brand name typically yields high Quality Scores automatically because your ads and landing pages naturally mention your brand, driving higher expected CTRs. Bidding on competitor brand names usually produces low Quality Scores (1-3) because you cannot mention trademarked names in your ads, and users are less likely to click. In this case, a low score is expected and does not mean the strategy is failing.

How to Improve Your Quality Score

You can actively improve your scores using the following proven strategies:

1. Organize Your Account Structure

Group keywords into small, tightly related lists. Verify that every ad in an ad group is highly specific and relevant to every keyword in that group. If some ads do not match, move those keywords to a new ad group.

2. Conduct Regular Keyword Research

Build your campaigns on a solid foundation. Regular keyword research ensures that your keywords remain relevant to your ad messaging and landing page content.

3. Conduct Continuous Ad Testing

Test your ads regularly within each ad group. Keeping 2 to 3 active ads allows you to test while ensuring only your best-performing ads run. Pause losing ads with high impressions and low clicks to prevent them from dragging down your Quality Score.

4. Optimize Landing Page Experience

Ensure landing pages load quickly and are easy to navigate on any device. Ensure your content is useful, trustworthy, and transparent with privacy policies. Monitor proxies like bounce rates and dwell times in your analytics, and use PageSpeed Insights to diagnose technical issues.

5. Target Improvements with Priority Scores

Reviewing every keyword is time-consuming. Instead, use an Ad Group Priority Score, which weights keyword Quality Scores by impressions and ad group spend. This focuses your optimization on the areas that have the greatest impact on your performance.