Quality Score QS

Why it matters

Quality Score is Google's quick read on how well a keyword, its ad and its landing page fit together. Google's own help describes it as a diagnostic tool, not a key performance indicator: and that it should not be optimised or aggregated with the rest of your data. What matters is what sits behind it, because the same underlying qualities (ad quality and landing page) feed Ad Rank, which decides whether your ad shows and where. Google says Quality Score is not an input in the ad auction.

Ad Rank, per Google's description, draws on your bid, the quality of your ads and landing page, the Ad Rank thresholds, the competitiveness of the auction, the context of the person's search, and the expected impact of your ad assets and other formats. Google adds that higher quality ads can often lead to lower costs per click, which is why matching the ad to the search is worth the effort.

How to improve what sits behind it

Each keyword is rated Above average, Average or Below average on three parts. Start with the lowest.

• Expected click-through rate. Write ads that use the searcher's own words, and add assets such as sitelinks and callouts.
• Ad relevance. Group tightly related keywords together so each ad speaks to one thing. Ten broad keywords under one ad is the usual cause of a weak rating.
• Landing page experience. Send the click to a page about exactly what was searched, that loads fast on a phone and makes the next step obvious.

Common mistakes

• Chasing 10 out of 10. A branded keyword can score 10 while earning nothing new. Judge campaigns by cost per acquisition, not by the average score.
• Pausing every keyword scored 3. Check conversions first; a low score on a keyword that sells is a prompt to fix the page, not to cut it.
• Treating one keyword's score as the account's health.
• Changing everything at once, so you cannot tell which fix worked.

Fixing these three parts is a routine part of how BridgeE manages Google Ads.