Google Ads Quality Score: How It Works & How to Improve It in 2026

What Is Google Ads Quality Score?

Quality Score is a keyword-level diagnostic score from 1 to 10. Google says a higher score means the ad and landing page are considered more relevant and useful to someone searching for that keyword compared with other advertisers.

It is intended to help you identify where ad quality may need improvement. Google specifically warns that Quality Score is not a key performance indicator and should not be optimized or aggregated like a business performance metric.

How Is Google Ads Quality Score Calculated?

Google calculates the reported Quality Score from the combined performance of three components:

Google says these component evaluations compare your performance with advertisers whose ads showed for the exact same search over the previous 90 days.

Component 1: Expected Clickthrough Rate (Expected CTR)

Expected CTR estimates how likely your ad is to receive a click when shown. It is not simply your historical CTR copied into another column. Google normalizes for factors such as ad position and other conditions that affect visibility.

A Below Average rating can indicate that the ad or offer is not compelling enough for the searches represented by the keyword.

• Make the ad’s value proposition clearer.
• Align the ad with the search intent behind the keyword.
• Use specific benefits instead of generic claims.
• Test calls to action that accurately match the next step.
• Avoid improving CTR by attracting clicks from people who are unlikely to convert.

Component 2: Ad Relevance

Ad Relevance evaluates how closely the ad matches the intent behind the user’s search. This is where keyword grouping, ad messaging and search-intent understanding meet.

Component 3: Landing Page Experience

Landing Page Experience evaluates whether the page people reach after the click is relevant, useful and easy to use. The page should fulfill the expectation created by the search and the ad.

• Match the landing-page headline and offer to the search intent.
• Keep the message consistent from keyword/search to ad to page.
• Make important information easy to find.
• Use clear navigation and a clear conversion path.
• Make the experience work well on mobile devices.
• Improve speed and usability where they create friction.
• Provide original, useful information rather than a thin page built only to host a form.

Quality Score vs Auction-Time Ad Quality

This distinction is the most important part of the article.

Google’s best-practice documentation explicitly says the real-time evaluations of the ‘big three’ quality components are used in the ad auction, while the reported 1-10 Quality Score itself is not.

Does Quality Score Affect Ad Rank and CPC?

The precise answer is more nuanced than the common statement ‘higher Quality Score lowers CPC.’

The reported 1-10 Quality Score does not enter the auction. However, Google says ad and landing-page quality are among the factors used in Ad Rank, alongside the bid, Ad Rank thresholds, auction context, competitiveness, and expected impact of assets and formats.

Google also explains that higher-quality ads can face lower minimum Ad Rank thresholds/minimum bids in relevant situations. Better auction-time quality can therefore improve competitiveness and cost efficiency, but there is no official fixed table saying a Quality Score of 10 always receives a specific CPC discount.

What Is a Good Google Ads Quality Score?

There is no universal Quality Score target that every profitable keyword must reach. A score above the comparison baseline can be encouraging, but business performance still matters more.

Use the score comparatively and diagnostically. A high-value keyword with Quality Score 5 and profitable customer acquisition can be more important than a 10/10 keyword that generates low-value traffic.

How to Check Quality Score in Google Ads

1. Open Google Ads and go to Campaigns > Keywords / Search keywords.
2. Open the Columns control for the keyword table.
3. Choose Modify columns.
4. Open the Quality score section.
5. Add Quality Score, Landing Page Exp., Exp. CTR and Ad Relevance.
6. Apply the columns.
7. For trend analysis, also add the historical versions of those columns.

Google also allows the historical Quality Score/component columns to be segmented by day so you can see how the diagnostics changed over the reporting period.

Use Historical Quality Score to Diagnose Changes

Historical columns are useful when you changed ads, landing pages or keyword organization and want to see whether the quality diagnostics improved afterward.

How to Improve Expected CTR

1. Review the search intent behind the keyword and real search terms.
2. Make the offer more specific and useful to that intent.
3. Strengthen the primary headline/value proposition.
4. Use verified differentiators – price, availability, expertise, guarantee or other proof where applicable.
5. Test calls to action that accurately describe the next step.
6. Use relevant ad assets to give searchers more useful information.
7. Measure whether CTR gains also improve conversion quality.

How to Improve Ad Relevance

1. Inspect the actual search terms behind the keyword.
2. Separate genuinely different intents that require different messages.
3. Group keywords by shared user need, not by tiny spelling variations.
4. Write responsive search ad assets that clearly answer that need.
5. Keep important service/product terminology naturally present in the message.
6. Align the final URL and landing-page promise with the ad.
7. Use negative keywords when irrelevant demand is the actual source of mismatch.

This is where the JuvioX Campaign Structure, Keyword Research, Match Types, Negative Keywords and Search Terms guides should be internally linked rather than repeated.

How to Improve Landing Page Experience

1. Confirm the page immediately answers the searched need.
2. Match the ad’s promise, offer and CTA on the page.
3. Make trust evidence easy to find.
4. Reduce unnecessary navigation/form friction.
5. Ensure the mobile experience is usable.
6. Improve page speed when it affects real visitor experience.
7. Keep content original, useful and transparent.
8. Send users to the most relevant page instead of defaulting every click to the homepage.

The JuvioX Low Quality Score Diagnostic Framework

Then check business performance. If the keyword is profitable, prioritize improvements that preserve that profitability. If it is unprofitable, determine whether quality is the bottleneck or whether the issue is CPC, competition, conversion rate, lead quality, offer or economics.

Quality Score and Campaign Structure

Quality Score is not awarded at campaign or ad-group level. Google explicitly says there is no campaign-level, ad-group-level or account-level Quality Score.

Moving the same keywords and ads into a different campaign does not improve ad quality by itself. Structure matters only when the change improves what the user sees – for example, a more relevant ad or landing page.

Quality Score With Broad Match and Modern Matching

Google notes that a broad-match keyword can receive a Quality Score based on a corresponding exact-match keyword’s impressions in certain circumstances. This is another reason not to interpret the number as a literal grade for every broad-match query the keyword can reach.

For modern matching, search-term quality, Smart Bidding, negative keywords and conversion data should be evaluated alongside the diagnostic components.

Quality Score vs Ad Strength

Quality Score and Ad Strength are different diagnostics.

A campaign can have a strong Ad Strength rating and still have Quality Score or business-performance problems, and vice versa. Use each diagnostic for its intended job.

What Does and Does Not Matter for Ad Quality

Common Quality Score Problems and What to Check

Google Ads Quality Score Optimization Checklist

• Quality Score and all three component columns visible
• Historical Quality Score columns available for trend analysis
• High-spend/high-value keywords prioritized first
• Expected CTR issues separated from intent-quality issues
• Ad Relevance reviewed against real search terms
• Landing pages mapped to the correct search intent
• Mobile landing-page experience tested
• Negative keywords used where irrelevant queries cause mismatch
• CTR changes evaluated with conversion quality
• Quality Score reviewed alongside CPC, conversion rate and CPL/CPA
• No unsupported Quality Score-to-CPC multiplier used in reporting
• Profitable keywords not paused solely because the score is low
• Account structure changed only when it improves relevance/control
• Optimization documented before/after using historical component data

Common Google Ads Quality Score Mistakes to Avoid

Final Takeaway: Diagnose the Experience, Not the Number

Quality Score is most useful when it tells you where the keyword-to-ad-to-landing-page experience is weak. Expected CTR can expose an unconvincing message. Ad Relevance can expose an intent mismatch. Landing Page Experience can expose a weak post-click experience.

The 1-10 number is not the auction and it is not the business outcome. Use it alongside search terms, CPC, conversion rate, CPL/CPA, qualified leads, revenue and profit. Improve what the user experiences, and let Quality Score serve its proper role: diagnosis.