Google's 1-10 estimate of the quality of your ads, keywords and landing pages, reported at keyword level for Search campaigns. It is built from three parts: expected clickthrough rate, ad relevance and landing page experience.
Example
Meera's keyword 'designer kurtis Pune' had a Quality Score of 3 because the ad sent people to her homepage. After she sent the ad to the kurtis category page and wrote the headline around kurtis, the score rose to 7.
How you'll hear it
“The keyword's Quality Score is 3 and landing page experience is 'below average', so let's fix the page first.”
What it helps you decide
Which of the three parts to fix for a keyword: the ad text (ad relevance), the ad's appeal (expected CTR) or the page people land on (landing page experience).
Where people misread it
Chasing the number itself. Google says Quality Score is a diagnostic tool, not a key performance indicator, and not an input in the ad auction. A keyword with a modest score can still sell profitably, and a 10 does not guarantee sales.
The story
Meera's Search account shows a Quality Score of 3 on 'designer kurtis Pune'. The breakdown says expected CTR is average, ad relevance below average and landing page experience below average.
| Quality Score before | 3 |
| Average CPC before | ₹14 |
| Spend for 2,000 clicks before | ₹28,000 |
| Quality Score after | 7 |
| Average CPC after | ₹10 |
| Spend for 2,000 clicks after | ₹20,000 |
| Monthly saving for the same clicks | +₹8,000 |
|---|
What looks right: the score went from 3 to 7, so the job seems done.
What it hides: the score did not cause the saving. The better-matched ad and page did, because those same factors feed Ad Rank in each auction.
What to look at instead: the three components, then CPC and orders for that keyword. Fix what is below average; stop when the keyword pays its way.
All figures for Meera's store are fictional and for illustration only.
Don't confuse it with
Related terms
Want to use this at work? AI-led PPC Excellence is aFactor's 16-week program for paid ads.
Sources
- Quality Score: Definition, Google Ads Help
- About Quality Score for Search campaigns, Google Ads Help