Quality Score is Google’s 1-to-10 rating of how relevant your keyword, ad and landing page are to what someone searched — and it directly sets how much you pay per click. A high score buys you cheaper clicks and better positions; a low one makes you overpay for worse placement. It is built from three components — expected click-through rate, ad relevance, and landing page experience — and improving any of them lowers your costs. Here is what Quality Score means and how to raise it.
What is Quality Score?
Quality Score is a diagnostic Google shows at the keyword level, scored 1 to 10. It is Google’s estimate of the quality of your ads relative to other advertisers bidding on the same terms. It is not a direct input into every auction, but it reflects the same relevance signals that decide your real cost per click and rank. In plain terms: the more relevant and useful your ad experience, the less Google charges you.
The three components
| Component | What it measures | How to improve it |
|---|---|---|
| Expected CTR | How likely people are to click your ad for that keyword | More relevant, benefit-led ad copy; test headlines; use the keyword in the ad |
| Ad relevance | How closely your ad matches the search intent | Tight keyword-to-ad-group themes; mirror the query language |
| Landing page experience | How relevant, fast and usable your page is | Match the page to the ad; speed; mobile-first; clear next step |
Why Quality Score matters for profit
Low-score keywords are a silent tax. You pay more per click and sit lower on the page, so you get fewer clicks at a higher price. Across an account, a handful of expensive low-relevance keywords can inflate CPCs everywhere and become a leading source of wasted spend. Raising Quality Score is one of the few levers that lowers cost and improves visibility at the same time.
How to improve Quality Score, step by step
1. Tighten your ad group themes
Sprawling ad groups with 30 loosely related keywords cannot be relevant to all of them. Break them into tight, single-intent groups so one ad can genuinely match every keyword in the group. Tighter themes lift both ad relevance and expected CTR.
2. Mirror the search in your ad
Use the keyword and the searcher’s language in your headlines. If someone searches “waterproof hiking boots,” an ad that says “Waterproof Hiking Boots” will beat a generic “Shop Our Footwear” on relevance and CTR.
3. Match the landing page to the promise
Send clicks to the most specific relevant page, not the homepage. The page should continue the ad’s message, load fast, work on mobile, and make the next step obvious. Landing page experience is the component advertisers most often neglect.
4. Improve expected CTR with better offers
Relevance gets the click; the offer seals it. Strong, specific value propositions and assets (sitelinks, callouts, structured snippets) raise CTR, which feeds back into a higher score.
5. Cut or rework chronic low scorers
Some keywords will never be relevant to your business. If a keyword sits at 1 to 4 after honest attempts to fix relevance, it is usually cheaper to pause it than to keep subsidising it.
What is a good Quality Score?
As a rough guide: 7 to 10 is healthy, 5 to 6 is average with room to improve, and 1 to 4 signals a real relevance problem. Branded terms often score 9 to 10 because intent and relevance are near-perfect. Judge non-branded commercial keywords against a target of 7+.
Where Quality Score fits in an account review
Treat Quality Score as one section of a broader health check alongside search terms, structure and tracking. The full sweep is in the Google Ads audit checklist, and knowing when to run Search versus automated campaigns is covered in Search vs Performance Max.
Frequently asked questions
What is Quality Score?
Google’s 1-to-10 rating of keyword, ad and landing-page relevance, built from expected CTR, ad relevance and landing page experience.
How do I improve it?
Tighten ad group themes, mirror the search in your ads, match landing pages to the ad, raise CTR with strong offers, and cut chronic low scorers.
Does it affect cost?
Yes — higher scores lower your cost per click and improve position; lower scores make you overpay.
What is a good Quality Score?
Seven or above for commercial keywords; 1 to 4 signals a relevance problem to fix or cut.
Adfure surfaces low Quality Score keywords and the relevance gaps behind them, then prepares the fixes for your approval. Get your free AI audit or explore the platform.