Digital marketing glossary
What is Quality Score in Google Ads?
Written and reviewed by L.K. Monu Borkala · Updated
Definition
Quality Score is a diagnostic rating from 1 to 10 that Google Ads gives to each keyword. It estimates how relevant and useful your ads and landing page are to people who search for that keyword, compared with other advertisers. A higher score generally means your ad and page are a good match for the search.
How it works
Google works out Quality Score from three components, each rated Above average, Average or Below average: expected click-through rate (how likely people are to click your ad for that keyword), ad relevance (how closely the ad matches the intent behind the search) and landing page experience (how relevant and useful your page is after the click). You can see the score and its parts by adding those columns to your keywords report. Google states that Quality Score itself is not an input in the ad auction. It is a guide to the factors that do affect your ad rank and what you pay.
Example
Suppose a driving school in Lucknow sends every ad, including the one for the keyword 'two wheeler driving classes', to its homepage, which mostly talks about car lessons. The keyword shows a Quality Score of 3, with landing page experience rated Below average. The school creates a separate scooter lessons page with the ₹2,500 course fee, batch timings and a call button, and writes an ad that mentions two-wheelers directly. The ad, the keyword and the page now tell one consistent story.
An illustration: the business and the rupee figures are made up to show how the idea works.
Common mistake
Chasing the number instead of the components. Quality Score is a diagnostic tool, so the useful question is which of its three parts is Below average and why. Another mistake is putting dozens of unrelated keywords in one ad group with one generic ad, which makes ad relevance weak for most of them.
Where you learn it
- Module 7: Google Ads
- Class: Quality Score & Bidding Strategies
Related terms
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