Last updated: October 29, 2024

Tenscores

Google Ads Quality ScoreUnder The Hood

Quality Score is a grading system used by Google Ads to determine if an ad is good enough to be shown in the sponsored space of the search results, at which position, and the cost per click to charge the advertiser.

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Why does Quality score MATTER?

Reason #1: Costs

Your ad's cost-per-click (CPC) depends on it, as shown in the formula:

CPC = a QS ❏ Expand
The formula above was revealed by Google in 2009. The exact formula is unknown today, however, we do know that a variable in the CPC formula is divided by Quality Score, leading to significant click cost differences, as shown below:
Google Ads CPC At Each Quality Score
Below are the penalties and discounts of Quality Score, and how they translate into percentage increases or decreases in click costs:
Quality Score Impact In Percentage Increase of CPCs
Below is a real world example of the cost-per-click at each quality score of one advertiser:
CPC At Each Quality Score For one Google Ads advertiser
Join Tenscores to see this data for your own Google Ads account.
Read more about the CPC formula ↗

Reason #2: Ad Exposure

Your ad's position (Ad Rank) on Google's search results depends on Quality Score. The higher the Ad Rank, the better the position. The first ad on Google is always the one that has the highest Ad Rank.

AdRank = b image description QS ❏ Expand
This formula was also revelead by Google in 2009. Today, we do not know everything that goes into the number b, but we can assume that whatever goes into it is multiplied by Quality Score.
Ad Positon (AdRank) At Each Quality Score

Key Aspects Of Ad Rank

Unlike Quality Score, Ad Rank is a hidden value that Google does not display in the interface. It’s used by the algorithm to determine the order of ads on search results, with higher Ad Rank leading to higher positions.

As shown in the formula above, Ad Rank and Quality Score are closely connected—a higher Quality Score can boost Ad Rank and lower ad costs.

In addition to Quality Score, several other factors impact Ad Rank, including bid amount, ad quality (CTR, Ad Relevance, Landing Page Experience), Ad Rank thresholds, auction competitiveness, search context, and the nature of the search term. You can view all the factors Google shares about Ad Rank here.

In summary, while Ad Rank considers the elements that make up Quality Score, it also factors in other elements like the searcher's context (location, query, user signals, and attributes) to determine ad placement. This means Ad Rank depends on both ad quality and the relevance to the user’s unique search context.

Read more about the AdRank formula ↗
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THE 3 QUALITY SCORE FACTORS

  1. Ad Relevance
  2. Expected Clickthrough Rate (CTR)
  3. Landing Page Experience

Google evaluates these three areas to assess the user experience your ads provide to searchers.

1.

Ad
Relevance

Ad Relevance measures how closely your ad aligns with the keywords and landing page of its ad group. Including the keyword in every step is a good starting point, though not strictly required.

Keyword, Ad Text, Landing Page

Keywords, ads and landing page must be aligned with each other.

Landing page relevance


2.

Expected
CLICK-THROUGH RATE

Expected Click-Through Rate (Exp. CTR) is Google’s prediction of how well your ad should perform for a particular keyword, based on what other advertisers, both past and present, have achieved for that same keyword.

SEARCH
80%
Keyword CTR Domain & Account CTR Other
google search

Google.com and other country specific such as google.ca, google.ru, etc

Important: There are other CTR factors that may be taken into account, such as location, device, etc. Make sure your targeting is specific enough get you decent performance in comparison to your competitors.
SEARCH PARTNERS

Sites such as AOL.com, Google Images, etc

80% 15% 5%
Quality scores for Search Partners works the same way as Google.com. Although performance on these sites varies considerably from performance on Google Seach, it has NO impact on quality scores of your Google Search campaigns. It usually is good practice to separate your Google Search campaigns from Search Partners campaigns. Learn how.
DISPLAY
AUTO Placements
80% 15% 5% Semantic relevance of the ads and keywords in the ad groups to the site. connect The ad's past performance on similar sites in terms of CTR. connect
Managed PLACEMENTS
CPC BIDDING
90% 10% Landing page quality.
The historical CTR of the ad on similar sites. CPM BIDDING
100%
Landing page quality.
  • Landing page quality for display is most likely about relelvance and following "Good UI" principles.
  • Quality score for display campaigns is not visible anywhere in the Google Ads interface.
3.

Landing Page
Experience

Landing Page Experience focuses on fulfilling the promise of your ad and making content easily accessible to users. Your landing page should follow strong UI principles and, most importantly, convert at a rate that matches or exceeds your competitors.

Good UI

Your landing page should follow proven UI/UX principles for usability.

landing page quality
Conversion Rate

A conversion rate equal to or higher than other advertisers indicates that you’re fulfilling the promise of your ad.

Google knows how well your website converts—don’t ask how.

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WHAT DO THENUMBERS MEAN?

A 7/10 Quality Score is the recommended number and can be considered sufficient. Going above 7 is great but not always achievable and may not be worth the effort. Anything below 7 is a sign that something is wrong and should be worked on.
  • 1 Dead
  • 2 Sick
  • 3
  • 4 Weak
  • 5
  • 6
  • 7 Good
  • 8 Excellent
  • 9
  • 10
  • Dead If you get a 1/10, you're in trouble. Google has or is about to ban your website. You'll hardly get any traffic and your costs will be exorbitant.
  • Sick At 2/10 and 3/10, your keywords are suffering. You're not getting all the traffic you could and you'll be charged very high prices for such bad scores. To go from 2 or 3 to 7/10 will require quite some expertise.
  • Weak These keywords need your attention and getting them above 7 should be accomplished without much trouble. Simply follow the flow chart at the bottom of this page. You'll most likely need to regroup your ad groups and write better ads.
  • Good You've accomplished what you needed in terms of quality. Google likes what you're doing in comparison to other advertisers and you're not being penalized in terms of traffic or costs.
  • Excellent The holy grail. By achieving this high quality score, you've surpassed Google's expectations and your performance is above average compared to other advertisers. Your costs are being discounted and your ads are appearing in prominent positions and more frequently.
  • The jump from 7/10 to anything above is not linear and sometimes doesn't make sense. Keywords often go from 7/10 immediately to 10/10 with no transition to 8 and 9.

How To Improve Quality Score

In most cases, achieving a near-perfect 10/10 Quality Score requires your ad’s click-through rate to be significantly higher—often 2 to 3 times—than that of competitors in your ad auctions. While aiming for a 10/10, you might reach a 7/10 and decide it’s sufficient. Here are the most important steps to follow:

  1. Structure your ad groups by intent.

    The best ad in the world will fail if it's not talking to the right person. The message you write needs the right foundation: ad groups that are structured in families of search intent, where each keyword shares the same intent as it's neighbors. Tenscores' keyword grouping tool does this automatically and it increases the Ad Relevance factor.

  2. Get a better click-through-rate (CTR) than your competitors

    When structure is right, focus the rest of your time on testing new ads, relentlessly. Test one new ad every 200-500 impressions. You wan't to double or triple your ad CTR. Do this until your Expected CTR is above average.

  3. Use CTR to improve Landing Page Experience.

    What you learn when testing your ads will tell you what to put on your landing pages for a seemless user experience. The ad you write that gets the best attention is only a summary of what the user wants to see on your landing page. You will find that this also improves conversion rates.
It's not that hard if you follow that advice, and most importantly if you improve your ad writing skills. It is not easy to get there, but on that journey, you will learn a lot about the people you're trying to reach in ways that will improve your entire conversion funnel. Below is a more detailed visual flowchart on the exact steps we use to increase Quality Score. Print it, hang it on your wall.
PDF | JPG | PNG
How to increase Quality Score - Flowchart

Frequently Asked Questions about Google Ads Quality Score

What is Quality Score in digital marketing?

All digital advertising platforms use a version of Quality Score to rank ads and decide how much to charge advertisers for them. Facebook ads use the same logic, so does Microsoft ads quality score. The most important factor in each is click-through-rate, or anything that measures user engagement. User engagement, like CTR, is the strongest signal of the quality of an advert.

What is a good Quality Score?

A 7/10 Quality Score is the recommended value and is sufficient. Going above 7/10 is great but not always achievable and may not be worth the effort. Anything below 7/10 is a sign that something is wrong and should be optimized, click costs are being penalized.

Why is a good Quality Score important?

Quality Score is important for search advertisers because it has an impact on how much they pay for each click, and how much exposure their ads will get. Keywords with a good score are shown in more ad auctions, at higher positions and la ower cost-per-click, while keywords with low scores get penalized with higher costs and lower exposure.

What are the 3 components of Quality Score?

  1. Click-through-rates (CTR) at every level: keyword CTR, ad CTR, display url CTR, account CTR, etc... (90%)
  2. Relevance: are your keywords closely related to your ads and landing pages?
  3. Landing page experience: does your website load quickly, is it transparent and do people find what they're looking?

How do I start with good Quality Scores?

The keywords you choose are the first step to getting a higher Quality Score. On the spectrum of keyword research, you will find that your brand terms will often have a Quality Score from the start. It's because they are highly relevant: someone is searching for your company, they find it, they stick around. On the other end of the spectrum, you will find that bidding on your competitor terms will have poor Quality Score. It's because your own company is less relevant when someone is searching for your competitors: they will ignore you, most of the time. In knowledge of that, it is best to start advertising on your brand terms first, then work your way down the spectrum figuring out how to serve the searcher at each step and building a history of quality advertising that Google will reward you for.

What about display network quality score (content network quality score)?

Although display campaigns don't have a visible quality score in the Google Ads interface, they do have one internally. This invisble quality score is felt when campaigns fail to gather impressions. The factors influencing it are the same a search campaigns, however, the CTR required to compete on display network are much lower.

What does it mean when I see the message "Rarely shown due to low quality score"?

This message is an indication from Google that your quality score is so low that your ads are rarely displayed. In order to remedy such a situation, it is recommended to evaluate the keyword first. Should you really be advertising on that keyword? If the answer is yes, then start by bidding agressively at the beginning in order to gather some impressions and clicks then make sure that your ad is attractive enough to earn the click. Read this article for help with ads.

How is Quality Score and Ad Rank calculated?

The formula for Ad Rank is: Max. CPC x QS

The higher your Quality Score, the higher your Ad Rank meaning that your ads will be seen in higher positions on Google.

How often does google recalculate quality score?

Every time someone searches for a particular keyword and an ad shows up, its Quality Score is calculated. Dramatic changes in CTR have a quick impact on Quality Score and you can expect Quality Score to increase within a day or even less. However, it does take some time for the new quality score value to show up in your account if you have made changes to the landing page.