How to Improve Quality Score in Google Ads (And What It Actually Means)

If you’ve ever opened Google Ads, seen a 4 out of 10 Quality Score, and felt personally attacked, you’re not alone.

Quality Score is one of the most misunderstood metrics in the platform. Some advertisers obsess over it. Others ignore it completely. The truth sits somewhere in the middle.

If you’re wondering what Quality Score actually is and how to improve quality score in your campaigns without chasing vanity metrics, you’re in the right place. Let’s break it down clearly and practically.

What Is Google Ads Quality Score?

Google Ads Quality Score is a 1 to 10 rating assigned at the keyword level. It’s Google’s estimate of how relevant and useful your ads and landing page are to someone searching that keyword.

It is based on three core components:

Expected click through rate
Ad relevance
Landing page experience

Quality Score is not a real time auction metric. It’s a diagnostic tool. That’s important. The number you see in your account is not directly used in the auction at that moment. Instead, it’s a reflection of how Google views the historical performance and relevance of your keyword, ads, and landing page combination.

That said, the factors behind Google Ads Quality Score absolutely influence your cost per click and ad rank. So while the visible score is diagnostic, the components are very real.

Why Quality Score Matters

Higher Quality Scores generally lead to lower costs per click and stronger ad positions. Why? Because Google wants to show ads that users actually find helpful.

If your ad gets clicked often, closely matches the keyword, and sends users to a relevant landing page, Google rewards you. If your ad feels generic, misleading, or disconnected from the search intent, you pay more for worse positions.

In practical terms, improving Quality Score often means improving performance overall. Better alignment leads to better click through rates. Better click through rates can improve conversion volume. Everything compounds.

But here’s the nuance. You should not optimize purely to chase a 10 out of 10. You should optimize to improve revenue and lead flow. Quality Score is a byproduct of strong structure and relevance, not the end goal.

The Three Components That Drive Quality Score

If you want to improve quality score, you have to understand what actually moves it.

Expected click through rate is Google’s prediction of how likely your ad is to be clicked when shown for that keyword. This is influenced by historical performance and how compelling your ad is compared to competitors.

Ad relevance measures how closely your ad matches the intent behind the keyword. If someone searches “emergency plumber near me” and your ad talks broadly about home services, that’s weak relevance.

Landing page experience evaluates how helpful, relevant, and usable your landing page is. If your keyword is about commercial roofing but your landing page talks mostly about residential work, that mismatch hurts you.

Each of these is labeled in your account as Below Average, Average, or Above Average. That’s where your improvement opportunities live.

How to Improve Quality Score the Right Way

Let’s get practical.

The biggest lever for improving Google Ads Quality Score is tighter account structure. Broad, bloated ad groups with dozens of loosely related keywords are a recipe for low relevance.

Instead, group keywords by tight themes. If you run a law firm, “car accident lawyer” should not sit in the same ad group as “estate planning attorney.” They deserve their own messaging and landing pages.

When keywords are tightly grouped, you can write ads that mirror the search terms more directly. That improves ad relevance and click through rate almost immediately.

Next, rewrite your ads to reflect the keyword more clearly. This does not mean awkwardly stuffing keywords into every headline. It means aligning intent.

If the keyword is “same day HVAC repair,” your headline should not just say “Trusted HVAC Services.” It should speak to urgency. Mention same day service. Highlight fast response times. Address the actual problem someone is trying to solve.

The more your ad feels like a direct answer to the search, the stronger your expected click through rate becomes.

Then look at your landing page. This is where many accounts fall apart.

Your landing page should clearly match the keyword theme. The headline on the page should reinforce the search intent. The content should address the same service or product referenced in the ad. The call to action should be obvious.

If you are sending all traffic to your homepage and hoping for the best, your landing page experience component will likely suffer.

Improving landing page alignment alone can move keywords from 4 or 5 up to 7 or 8 over time.

Common Mistakes When Trying to Improve Quality Score

One common mistake is obsessing over low volume keywords with poor scores while ignoring high spend keywords driving most of the budget.

Focus first on keywords that actually matter financially. If a keyword spends two dollars a month, it does not deserve hours of optimization time.

Another mistake is rewriting ads constantly without giving them time to gather data. Quality Score updates are not instant. Constantly resetting ads can delay meaningful improvement.

And finally, many advertisers assume bidding higher will fix Quality Score. It won’t. Bid affects position. It does not fix weak relevance or poor landing pages.

If your structure is messy, no bid adjustment will save it.

A Realistic Way to Think About Quality Score

Here’s the honest truth from managing spend over the years.

A 6 or 7 Quality Score on a high converting keyword is perfectly fine. A 10 on a keyword that never converts is meaningless.

Your goal is not perfection. Your goal is profitable traffic.

Improving Quality Score is really about improving alignment. Tighter keyword themes. Ads that speak directly to intent. Landing pages that deliver on the promise.

When those three elements work together, Quality Score improves naturally. Costs often go down. Conversion rates often go up. That’s the outcome you actually care about.

So, What Is Quality Score and How Do You Improve It?

Google Ads Quality Score is a 1 to 10 diagnostic rating that reflects how relevant and useful your keyword, ad, and landing page are to a user’s search.

If you want to improve quality score, focus on structure, messaging alignment, and landing page relevance. Tighten ad groups. Write ads that clearly match intent. Send traffic to pages that deliver exactly what was promised.

Do that consistently and Quality Score stops feeling like a mystery number and starts feeling like what it really is. A reflection of how well your marketing matches what people are searching for.

And when your marketing matches intent, performance usually follows.