What Is Google Ads Quality Score and Why Is It Costing You Money?
If you’re running Google Ads and not paying attention to Quality Score, there’s a good chance you’re overpaying for every click — sometimes by 2–3x more than a well-optimised competitor. Here’s what Quality Score is, how it works, and how to improve it.
What Is Quality Score?
Quality Score is Google’s rating of the quality and relevance of your keywords, ads, and landing pages. It’s displayed as a number from 1 to 10 in your Google Ads account, where 10 is the highest possible score.
Quality Score directly affects two things:
- Your Ad Rank — which determines where your ad appears in search results
- Your actual CPC — a higher Quality Score means you pay less per click
The Real Cost of a Low Quality Score
Google’s auction rewards relevance. Two advertisers bidding $10 on the same keyword will pay very different amounts based on their Quality Score. A competitor with a QS of 8 might pay $4 per click and appear above you, while you pay $9 per click with a QS of 4. That’s the same ad position at less than half the cost — purely from having a better-optimised account.
The Three Components of Quality Score
1. Expected Click-Through Rate (CTR)
Google predicts how likely people are to click your ad when it appears for a given keyword, based on historical performance. Ads that closely match what searchers are looking for get higher predicted CTRs.
How to improve: Write compelling ad headlines that directly address the search intent. Include the keyword in your headline. Use ad extensions (callouts, sitelinks, call extensions) to increase the size and appeal of your ad.
2. Ad Relevance
How closely your ad copy matches the intent behind the keyword. If someone searches “emergency plumber Maroochydore” and your ad headline says “General Plumbing Services”, that’s low relevance.
How to improve: Create tightly themed ad groups — one ad group per service or location. Write ad copy that mirrors the specific keyword being searched. Don’t use one generic ad for all your keywords.
3. Landing Page Experience
Google evaluates the page you send people to after they click your ad. It looks at page relevance, load speed, mobile-friendliness, ease of navigation, and how transparently the page delivers what the ad promised.
How to improve: Send clicks to a specific landing page that matches the ad — not your homepage. Ensure the page loads fast, works on mobile, has a clear headline matching the ad, and makes it easy to take the next step (call, form submission).
How to Check Your Quality Scores
- Log into Google Ads
- Go to Keywords in the left menu
- Add the Quality Score column (click the columns icon, search “Quality Score”)
- Sort by Quality Score ascending to find your lowest-performing keywords
Target Quality Scores by Keyword Type
- Brand keywords (your own business name): Should be 9–10
- High-intent service keywords: Aim for 7–9
- Competitive industry keywords: 5–7 is reasonable
- Below 5: Needs immediate attention — you’re overpaying significantly
Quick Wins to Improve Quality Score
- Pause keywords with QS 1–3 that aren’t converting — they’re dragging down your account
- Restructure ad groups so each group targets one specific service
- Add the keyword to your ad headline (use dynamic keyword insertion as a shortcut)
- Improve your landing page speed — aim for under 2.5 seconds on mobile
- Add negative keywords to reduce irrelevant clicks that lower your CTR
At Oop Design, Quality Score optimisation is a core part of how we manage Google Ads campaigns for Sunshine Coast businesses. Learn about our Google Ads management service or contact us for a free account audit.