Online Advertising
A number between 1 and 10 that decides whether you pay double or half. What it actually measures and which three levers really move it.
Quality Score is a mark for the fit between query, ad and landing page. It is reported per keyword on a scale of 1 to 10 and influences both position and the price you actually pay.
Three components are rated separately as below average, average or above average.
| Component | Weight | What moves it |
|---|---|---|
| Expected click-through rate | high | ad copy, relevance, past position |
| Ad relevance | medium | match between query and ad text |
| Landing page experience | medium | content, load time, mobile usability, trust |
The ratings are relative. You are compared against other advertisers for the same query, not against a fixed standard. In a field with very strong competitors, a solid ad can rate below average.
The relationship between score and price paid is roughly linear and inverse. An account averaging 8 pays noticeably less for the same position than one averaging 5. In practice the gap between a 4 and an 8 is often 40 to 60 per cent of the click price.
This works fastest, because it is where most accounts have the biggest gap. Bidding on "accessible bathroom refit" and sending traffic to a general services page, or worse the home page, reliably earns a below-average rating.
Check three things: does the query appear in the heading and first paragraph in natural language; does the page load its largest visible element in under 2.5 seconds on a phone; is the next step visible without scrolling.
This is the easiest defect to fix. Put the query verbatim into the first headline. It sounds banal and works immediately. With responsive ads you can pin a headline if you want to guarantee the term appears.
Careful: pinning too much removes the system's ability to combine and ends up depressing click-through rate. Pin at most one headline position and one description position.
This component is slow-moving and important. It rests on history and shifts only through better ads. What measurably helps: a concrete number in the headline, such as a lead time or a from-price; a differentiator competitors cannot claim; a clear call to action in the description; and every available extension, because they make the ad larger and therefore stronger.
For terms with fewer than 50 impressions a month the number is statistical noise. For brand terms it sits at 9 or 10 anyway. And for terms that produce pretty scores but no conversions, the problem is not quality but selection.
Treat the number as a diagnostic tool. It tells you where a structure does not fit. It does not tell you whether a keyword earns money.
Below 5 the work almost always pays. Below 3 the term is usually in the wrong account. Pushing 7 higher costs more than it returns.
It is reported only for search campaigns. Similar assessments operate elsewhere, without a visible number.
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