What does Google Ads Quality Score show?
On this page04 sections
Quality Score is a way to read how useful your ad and landing page look, for someone searching that keyword, compared with other advertisers. It sits on the keyword row from 1 to 10. It is not the campaign’s grade.
A diagnostic row
The score is available at keyword level on Search campaigns. In Google’s wording, a higher score means your ad and landing page are more relevant and useful to someone searching that keyword than other advertisers’ ads. It points at where an improvement might help: the ad, the landing page or the keyword choice.
Google states that the score is not a performance indicator. It is not a target to optimize or to aggregate with the rest of the data. It is not an input in the ad auction. The reported 1–10 is a diagnostic read after the fact.
The column is hidden on the keyword table until you add it. From Keywords in the Campaigns menu, the Quality Score section in the column picker adds the current score and the three component statuses. Historical score belongs to the reporting period you are viewing, and splitting the table by day shows the daily change.
Three components
The score is calculated from the combined performance of three components. Each is marked “Above average”, “Average” or “Below average”. The comparison is with other advertisers whose ads showed for the exact same search over the last 90 days.
| Component | What it asks | Where a low mark points |
|---|---|---|
| Expected click-through rate | How likely the ad is to be clicked when shown | The promise the searcher sees in the ad |
| Ad relevance | How closely the ad matches the intent of the search | Whether the keyword and the text in that ad group describe the same job |
| Landing page experience | Whether the page is relevant and useful to the person who clicked | Whether the page answers the job the ad stated |
Where the score stops
The calculation uses the keyword’s historical impressions for exact searches of that keyword. Changing match type does not change how Quality Score is calculated. Exact-search history is a separate record from the queries a broad or phrase keyword can enter. Which queries a match type opens is covered in match types.
A “—” in the column means there are not enough searches that exactly match the keyword to produce a score. Google mentions finding higher-volume keywords in Keyword Planner, and broadening match types, so exact-search data has a chance to accumulate. Broadening does not change the formula. It lets the keyword enter more auctions and collect that data.
A broad keyword can carry a score with no impressions of its own if a corresponding exact keyword in the same ad group had impressions in the last 90 days. Those exact searches report the same score on both keywords.
Some quality factors sit outside the score. Google lists the device, the user’s location, the time of day and assets as examples. Information from Google’s crawlers can also be used to assess ad quality and can show up in the score.
It is not averaged
Folding every keyword in the account into one number is the use Google tells advertisers to avoid. The row is that keyword’s diagnosis.
No impressions can mean no score
An empty column is not a verdict that the ad is poor. Exact-search volume may simply be too thin for a score. Why the ad is missing is first a question of status and eligibility, covered in why an ad is not showing.
Where a weak component points
When a component is “Average” or “Below average”, Google treats it as a possible place to improve. That is not a statement that cost per click will fall by a set share. This article has no such share.
Expected click-through rate looks at the promise the ad makes to the search. Ad relevance looks at whether the text describes the same job as the intent. Landing page experience looks at whether the page is relevant and useful after the click. Because they are separate rows, closing all three as “quality is low” hides which piece is weak.
Raising the budget does not fill these three rows by itself. If the page does not meet the ad’s promise, extra spend enlarges the same gap. What the cap means sits in the budget article. In performance advertising the score is a column you open to read a keyword row, not a target that stands in for the bid.
Sources
- About Quality Score for Search campaigns
Accessed October 20, 2026