What factors influence Quality Score in Google Ads?

Why Quality Score still matters

Many people still believe that Google Ads is primarily about bidding the highest. That’s not how it works. Google takes both bids and quality into account when determining ad placements.

This means that, in some cases, an advert with a lower bid can perform better than one with a higher bid if its relevance and user experience are stronger. Quality Score is not the whole explanation for Ad Rank, but it still provides a clear indication of how Google assesses quality at keyword level.

This is particularly important in accounts where:

• Click-through rates are high
• competition is fierce
• margins are under pressure
• the search intent is clear

In such cases, Quality Score is not just a technical figure. It is often an indicator of whether the account is paying too much for the traffic it is trying to buy.

A low Quality Score makes traffic more expensive

In practice, a low Quality Score means that Google considers the advert or landing page to be less relevant to the search query. This makes it harder to achieve good rankings effectively.

The result is often:

• higher CPC
• lower ad position
• lower budget utilisation
• reduced competitiveness for the most important search terms

It isn’t always a dramatic change from one day to the next. But over time, a low score can make an otherwise healthy campaign significantly more expensive to run.

Quality Score is a diagnostic indicator, not an end in itself

At the same time, it is important not to overestimate the importance of Quality Score. A high score does not necessarily equate to high profits. There are keywords with excellent Quality Scores that still fail to generate value. And there are keywords with average scores that perform well in terms of the bottom line.

It is therefore better to view Quality Score as a diagnosis rather than as a KPI, which must be pursued at all costs.

If a keyword has a low Quality Score, the question isn’t simply how to increase that figure. The question is what it tells us about relevance, click behaviour or the landing page experience.

The three factors that influence Quality Score

Google makes it fairly clear which three components form the basis of Quality Score. It is still these same three main areas that matter most:

• expected CTR
• ad relevance
• landing page experience

They are not shown as exact scores, but as ratings such as below average, average or above average. This is often enough to identify where the problem lies.

Expected CTR refers to the probability of a click

Expected CTR is Google’s estimate of how likely a user is to click on your advert when it appears for a given search.

It’s not the same as your actual CTR on its own, but historical click behaviour clearly plays a part. If a keyword and an advert are repeatedly displayed without receiving enough clicks, Google interprets this as a weaker match.

CTR is influenced by more than just the headline

Many people believe that expected CTR is primarily about writing better adverts. That is partly true, but it is not the whole picture.

CTR is also influenced by:

• how closely the search term matches the user’s intention
• how compelling the offer or angle is
• whether the advert stands out enough in the search results
• whether irrelevant searches slip through and drag down the CTR
• the competitive situation at the auction

This means that a poor expected CTR isn’t always resolved by rewriting the advert. In many accounts, you first need to tidy up the search terms and structure.

Too much traffic can lower the expected CTR

A common mistake is making ad groups or match types too broad. This means that the same advert starts appearing for searches with different intentions, and the CTR becomes more mixed.

If an advert tries to be relevant to too many searches at once, it often ends up being relevant to none of them. This has a direct negative impact on both the click-through rate and the relevance of the advert.

Ad relevance is all about linguistic and commercial context

Ad relevance assesses how well the advert matches the search intent. It’s not just about whether the keyword appears in the text, but whether the advert feels like a relevant answer to what the user is looking for.

This is where many accounts become too generic.

If a user searches for something very specific but comes across an advert with broad wording and vague value propositions, the relevance drops. The user might still click on it. However, Google will still consider the relevance to be weaker.

Generic adverts reduce relevance

An advert that has to cover too many variations at once often ends up being too broad in its wording. It may well be grammatically correct. The problem is that it doesn’t feel precise.

This is typically a problem in accounts with:

• for large ad groups
• too many search terms all in one place
• not enough segmentation by intent
• for one’s texts across different themes

The closer the link between the keyword, the advert and the landing page, the easier it is usually to improve the relevance of the advert.

Structure is often more important than minor adjustments to the text

Many people try to optimise ad relevance by tweaking individual words in the ad. This can help. However, if the underlying structure is too broad, the effect is often limited.

That is why ad relevance is often improved more quickly by:

• segment ad groups more precisely
• group keywords with the same intent
• write more specific adverts
• tailor messages to each specific theme

The landing page experience is often the most overlooked aspect

The landing page experience is the factor that many people underestimate the most. This is partly because advertisers often view Google Ads as a media discipline and the landing page as a separate issue. But Google does not assess the experience in that way.

If a user clicks on an advert and lands on a page that is slow, unclear or poorly matched to their search, this affects the overall quality.

The page must confirm what the advert promised

A strong landing page experience doesn’t start with design. It starts with relevance.

The user must be able to see straight away that the page matches the search and the advert. If the advert promises something specific, but the page greets the user with generic messages or an unclear next step, the quality of the experience suffers.

This applies in particular if:

• The heading is too wide
• The CTA is positioned too far down
• the content does not match the search intent
• The page feels like a generic, run-of-the-mill page

Speed and the mobile experience still matter

The technical aspect is still important. If the page loads slowly or doesn’t work properly on mobile, it creates friction. And friction doesn’t just affect the conversion rate. It also affects how Google assesses the user experience.

That is why the landing page experience often needs to be optimised in terms of both content and technical aspects.

How to find out where the problem lies

If your Quality Score is low, the next step isn’t to start changing everything at once. First, you need to work out which part is actually dragging it down.

The best way to do this is to review the three sub-factors at keyword level and see where the score is lowest.

A low score often points quite clearly to the problem

If the expected CTR is below average, but ad relevance and landing page experience are strong, the problem is often the ad copy or the quality of the search terms.

If ad relevance is low, this is typically due to a structural issue within the ad group or a mismatch between the search query and the ad copy.

If the landing page experience is the weak link, writing more ad variations rarely helps. In that case, the focus needs to shift to the page itself.

This type of diagnosis is important because, otherwise, many accounts end up optimising the wrong layer.

Historical columns make it easier to follow developments

Quality Score does not change like a real-time performance metric from hour to hour. It is therefore worth analysing historical data and tracking trends over longer periods.

This provides a more accurate picture of whether changes actually improve quality, or whether the fluctuations are merely temporary.

How to optimise your Quality Score in practice

Once the diagnosis is clear, optimisation often comes more naturally. It’s rarely down to a single trick. It’s about creating a better connection between the search query, the advert and the page.

Tighten up the ad groups

One of the quickest ways to improve your Quality Score is often to refine your structure. Broad ad groups make it difficult to write precise adverts and send mixed signals to Google.

Smaller, more focused ad groups make it easier to:

• write more relevant headlines
• tailor the message to the search intent
• direct traffic to more relevant pages
• improve both CTR and relevance

Tidy up your search terms and negatives

If irrelevant searches are allowed to keep triggering adverts, they will skew both the CTR and data quality. That is why the search terms report is an important part of working on Quality Score.

Negative keywords are often more than just a tool for budget protection. They are also a tool for maintaining high relevance.

Write adverts that are more closely matched to the search

That doesn’t mean that all headlines have to be formulaic. But the closer the message is to the user’s search query and intent, the easier it is usually to boost relevance and CTR.

Particularly in highly competitive accounts, it is often the most precise adverts that perform best.

Improve the landing page before raising your bid

If the quality of the page is the weak link, it rarely makes sense to start by increasing the bid in order to buy performance. That does not address the root cause.

In this context, it will often be more effective to work with:

• clearer messages at the top of the page
• better alignment between the advert and the page
• a stronger CTA
• faster loading time
• a better mobile experience

A Quality Score of 10/10 isn’t always the goal

It is tempting to treat Quality Score as something that needs to be maximised. But this could be a mistake if it takes the focus away from profit.

A keyword with a score of 10/10 can still be a poor keyword if it doesn’t attract customers. Conversely, a keyword with a score of 6/10 can be very valuable if it converts well and delivers strong financial returns.

It is therefore better to ask:

• Does the keyword ‘profit’ yield any results?
• Is the CPC reasonable in relation to the value?
• Is the Quality Score low enough to actually limit performance?

If the answer to the last question is ‘no’, you should be careful not to over-optimise something that is already working.

Avoid writing to Google on your own

A common mistake when working with Quality Score is that advertisers start writing more for the system than for the user. Search keywords It is forced in unnaturally, the adverts become stiff, and the message loses its impact.

It can sometimes improve a technical signal slightly. But if it makes it harder for humans to read, it’s rarely a good idea.

Does your Google Ads account have a low Quality Score in the wrong places?

Many accounts do not have a general Quality Score issue.
They have a relevance issue with certain keywords, ad groups or landing pages.
That is often where the greatest impact can be achieved.

If you want to take a more targeted approach to Quality Score, it’s worth taking a closer look at:

• which keywords are dragging the score down
• whether the problem lies with the CTR, relevance or the landing page
• whether the ad groups are too broad
• whether the search terms are too vague
• whether the page actually reflects the intention well enough

Get an assessment of your Google Ads quality

At Siite, we help businesses improve their Google Ads campaigns by ensuring a clearer connection between the search query, the advert and the landing page.

If your cost-per-click has risen, or if your account isn’t making the most of its budget, we’d be happy to review your campaign structure and assess where your Quality Score is being held back.

Would you like to know whether a low Quality Score is costing you more per click and resulting in lower rankings?
We’d be happy to take a look at your current Google Ads setup and provide specific feedback on how to improve its relevance.