Performance

Quality Score

Also known as: QS · Google Ads Quality Score

Definition

Quality Score is Google Ads' diagnostic rating of a keyword from 1 to 10, built from expected click-through rate, ad relevance and landing page experience. Google says it isn't an input in the auction, so it's a symptom to read, not a lever to pull.

Because the 1 to 10 figure isn't used in the auction, chasing a 10 is the wrong goal. Ad Rank is worked out in real time from other signals, and the three components approximate them. The score's use is diagnostic: each component is rated above average, average or below average, which tells you whether to fix the ad, the keyword match or the page.

Keywords with little traffic often show no score at all, so read it across ad groups with real volume. In a bilingual UAE account, keep Arabic and English in separate campaigns so each ad's wording matches its keywords and lands on a page in the same language. An Arabic search sent to an English-only page is a mismatch a visitor feels at once, whatever the score says.

More in Performance

A/B testing

A/B testing compares two versions of one element, such as a headline, an offer or a page, by showing each to a randomly split share of traffic at the same time and measuring which produces more conversions. It needs enough traffic and one change at a time.

Ad fatigue

Ad fatigue is the decline in an ad's performance as the same people see it repeatedly, usually visible as rising frequency and falling click-through rate before cost per result climbs. The remedy is fresh creative or a wider audience, not a bigger budget.

Ad Rank

Ad Rank is the value Google Ads calculates in each auction to decide whether an ad is eligible to show and where it sits against others. It combines the bid with ad and landing page quality, minimum thresholds, competition, search context and the expected impact of assets.