Improving Quality Score: the 3 factors that really matter

The Quality Score in Google Ads is a per-keyword score from 1 to 10 that Google assigns based on three components: expected CTR, ad relevance and landing page experience. A higher score means a lower effective CPC and a better ad position, so improving your Quality Score has a direct and measurable impact on campaign performance. Understanding how these three factors interact is the foundation of efficient Google Ads management.

Key takeaways

• Quality Score is built on three official components: expected CTR, ad relevance and landing page experience (source: Google Ads Help, 2026).
• A higher Quality Score lowers your CPC and improves your ad position without requiring additional budget.
• Ad relevance improves when keywords, ad copy and landing page align around the same search intent.
• Improving Quality Score is not about tricks but about structural campaign architecture, RSA quality and page relevance.
• AdBrains uses automated AI systems to monitor and optimise all three factors continuously.

What exactly is Quality Score and why does it matter so much?

Quality Score operates at keyword level, not account level. For every auction, Google calculates an Ad Rank that determines whether your ad appears and where. That Ad Rank combines your maximum bid, your Quality Score and the expected impact of your ad extensions. This means an advertiser with a stronger Quality Score can outrank a competitor who bids higher but scores lower, and often pays less per click doing so.

Google Ads Help (2026) notes that Quality Score itself is a diagnostic tool and is not fed directly into the real-time auction calculation. That said, the score closely mirrors the factors that do drive auction outcomes. So when you work on improving it structurally, your actual auction performance tends to follow.

In the accounts we run at AdBrains, keywords scoring below 5 consistently come in at a higher cost per click than those sitting between 7 and 10. Google's effective CPC mechanism rewards relevance and punishes the lack of it. All three underlying factors warrant their own focused attention.

Factor 1: Expected CTR, the highest-weighted component

Expected CTR is the most influential Quality Score factor. Google estimates how likely it is that a user will click your ad when it is shown for a specific keyword. This estimate is based on your historical click-through rate, adjusted for position and other contextual signals, so a lower ad position does not automatically work against you.

The most effective way to improve expected CTR is to mirror the user's search intent as directly as possible in your ad copy. This starts with match type selection. Keywords on broad match generate large numbers of impressions across a wide range of intents, which dilutes average CTR. Using phrase match and exact match in combination with a well-maintained negative keywords list ensures your ad appears only for searches where a click is genuinely expected.

• Include the exact keyword in the headline of your Responsive Search Ad (RSA) so Google can adapt the ad to the specific query.
• Use ad extensions such as sitelinks, callouts and structured snippets to give your ad more space and context.
• Provide sufficient headline variation in your RSA: Google needs at least 8 to 10 distinct headlines to test combinations effectively.
• Add a clear, intent-matched call-to-action that fits the buyer journey stage of the searcher.
• Monitor Ad Strength scores per RSA and treat "Poor" or "Average" ratings as immediate action signals.

For ToetsJeKennis.nl, an online exam and course platform, ads where the headline literally matches the search term (such as "Practice your exam online") consistently outperform generic headlines like "Online learning with ToetsJeKennis". It sounds obvious, but in practice headlines are still too often written from the brand's perspective rather than from the user's search query.

Factor 2: Ad relevance, matching keyword to copy

Ad relevance tells you how well your ad content matches the keyword that triggered it. Google expresses this as "Below average", "Average" or "Above average". If you see "Below average", your keywords and ad texts are drifting apart.

The most common culprit is an ad group that has grown too broad. Pack dozens of loosely related keywords into one ad group and a single set of ad texts will inevitably feel off for most of them. The fix is to keep ad groups thematically tight, so every keyword in the group shares the same intent and the copy speaks directly to that intent rather than hedging around it.

A concrete case: Clima-Active.nl, an installer of air conditioning and heat pumps, originally lumped all keywords around "airco installation" and "heat pump quote" into one ad group. Ad relevance came back "Below average" for about half those keywords. Once the account was restructured into separate ad groups per product, with RSAs rewritten for each theme, ad relevance moved to "Above average" for the large majority of keywords. CPC dropped noticeably, at the same budget.

Table: common ad relevance mistakes and how to fix them

Factor 3: Landing page experience, the most underestimated factor

Of the three Quality Score components, landing page experience is the one most accounts quietly ignore. That's a mistake, because Google weights it just as heavily as ad relevance. What Google is actually judging is whether the page a user lands on is relevant, transparent and usable. It looks at load speed, how well the page content matches the search query, and whether someone can find what they came for without having to hunt around.

Load speed deserves more attention than it typically gets. Google's Core Web Vitals guidelines (2026) set the threshold for a "good" Largest Contentful Paint (LCP) at under 2.5 seconds. Pages that miss that mark consistently score lower on landing page experience, which pulls down the overall Quality Score. For E-4motion.com, a webshop selling new electric folding bikes, a sluggish product page is a double problem: a worse Quality Score and a higher bounce rate, with fewer conversions to show for it.

Technical speed aside, content alignment is equally important. If someone searches for "buy electric folding bike" and lands on the homepage rather than the electric folding bike category page, Google reads that as a mismatch. The user doesn't see what they were looking for, leaves within seconds, and that behaviour feeds directly into a lower landing page experience score.

• Make sure the search term (or a close variant) appears in the H1 of the landing page.
• Remove unnecessary pop-ups or interstitials that disrupt the user experience and that Google explicitly penalises (source: Google Search Central, 2026).
• Optimise Core Web Vitals: LCP, FID and CLS are measurable via Google Search Console and PageSpeed Insights.
• Present key information above the fold: price, product, benefit and call-to-action should be visible without scrolling.
• Ensure the mobile version is as fast and well-structured as the desktop version.

How AdBrains improves Quality Score automatically

Improving Quality Score manually takes considerable time. You need to assess the three components separately for each keyword, rewrite ad texts, adjust landing pages and dig through search term reports. In accounts with hundreds of keywords spread across multiple campaigns, keeping that up consistently is practically impossible. AdBrains has built a suite of automated AI systems that target exactly these three factors.

The AdBrains RSA improvement system analyses the Ad Strength scores of all active Responsive Search Ads every day. When an ad receives a "Poor" or "Average" status, the AI automatically generates improved headlines and descriptions that align more closely with the keyword and the intent of the ad group, following established responsive search ads best practices for maximum Ad Strength. Expected CTR improves structurally, without anyone on the team having to manually review every individual ad.

Ad relevance is handled by the AdBrains AI quality score advisory system. Each ad group gets an automated analysis of how well its keywords and ad texts match. If the keyword spread is too broad, the system flags this and produces a concrete split recommendation, including draft RSA copy for each proposed new ad group. That stops thematically unrelated keywords from pulling down the ad relevance of an entire group.

The automated search term mining system works on expected CTR directly. Every day it analyses all search terms that generated impressions and clicks, then automatically identifies irrelevant ones. Those get added as negative keywords straight away, so ads only show for searches where a click is genuinely likely. For Clima-Active.nl undefined, this meant queries like "fix airco yourself" and "how does a heat pump work" were excluded quickly, which raised the average expected CTR across the campaign.

Every optimisation decision goes through the AdBrains multi-agent verification system, where four independent AI agents check each proposed change before it is applied. This stops an automated correction from accidentally disrupting an ad or keyword combination that was already performing well. Quality control is woven into every step of the process, not bolted on at the end.

Should you aim for an Optimization Score of 100%?

No. The Optimization Score and the Quality Score are two separate measurement tools. The Optimization Score is a Google recommendation system that suggests account improvements, including expanding keyword lists or adjusting bidding strategies. Some recommendations fit your strategy well; others are more in Google's interest than yours as an advertiser. Blindly applying all recommendations to reach 100% can actually lower your Quality Score if irrelevant keywords are added or if campaign structure is compromised. Focus on the three Quality Score factors instead: those have direct, measurable impact on your CPC and auction position.

Frequently asked questions about improving Quality Score

How can I improve my Quality Score if I am just starting out?

Start with a tight campaign structure: one theme per ad group, closely related keywords, and an RSA with the core keyword in the first headline. Send each ad group to a specific landing page that matches the search intent. Those three steps deliver the fastest results. Then use the search term report weekly to add irrelevant terms as negative keywords: that directly improves expected CTR.

How long does it take for Quality Score to improve?

Quality Score is not updated in real time. Google needs sufficient click data to calculate reliable statistics, which can take weeks to months for low-volume keywords. For keywords with more impressions, improvements typically become visible within one to three weeks after making changes. New ad groups or new keywords may initially show "Not enough data" until Google has accumulated sufficient signal.

Is a Quality Score of 10 always the goal?

Not necessarily. A Quality Score of 7 or 8 already provides a competitive advantage over advertisers scoring 4 or 5. Scores of 9 or 10 are mainly achieved with very tightly structured ad groups and branded keywords. It is more practical to focus on keywords with a low score and high search volume or high spend: that is where the performance gains are largest. Use the Quality Score columns in Google Ads to identify which keywords are rated "Below average" on one or more components.

What is the difference between Quality Score and Ad Strength?

Quality Score is a per-keyword diagnostic based on historical data, measuring how relevant your ad is for that keyword. Ad Strength is an assessment of the Responsive Search Ad itself: does it have enough variation in headlines and descriptions, and is the copy substantively strong? A strong RSA with good Ad Strength increases the likelihood that Google rotates and tests it effectively, which contributes to a higher expected CTR and therefore a better Quality Score. Both metrics are complementary rather than interchangeable.