Quality Score (QS)

Quality Score is a rating used by Google Ads and other search engines to measure the relevance and quality of your ads, keywords, and landing pages. It’s reported on a scale of 1–10, with higher scores meaning your ads are more relevant compared to other advertisers.

Quality Score is one of the most important metrics in pay-per-click (PPC) advertising because it directly affects your cost-per-click (CPC), ad position, and overall campaign performance.

Why Quality Score matters

• Lower costs: Higher scores often mean lower CPC and better use of your ad budget.
• Better visibility: Ads with strong Quality Scores appear in higher positions on search results.
• Improved performance: Relevant ads and optimized landing pages attract more clicks and conversions.

How Quality Score is calculated

Search engines consider three main factors when assigning a score:

1. Click-through rate (CTR): How often users click your ad after seeing it.
2. Ad relevance: How closely your ad text matches the user’s search intent.
3. Landing page experience: The quality, relevance, and usability of the page users land on.

Each of these elements influences whether your ad feels helpful and trustworthy to the searcher.

How to improve your Quality Score

To boost your score, focus on both ad performance and user experience:

• Refine your keywords: Use tightly grouped, relevant keywords that match search intent.
• Write compelling ads: Make your copy clear, specific, and aligned with user needs.
• Optimize landing pages: Ensure fast loading times, mobile-friendly design, and high-quality, relevant content.
• Use ad extensions: Add sitelinks, callouts, and structured snippets to increase usefulness.
• Track and adjust: Regularly review CTRs, conversion rates, and bounce rates to find areas for improvement.

Benefits of optimizing Quality Score

• Reduced advertising costs with lower CPC
• Higher ad positions on SERPs
• Increased ROI through better budget efficiency and conversions

Key takeaway

Quality Score isn’t just a number—it’s a reflection of how useful and relevant your ads are to searchers. Improving it leads to lower costs, better ad placements, and stronger PPC results. Continuous testing, data review, and optimization are essential for maintaining high scores.

Related terms

• Ad Rank
• Max CPC
• Bid Strategy
• CTR (Click-Through Rate)
• CPC (Cost Per Click)
• Landing Page
• Ad Copy
• Conversion Rate
• Google Ads
• PPC Budget

Explore More Marketing Terms

Check the full marketing glossary to learn other digital marketing concepts that power online growth.