5 Simple Ways to Improve Your Quality Score in Google Ads

If you are running Google Ads and your cost per click keeps going up while your results stay flat, your Quality Score is worth looking at. A lot of advertisers focus on bids and budgets but skip this metric entirely. Your Quality Score has a direct effect on what you pay per click and where your ads appear in search results.

Google scores every keyword in your account from 1 to 10. The score reflects how relevant your ads, keywords, and landing pages are to the people searching. A score of 7 or above is generally considered good. Below 5 and you are paying more than you should be for every click.

What Is Quality Score and How Is It Calculated?

Quality Score is made up of three parts. Google rates each one as above average, average, or below average.

The three components are:

• Expected click-through rate (CTR): Google's prediction of how often your ad will be clicked compared to other ads showing for the same keyword
• Ad relevance:  how well your ad copy matches the search query someone typed in
• Landing page experience:  whether your landing page is relevant, fast to load, and easy to use on a phone

Research from Adalysis, based on reverse-engineered auction data, estimates the approximate weight of each component at 39% for expected CTR, 39% for landing page experience, and 22% for ad relevance. Google does not officially publish these weightings, but the data gives a practical guide for where to focus.

Here is how your score affects what you pay per click:

• If your Quality Score is 10, your estimated cost per click (CPC) can be up to 50% lower than average.
• If your Quality Score is between 7 and 9, you can generally expect a below-average CPC.
• If your Quality Score is 6, your CPC will likely remain close to the average cost.
• If your Quality Score is between 4 and 5, you may experience an above-average CPC.
• If your Quality Score is between 1 and 3, your CPC could be up to 400% higher than average.

1. Restructure Your Ad Groups Around Themes

One of the most common issues in underperforming accounts is ad groups that contain too many unrelated keywords. When one set of ads has to cover 40 or 50 different keywords, there is no way for the copy to stay relevant across all of them.

Group keywords tightly by theme. Each ad group should contain keywords that are very close in meaning, so one set of ads addresses all of them accurately. "Roof repair Melbourne" and "roof leak repair Melbourne" belong together. "Roof replacement cost" belongs in its own group with its own ads. When your ad groups are structured this way, your ad relevance score improves, your ads are easier to write, and your expected CTR tends to follow.

2. Write Ad Copy That Matches What the Person Searched

When someone types a search query and sees that same phrase in your headline, they are more likely to click. That is what improves your expected CTR rating, and expected CTR carries the most weight in your overall score.

Some things that consistently help:

• Put the main keyword in the first headline wherever it fits naturally
• Use the second headline for something specific, such as a timeframe, price point, or service detail
• Write descriptions that answer what the person is actually looking for, not just what you offer
• Avoid phrases like "quality service" or "trusted provider”,  they are too vague to drive a click

Responsive search ads let you enter up to 15 headlines and 4 descriptions. Google tests different combinations and shows the ones that get clicked most for each query. Fill all the available fields. If you want to go further, Dynamic Keyword Insertion (DKI) automatically pulls the exact search term into your headline. It works well when your keyword list is clean and the keyword fits naturally in a sentence.

3. Fix the Landing Page Experience

Landing page experience carries the same estimated weight as expected CTR,   around 39% of your score. It is also the component most advertisers leave unaddressed.

Google looks at several things when rating your landing page:

• How fast the page loads, especially on mobile
• Whether the content on the page matches what the ad promised
• Whether the page is easy to use and navigate
• Whether there is a clear action for the visitor to take

A dedicated landing page for each ad group almost always outperforms sending traffic to a homepage or a general services page. If your ad is about commercial fit-out services in Melbourne, the landing page should be about that service specifically. Also check that no landing pages return a 404 error or redirect to an unrelated page. Google crawls landing pages as part of its quality assessment, and broken or mismatched pages hurt your score. Use Google PageSpeed Insights to identify and fix load time issues, particularly on mobile.

4. Build and Maintain a Negative Keyword List

Negative keywords tell Google which searches should not trigger your ads. Without them, your ads can show for searches that have nothing to do with what you offer. Those impressions lower your click-through rate, because people see an irrelevant ad and scroll past. A lower CTR pulls down your expected CTR score.

Steps to manage negatives well:

• Check the search terms report in Google Ads at least once a week
• Look for searches that triggered your ads but do not match what you offer
• Add irrelevant terms as negative keywords at the ad group or campaign level depending on how broadly you need to exclude them
• Build negative keyword lists by theme and apply them across campaigns where relevant

Common early exclusions include terms with words like "free," "DIY," "how to," "jobs," and "reviews" if those searches fall outside your business intent. Running Google Ads campaigns without a maintained negative keyword list is one of the quickest ways to waste budget and drag scores down at the same time.

5. Work on Your Expected Click-Through Rate

Expected CTR is Google measuring your ad's click rate against what other advertisers are achieving on the same keyword. Even if your ads are getting clicks, if competitors are getting more, your rating can still come back as average or below average.

A few practical things that help:

• Ad extensions:  sitelinks, callout extensions, call extensions, and structured snippets make your ad take up more space on the page and give searchers more reasons to click. They are free to add.
• Specific details over generic claims: "Same-day quotes in Melbourne" works better than "Get a free quote today." Specifics stand out.
• Matching search intent in the copy:  if someone searches "how much does it cost to repaint a house," an ad that addresses painting costs will outperform one that only mentions the service name.
• Pausing low-CTR ads: ads with consistently low click-through rates pull down the average for the whole ad group. Pause the underperformers and test new copy.

New keywords start with a baseline Quality Score based on your account's overall history. They develop their own individual score only after reaching a minimum impression threshold. If a new keyword shows a dash in the Quality Score column rather than a number, it has not hit that threshold yet.

If you need help structuring or auditing your PPC campaigns, account organisation affects every one of these factors.

How to Find Your Quality Score in Google Ads

Quality Score does not appear by default in most campaign views. You need to add it as a column.

To do this:

1. Go to the Keywords tab inside your Google Ads account
2. Click the Columns icon in the top right of the table
3. Search for "Quality Score" and add it, along with the three sub-components: Expected CTR, Ad Relevance, and Landing Page Experience
4. Save and apply

Start with whichever sub-score shows "Below average." That is where to direct your time first. Score changes are not immediate. Google reassesses based on real impression data, and most accounts see movement within 30 to 60 days of consistent work across the three components.

How Quality Score Connects to Ad Rank

Ad Rank determines whether your ad shows and in what position. Google calculates it using your bid, your Quality Score, and the expected impact of your ad extensions.

A business bidding less than a competitor can still appear above them if their Quality Score is higher. Google weights relevance heavily in the auction. This is why raising bids alone does not fix poor ad performance, a low Quality Score offsets the higher bid. For businesses managing a fixed monthly ad budget, improving Quality Score is often where the most cost-efficient gains come from.

Your Google Ads Score Won't Improve Without the Right Foundation

The five areas covered here,  ad group structure, ad copy, landing pages, negative keywords, and CTR,  each affect your score in a different way. Fix the sub-score that shows below average first, then move to the next. Most accounts see the fastest improvement by starting with landing page experience or ad relevance, since both are more directly within your control than expected CTR.

Scores do not move overnight, but the work is cumulative. Each fix holds, and the score reflects the account over time. What helps is checking the search terms report regularly, testing new ad copy, and keeping landing pages matched to the ads they support.

Want Someone to Review Your Account?

At Karma Media, we manage Google Ads campaigns for Australian businesses across industries including trades, professional services, and lead generation. If your ad costs are climbing without a corresponding lift in results, book a free strategy session and we will look at what is happening inside the account.