Quality Score: CTR, ad relevance and landing page experience

How Quality Score works

Quality Score shows how your ad, keyword and landing page compare with other advertisers on the same keyword. See Google Ads Help on Quality Score.

A diagnostic tool, not a direct auction input

Quality Score itself is not used in the auction. Google calculates quality signals in real time for each auction; Quality Score is an aggregated diagnostic showing where to work.

Ad Rank and cost per click

Ad Rank decides position and eligibility. It depends on the bid, ad quality, search context, the expected impact of assets and thresholds. Higher quality can mean a lower cost per click for the same position.

Each component is rated "above average", "average" or "below average", and these can be added as columns in the Google Ads keyword table.

Where to look

Enable Quality Score, Exp. CTR, Ad relevance and Landing page exp. columns in the keywords report. Start with the highest-spend keywords — improving them has the biggest budget impact.

Expected CTR

Expected CTR is the system's prediction of how often your ad will be clicked for this keyword, based on history and adjusted for position.

Why it is low

• Generic copy that does not address the problem in the query.
• Keywords too broad, bringing mixed-intent queries.
• Competitors have stronger offers.
• No assets — sitelinks, callouts, structured snippets.

What to change in the copy

Reflect the user's query, need and next step. Responsive Search Ads take many headlines and descriptions; test different value propositions instead of repeating one idea.

These headlines are illustrative. In real ads, state only terms the business actually offers.

Assets

Sitelinks, callouts, structured snippets and call assets enlarge the ad and give users extra reasons to click. They can lift CTR and count towards the expected impact of assets in Ad Rank.

Brand and non-brand

Brand queries naturally have high CTR. Mixing them with non-brand in one campaign distorts metrics. Separate campaigns are clearer for both analysis and budget control.

Ad relevance

Ad relevance shows how close the copy is to the intent behind the keyword. If someone searches "children's orthopedic shoes", "shoe store" is not enough.

The structural problem

The most common cause of low relevance is an overly broad ad group. With dozens of different topics in one group, one ad cannot fit them all.

Themed ad groups

Each ad group should cover one narrow theme. An insurer should have separate groups for "CASCO", "compulsory insurance", "travel insurance" and "health insurance", each with its own ad and landing page.

• SKAGs (single keyword ad groups) are rarely needed with modern match types.
• Themed groups are more practical: 5–20 close keywords expressing one intent.
• At least one Responsive Search Ad per group, with the group's theme in the headlines.

Match types and search terms

Broad match gives reach but can show ads on unexpected queries. Review the search terms report regularly and add irrelevant queries as negatives to improve relevance and efficiency.

Language

In Azerbaijan people search in Azerbaijani, Russian and sometimes English. Showing an Azerbaijani ad on a Russian query lowers relevance, so build separate ad groups or campaigns per language.

About Ad strength

Ad strength rates the number and variety of RSA headlines. It is a useful hint, not Quality Score. Check real results with CTR and conversion data.

Landing page experience

Landing page experience assesses what users see after the click: is the page relevant, can they find what they want, does it load fast and work on mobile?

Relevance

If someone searches "laptops on instalments in Baku", send them to the laptop category with instalment terms clearly visible, not the home page. The ad's promise should be confirmed on the first screen.

Clarity and trust

• The main offer and price are visible on the first screen.
• Contact details, delivery and returns are easy to find.
• The form is short and asks only what is needed.
• No hidden terms missing from the ad.

Speed and mobile

Users leave slow pages before they load. Assess Core Web Vitals using web.dev's explanation and test specific pages with PageSpeed Insights. Our technical SEO article covers the fixes.

Measurement

Check in GA4 how the landing page performs for ad traffic: engagement rate, time on page, key events. If one page is noticeably weaker than others, the problem is often the page, not the ad.

A short list for developers

1. The LCP element (hero image) is optimized and loaded with priority.
2. Heavy third-party scripts load later.
3. Forms use correct input types for mobile keyboards.
4. Ad URL parameters (gclid, UTM) are not lost.
5. The page returns 200 without redirect chains.

Priorities and a work plan

Trying to improve every keyword at once wastes time. Focus where most budget goes.

Step by step

1. Export the highest-spend keywords for the last 30–90 days.
2. Put their Quality Score and three components in one table.
3. Group problems by the "below average" component.
4. Rebuild ad groups and copy for CTR and relevance problems.
5. Assign landing page problems to content and developers.
6. Track results for at least several weeks after changes.

What to expect

Better quality usually means more clicks for the same budget or lower cost for the same clicks. Promising an exact percentage would be wrong, as results depend on competition, industry and bidding.

Automated bidding

Smart Bidding — target CPA, target ROAS — accounts for quality signals automatically. That does not make Quality Score irrelevant: with weak ads and pages, automation is expensive too. We discuss quality in Performance Max in our PMax article.

Keyword structure, ad copy and Quality Score diagnostics are core topics of our SEM (Google Ads) course.

Example: rebuilding an insurance campaign

The scenario below is illustrative, not a specific client's result. It shows how the three levers work together in one account.

Starting point

A Baku insurer has one Search campaign with one ad group containing "casco", "compulsory insurance", "travel insurance", "health insurance" and dozens of other keywords. Every ad goes to the home page. Most keywords show "below average" ad relevance and landing page experience, CPCs are high and leads are few.

Step 1: structure

Keywords are split into four product ad groups, with Azerbaijani and Russian queries separated. Irrelevant queries — "jobs at insurance company", "insurance agent course" — become negatives.

Step 2: ad copy

Each ad group gets its own Responsive Search Ad. CASCO headlines mention CASCO, online quotes and the company's real terms. Sitelinks lead to other products and contact, and a call asset is added.

Step 3: landing pages

Each product gets its own page instead of the home page: a short explanation, price factors and an online form on the first screen, with mobile speed checked and the hero image optimized.

Step 4: tracking

Form submissions and call-button clicks become key events passed to Google Ads, so the effect of quality changes on conversions becomes visible.

Expected direction

After such a rebuild, relevance and landing page components usually improve and lead quality rises. Exact results depend on competition, budget and bids, so compare several weeks of data with the previous period.

Common Quality Score myths

Many outdated or wrong ideas about Quality Score still circulate and push teams towards useless work.

The final test: business results

Quality Score is a means, not a goal. Sometimes a low-QS keyword brings high-value customers and is worth keeping. Always decide with conversions, cost per result and margin.

Tracking history

"Historical" Quality Score columns in the keywords report show change over time. Log the dates of your changes so you can tell which step caused which result. For a full account review, see our audit and consulting page.

Frequently asked questions

Conclusion

Quality Score answers three simple questions: does the ad deserve a click, does the copy match the query, does the page meet expectations? Each needs a different team.

Start with the highest-spend keywords, diagnose by component and measure the effect of changes. It is the most reliable, policy-compliant way to lower your cost per click.