Key Takeaways
- Quality Score is Google's 1 to 10 rating of how relevant your ad, keywords, and landing page are to a searcher.
- A higher Quality Score lowers your cost per click and improves where your ad appears on the page.
- You can have a high budget and still lose ad position to a competitor with a better Quality Score.
- Three factors drive Quality Score: expected click-through rate, ad relevance, and landing page experience.
- Most local business owners can improve Quality Score without touching their budget.
Your ad is running. You are paying for clicks. But someone down the street with half your budget keeps showing up above you. Quality Score is probably why.
Google does not just sell ad position to the highest bidder. It runs an auction that rewards relevance. If your ad matches what someone is searching for, and your landing page delivers on what the ad promised, Google charges you less and shows your ad higher. If your ad is a bad match, you pay more and still lose position. Quality Score is how Google measures that relevance, and it has a direct effect on what you spend.
This article explains what Quality Score actually is, how it gets calculated, and what a local business owner should realistically do about it.
What Quality Score Measures and How It Works
Quality Score is a number from 1 to 10 assigned to each keyword in your Google Ads account. Google calculates it based on three things: your expected click-through rate, your ad relevance, and your landing page experience. Each component gets its own rating of below average, average, or above average.
Your expected click-through rate is how likely Google thinks people are to click your ad when it shows for a given keyword. It is based on your historical performance and compares you to other advertisers using the same keyword.
Ad relevance measures how closely your ad copy matches the intent of the keyword. If someone searches "emergency plumber near me" and your ad talks about bathroom remodels, that is a relevance problem.
Landing page experience is how useful and relevant Google considers the page someone lands on after clicking your ad. Google's own documentation describes this as a measure of how well your landing page delivers on what the ad promised. A slow page, a generic homepage, or a page that buries the service someone clicked for will hurt this score.
Quality Score does not directly determine your ad position on its own. It feeds into a calculation called Ad Rank, which combines your bid, your Quality Score, and a few other factors. A strong Quality Score can let you outrank competitors who are bidding more than you.
Why Quality Score Affects What You Pay Per Click
This is the part that actually costs or saves you money.
Google rewards high Quality Scores with lower costs per click. A business with a Quality Score of 8 pays less per click for the same keyword position than a business with a Quality Score of 4. The difference is not trivial. Studies on Google's auction structure suggest the cost gap between a poor and strong Quality Score can be significant, though the exact multiplier depends on competition in your market.
Here is a simple way to think about the tradeoff:
| Quality Score | Relative CPC Impact | What This Usually Means |
|---|---|---|
| 1 to 3 | You pay a penalty above the baseline | High cost, low position, poor return |
| 4 to 6 | Roughly average market rate | Competitive but room to improve |
| 7 to 8 | Discount below baseline | Better position for less spend |
| 9 to 10 | Significant discount | Strong position, lowest cost per click |
If you are running campaigns with keywords sitting at a 3 or 4, you are effectively paying a tax on every click. Raising those scores is one of the most direct ways to cut wasted ad spend without reducing your reach.
For more on where budget tends to disappear in local campaigns, see how to stop wasting money on Google Ads as a local business.
The Three Levers That Move Your Quality Score
You cannot game Quality Score. You can only earn a better one by making your ads and landing pages more relevant. Here is where to focus.
Expected click-through rate. Write ad copy that directly addresses what someone is searching for. If a keyword is "AC repair same day," your headline should say something about same-day AC repair, not just "HVAC Services Available." Generic copy drags your expected CTR down. Also review your search term reports to find out if low-performing keywords should be paused or split into tighter ad groups.
Ad relevance. Group your keywords tightly. One ad group should contain keywords with the same core intent. If you are mixing "emergency plumber" with "bathroom remodel contractor" in one ad group and writing one ad for both, neither ad will be very relevant to either keyword. Separate them.
Landing page experience. Send people to a page that matches the ad they clicked. If the ad is about drain cleaning, the landing page should be about drain cleaning, load quickly, and make it easy to call or book. Sending everyone to your homepage is one of the fastest ways to score poorly on landing page experience.
This connects directly to a pattern covered in why your Google Ads are getting clicks but not calls. Clicks without conversions often trace back to a landing page that does not follow through on what the ad promised.
Frequently Asked Questions
How often does Quality Score update?
Quality Score updates continuously as Google collects more data on how your ads perform. It is not a one-time grade. If you improve your ad copy or landing page today, you should start to see the score shift over the following weeks as new performance data comes in.
Should I delete keywords with a low Quality Score?
Not automatically. First figure out why the score is low. If a keyword is genuinely relevant to your business and drives calls, work on the ad copy and landing page before pausing it. If a keyword is a poor fit and converting at a low rate, pausing it is probably the right move regardless of Quality Score.
Does Quality Score affect my ads on Google Maps or the Local Services section?
Quality Score applies to standard Google Search campaigns. Google Local Services Ads use a separate ranking system based on your Google Business Profile, reviews, and verification status. They are different products with different rules.
Is a Quality Score of 7 good enough?
A 7 puts you in solid territory. You are getting a discount on cost per click compared to average performers. Moving from a 7 to a 9 or 10 is harder and the gains get smaller. If you have keywords stuck below a 6, those are the ones worth fixing first.
Quality Score is one of the clearest signals in your Google Ads account that something is either working or broken. A low score on an important keyword means you are paying more than you should and probably showing up lower than you deserve. If you want to see exactly how your campaigns are scoring and where budget is bleeding out, Talon gives you that visibility without needing an agency. Start with Talon at thayersystems.com/talon.