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Google Ads Quality Score: what it tells you and what to fix first

By Abhishek Thakral · abhi.performs, Dubai · Updated October 2026 · 9 min read

Some Google Ads reports open with an account-wide average Quality Score, as proof the account is healthy. Google's own help page says Quality Score should not be optimised or aggregated with the rest of your data.

That does not make it useless. Read the right way, Google Ads Quality Score tells you whether your ad, your ad group or your landing page is the weak link, and that decides what you fix first. Here is how I read it in UAE lead-gen accounts.

What Google Ads Quality Score measures

Google Ads Quality Score is a keyword-level diagnostic on a 1–10 scale that estimates how relevant and useful your ad and landing page are compared with other advertisers, according to Google's Quality Score help page.

It is built from three components:

• Expected clickthrough rate. How likely your ad is to be clicked when it shows.
• Ad relevance. How closely your ad matches the intent behind the search.
• Landing page experience. How relevant and useful your page is to the people who click.

Each component gets a status of Above average, Average or Below average. The comparison is with other advertisers whose ads showed for the exact same search over the last 90 days. Google does not say how the three are weighted, so treat any "Quality Score formula" you see online as someone else's estimate.

Two details trip people up. A dash in the column means there are not enough searches that exactly match the keyword to give it a score. And a broad match keyword can show a score with no impressions of its own, if an exact match keyword for the same search in the same ad group has impressions in the last 90 days.

What Quality Score is not

Quality Score is not an input in the ad auction and not a key performance indicator: Google's help page states both, and its ad quality page repeats that the scores "are not inputs in the ad auction".

Google's Ads Liaison made the same point in April 2024 while explaining that Ad Strength is not used in the auction either, as Search Engine Roundtable reported. Both are feedback tools. One rates your keyword's history, the other the variety and relevance of your ad text.

Google also lists what does not change your ad quality or Quality Score, which settles a lot of arguments:

• Your bid. It affects Ad Rank, not the quality assessment.
• Moving an ad group unchanged. Same ads and keywords in a new campaign or account keep their ad quality. Moving a keyword into an ad group with different ad text can change it.
• How often your ads show. Frequency comes from bids, budget and competition.
• Reported conversions. Your conversion tracking does not feed ad quality.
• Match type. Quality Score is based on exact searches, so switching a keyword from phrase to broad does not change the score.

How ad quality still moves your costs

Ad quality, the thing Quality Score summarises, is one of six inputs to Ad Rank, which decides whether your ad shows and where, according to Google's Ad Rank page.

The six are your bid, the quality of your ads and landing page, the Ad Rank thresholds, how competitive the auction is, the context of the search, and the expected impact of your assets. At auction time Google measures quality afresh, and those measurements can include expected clickthrough rate, ad relevance and landing page experience.

So the 1–10 number reports on the past, while the quality it describes is judged live in every auction. Google's ad quality page lists what that quality affects:

• Whether your ad can show at all. Ads have to clear a minimum quality level.
• Where it shows. Higher quality ads are placed higher on the page.
• Whether assets show. Some assets only appear in top positions, which need higher quality.
• What you pay per click. Low quality ads can pay close to their maximum CPC even when competition is low.

If your cost per click in a quiet niche looks oddly high, low ad quality is one of the first things to rule out.

How to check Quality Score in Google Ads

Quality Score is hidden by default; you add it as columns in the Keywords table, as Google's help page describes.

1. In Google Ads, open Campaigns, then Keywords.
2. Click the columns icon at the top right of the table.
3. Under "Modify columns for keywords", open the Quality score section.
4. Tick Quality Score, Landing Page Exp., Exp. CTR and Ad Relevance, then apply.

The "(hist.)" versions of the same columns show the score for the date range you are looking at, and you can segment the table by day to see when a score moved. Sort by cost, not by score: a low score on a keyword that spends AED 50 a month matters far less than an Average on your biggest spender.

What each below-average component tells you to fix

Each component points to a different part of the account, and Google's guide to using Quality Score gives the fixes for a status of Average or Below average.

Two of Google's notes matter before you rewrite anything. Your landing page does not need the search term word for word; it needs to give the searcher what they wanted. And a more specific ad can get a lower clickthrough rate but a higher conversion rate, which is often the better trade.

For landing pages, Google's ads and landing pages page adds the basics: match the page to the ad, keep it quick on mobile, put key information near the top and avoid clutter and pop-ups.

Where UAE lead-gen accounts lose ad quality

In my experience, low ad quality in UAE lead-gen accounts usually traces back to structure, not to the wording of the ads.

• Every keyword sends people to the homepage. A search for a specific service, project or area lands on a page about everything. The ad may be relevant; the page is not.
• Arabic and English mixed in one ad group. English keywords, an Arabic ad and an English page send mixed signals. One language per ad group, with ad and page in the same language, is the fix I explain in my Google Ads language targeting guide.
• One ad group for many projects or treatments. A single ad cannot be relevant to ten off-plan projects or ten clinic treatments at once. For property, I set one ad group per project with that project's page, as in my guide to Google Ads for real estate in Dubai. For clinics, name each treatment in generic terms, because Google Ads healthcare policy does not allow drug names such as Botox in UAE ads or landing pages.
• Heavy pages on mobile. Video headers, sliders and pop-ups stand between the visitor and the form or WhatsApp button.

If you use AI Max, check which pages Google is choosing for you as well: final URL expansion can send clicks to pages you never wrote for ads, as I cover in my AI Max guide.

When to leave a low score alone

A low score is worth acting on only when it sits on a keyword that matters to your results; Google itself says to read Quality Score alongside clickthrough rate, conversion rate and site engagement.

My rule for lead-gen accounts:

• Act when a keyword in your top spenders has a Below average component. Fix that component, then watch cost per qualified lead, not the score.
• Leave it when the keyword brings qualified leads at a cost you are happy with. A specific ad that filters out the wrong people can lower CTR and still be the right ad.
• Ignore the dash on low-volume keywords. There is nothing to read yet, and nothing to chase.

The fix order I use

Fix in this order, one change at a time, and give each a couple of weeks before you judge it. It is part of how I run Google Ads management for UAE accounts, and it starts after the checks in my Google Ads audit.

1. Add the four columns and sort keywords by cost.
2. Mark Below average components on your top spenders only.
3. Landing page first where landing page experience is low: a specific page per service, project or treatment, fast on mobile.
4. Ad groups next where ad relevance is low: tighter themes, one language each.
5. Ad text last where expected CTR is low: a clearer offer and a call to action that matches the page.
6. Judge the result on cost per qualified lead and cost per click, not on the 1–10 number.

Frequently asked questions

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