How Google Ads quality score really affects your CPCs

If your CPCs keep climbing, the cause may not be your bid strategy, your budget, or even your competitors.

You might be suffering from low ad quality. 

Let’s break down the most foundational — and most misunderstood — metric in your Google Ads account. If you want to stop overpaying Google and start winning auctions on merit, you need to understand how the 1-to-10 Quality Score actually works.

The difference between Quality Score, Ad Strength, and Optimization Score

Before we dive in, let’s clear up the confusion. Google shows a lot of “scores” and “diagnostics,” and you can safely ignore most of them. Quality Score is the exception.

• Ad strength is an ad-level diagnostic. It checks whether your responsive ad follows best practices, like having enough headlines and descriptions. It has zero impact on auction performance.
• Optimization score is a sales metric. It measures how many Google recommendations you’ve reviewed. It does not reflect real campaign performance.
• Quality Score is different. It’s foundational. This keyword-level diagnostic summarizes the quality of your ads. Along with your bid, it determines Ad Rank. Ad Rank determines whether your ad appears at all, where it appears on the SERP, and how much you pay per click.
  • The formula is simple: Ad Rank = price × quality. The 1–10 score you see is only a summary, but it reflects the real-time quality calculation Google runs on every single search.

Setting up your dashboard: How to find your Quality Score

You can’t fix what you can’t see. To get started, go to your Keywords report in Google Ads and add these four columns:

• Quality Score
• Exp. CTR
• Ad Relevance
• Landing Page Exp.

When you analyze Quality Score, don’t judge keywords in isolation. You’ll drive yourself crazy. Look for patterns at the ad group level instead.

If most keywords have a Quality Score of 7 or higher, you’re in good shape. If most are at 5 or below, that’s your cue to roll up your sleeves and improve ad quality.

The three core components of Quality Score and how to fix them

1. Ad Relevance: The ‘message match’

This is the only part of Quality Score fully within your control. It asks one simple question:

• Does the keyword match the ad and the landing page?

If your ad relevance is generally “Below average,” the fastest fix is Dynamic Keyword Insertion. It automatically inserts your keywords into the ad text. If you prefer a manual approach, make sure the keywords in the ad group actually appear in both the ad copy and the landing page.

2. Landing Page Experience: The “Delivery”

When Google sends users to your site, do they find what they’re looking for? Or do they bounce after two seconds and head back to Google for a better result?

If your landing page experience score is low, start with the PageSpeed Insights tool. A “Below average” rating often points to slow load times, a poor mobile experience, generic content, weak navigation, or all of the above.

3. Expected CTR: The “Popularity Contest”

Google only makes money when users click, so it favors ads people are most likely to click.

If your expected CTR is lagging, start with competitive research:

• Check Auction Insights to see who you’re competing against.
• A “Below average” expected CTR means their ads are earning higher click-through rates than yours.

Next, visit the Google Ads Transparency Center and review your competitors’ ads.

• Are their offers more enticing?
• Is their copy more clickable?
• Borrow what works and update your own ads.

If your ads are great but CTR is still low, review the Search terms report. You may be showing for irrelevant queries, which explains why users aren’t clicking on an otherwise awesome ad.

What’s a realistic Quality Score goal?

I’ll be honest: chasing a 10/10 Quality Score everywhere is a waste of time. It’s unrealistic and usually unnecessary.

Instead, do a quick check-up every few months. Find one or two ad groups with lower Quality Scores, identify the most “Below Average” component, and fix that first.

Improving ad quality takes more effort than raising budgets or bids. But it pays off with more clicks at the same — or even lower — cost.

This article is part of our ongoing Search Engine Land series, Everything you need to know about Google Ads in less than 3 minutes. In each edition, Jyll highlights a different Google Ads feature, and what you need to know to get the best results from it – all in a quick 3-minute read.