A low Quality Score is one of the most expensive problems in Google Ads—and also one of the most misunderstood. When Quality Scores drop, advertisers see higher CPCs, lower impression share, poor ad visibility, and declining ROI. Many businesses try to fix this by increasing bids, but that only masks the real issue and burns the budget faster. Quality Score is Google’s way of measuring relevance and user experience. If your ads, keywords, and landing pages don’t align perfectly with user intent, Google charges you more for every click. The good news is that low Quality Score issues are completely diagnosable and fixable if you know where to look. If you want to learn more about PPC, you can have a look at the complete ppc guide now!
What Is Quality Score and Why It Matters
Quality Score is Google Ads’ relevance rating, scored from 1 to 10 at the keyword level. It directly impacts CPC, ad rank, impression share, top-of-page eligibility, and overall ROI. A higher Quality Score means lower costs and better visibility. A low Quality Score means higher costs for weaker placements. Google calculates Quality Score using expected CTR, ad relevance, and landing page experience. To diagnose low Quality Score, all three must be analyzed together.
Identify Keywords With Low Quality Scores
Go to Google Ads Keywords and add columns for Quality Score, Expected CTR, Ad Relevance, and Landing Page Experience. Focus on keywords with Quality Scores between 1 and 4 that are actively spending budget. Ignore low-volume keywords initially and prioritize those driving impressions and cost.
Diagnose Expected CTR Issues
Expected CTR is the strongest Quality Score factor. Low CTR signals poor relevance. Signs include below-average Expected CTR status, weak impression share, and low top-of-page visibility. Common causes are generic ad copy, missing keywords in headlines, weak CTAs, and broad intent targeting. Fix CTR by tightening ad groups, inserting keywords naturally into headlines, matching ad copy to search intent, highlighting benefits, adding urgency, and continuously testing new ad variations.
Diagnose Ad Relevance Issues
Ad relevance measures how closely ads match keywords. Below-average ad relevance usually comes from overloaded ad groups, mixed keyword themes, or generic ads reused across intents. Fix this by splitting ad groups into single-intent clusters, limiting keyword counts per group, writing ads specific to that cluster, and pausing keywords that don’t align with the ad message.
Diagnose Landing Page Experience
Landing page experience reflects what happens after the click. Below-average ratings often come from sending traffic to homepages, weak message match, slow load times, poor mobile UX, or cluttered layouts. Fix landing pages by using dedicated pages per campaign or ad group, matching headlines to ad copy, improving page speed, placing a clear CTA above the fold, reducing distractions, and adding trust signals like testimonials and guarantees.
Check Keyword Match Type Problems
Improper match types silently damage Quality Score. Overusing broad matches without negatives leads to irrelevant traffic. Review the Search Terms Report to identify unrelated queries and add negatives aggressively. Shift high-cost keywords to phrase or exact match and separate informational and transactional keywords into different campaigns.
Diagnose Intent Mismatch at the Keyword Level
Some keywords look relevant but attract the wrong intent. Research-focused terms convert poorly and reduce CTR. Fix this by prioritizing bottom-of-funnel keywords using qualifiers like buy, pricing, demo, hire, or near me. Create separate campaigns for research and purchase intent to protect performance.
Review Campaign and Account Structure
Structural issues lower relevance signals across the account. Common problems include mixed objectives in one campaign, overlapping keywords, no brand vs non-brand separation, and campaigns competing against each other. Fix this by assigning one objective per campaign, separating brand, non-brand, competitor, and remarketing campaigns, and eliminating keyword overlap.
Evaluate Historical Performance Signals
Quality Score is influenced by historical CTR. Long-term poor performers drag down account trust. Pause keywords with chronically low CTR, replace underperforming ads quickly, avoid re-enabling weak keywords repeatedly, and maintain consistent optimization to rebuild account-level quality.
Audit Mobile Experience
Mobile experience heavily impacts Quality Score. Slow load times, long forms, intrusive popups, and unreadable layouts hurt performance. Use mobile-first design, shorter forms, click-to-call CTAs, and optimized page speed to improve mobile Quality Score signals.
Prioritize Fixes Based on Impact
Fix issues in this order for fastest improvement: Expected CTR, ad relevance, landing page experience, match type and negatives, then structure issues. CTR and relevance improvements usually produce the quickest CPC reductions.
How Long Quality Score Improvements Take
Improvements are gradual but predictable. CTR improvements appear within 1–2 weeks, Quality Score changes within 30 days, and CPC and impression share stabilize within 60–90 days with consistent optimization.
Common Mistakes When Fixing Quality Score
Raising bids instead of relevance, changing too many elements at once, ignoring landing pages, overusing automation prematurely, and neglecting search term analysis are common mistakes that delay improvement.
Final Thoughts
Low Quality Score is feedback, not failure. It highlights where relevance breaks between keyword, ad, landing page, and intent. When alignment is fixed, Quality Score improves naturally. High Quality Scores reduce costs, improve visibility, and unlock scalable growth. Diagnose methodically, optimize consistently, and turn Quality Score into a competitive advantage.
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