Quality Score Optimisation | Pay Less for the Same Spot

Quality Score is the 1-10 rating Google gives your keyword, and it hits your wallet directly: it decides whether you pay more or less than a competitor for the same position. Raising it is the most direct way to gain visibility without raising budget.

The three components

Quality Score is built from three separate signals: expected click-through rate, ad relevance and landing page experience. Google labels each as below average, average or above average. To raise the score you first need to see which component is weak — trying to fix all three at once wastes time.

These three labels are visible per keyword in the Google Ads interface, but hidden by default; without enabling the columns you never see this data. What I run into most often in audits is that the account owner did not know these columns existed.

Expected click-through rate

This component measures how often your ad has historically been clicked for that keyword. If it is low, your message is not speaking well enough to the person making that search.

The fix usually comes from bringing ad copy closer to the keyword. Whatever the user searched for should appear in the headline. Trying to address dozens of different keywords with a single ad in an overly broad ad group inevitably drags this component down.

Ad relevance

This measures the match between the keyword and the ad copy. It is the easiest component to fix: narrowing ad groups almost always works.

The work on the keyword optimisation side pays off here — narrow keyword clusters that share intent can show copy that genuinely matches them. Mixed, bloated ad groups run both expensive and underperforming.

Landing page experience

This is the most neglected and hardest component to fix, because the solution lives outside the ads account. Page speed, working properly on mobile, delivering on the promise made in the ad and clearly stating what to do next all determine this rating.

A disconnect between ad copy and page headline is a common problem: the ad talks about one service and the user lands on a generic homepage. If the page is slow, WordPress speed optimisation becomes separate work; it affects conversion rate as well as the score.

How do we start? First I enable the Quality Score columns in your account and work out which component is weak for which keyword. I send the findings in priority order in writing. You can reach me from the contact page.

Frequently Asked Questions

What should my Quality Score be?

There is no single target number; what matters is the distribution in your own account. If the keywords spending most of your budget have low scores, that is the priority. A low score on a keyword that barely spends is not urgent.

How long does it take to raise the score?

Changes to ad copy and group structure usually show up within a few weeks as new data accumulates. For landing-page-driven weakness, the timeline depends on how long the page fix takes.

Does raising bids help when Quality Score is low?

It can buy position in the short term, but your cost per click stays high. The way to get more clicks from the same budget is to raise the score; a bid increase does not solve the problem, it only masks it.