Google Ads Quality Score: Why the Highest Bidder Doesn’t Always Win
Remember the idea that whoever pays the most shows up first on Google Ads? Not necessarily. Not even close.
Google cares about one thing above all: a great experience for the person searching. It judges that experience on three levels, and those three levels are exactly what this article walks through.
In the previous post we used Auction Insights to see where you stand against your competitors. Today we look at a metric that often explains why they sit above you: Quality Score.
What Is Quality Score in Google Ads?
Quality Score is Google’s grade for each keyword in your Search campaigns, on a scale of 1 to 10. It really measures one thing: when someone searches for what you’re bidding on, will they find what they were looking for with you?
Google positions it as a diagnostic tool, a way to see how the quality of your ad experience stacks up against other advertisers. It is built from three components:
| Component | What It Means | The Question It Answers |
|---|---|---|
| Expected CTR | Google’s estimate of how likely people are to click your ad when it appears | Will people actually click your ad? |
| Ad Relevance | How well your ad lines up with what the person was searching for | Does your ad say what the searcher asked for? |
| Landing Page Experience | How useful and on topic your page is for the people who click through | Does the page deliver what the ad promised, or does the visitor close it and go back? |
Each component gets its own rating: Above average, Average, or Below average. Those ratings come from a comparison with other advertisers whose ads appeared for the same exact search during the past 90 days.
Same Service, Different Result: A Real Example
Someone searches for “AC cleaning in Dubai”. Two companies offer exactly that service. Here is what Google, and the searcher, see:
| Element | Your Ad | Competitor’s Ad |
|---|---|---|
| Headline | “Complete Home Services” | “AC Cleaning in Dubai, Done in 2 Hours” |
| Landing page | Your homepage | A dedicated AC cleaning page with prices, a booking option, and the details people look for |
| Match to the search | Loose: the service exists somewhere on your site | Direct: the same intent appears in both the ad and the page |
Both of you sell the same service. Your quality of work may even be better. But from where the searcher and Google sit, the competitor is simply more relevant, because it repeats the exact intent of the search in the ad copy and again on the landing page.
That is how a competitor can sit above you while bidding less than you do. Your bid is a ceiling, not a price tag: what you actually pay is often less than your maximum, and stronger ads can clear Google’s minimum quality bar with a smaller bid.
Quality Score vs. Ad Rank: What Actually Decides Who Shows First
Here is a precision worth making. The 1 to 10 number is a report card. Google says the score itself is not an input in the ad auction, and its own guidance is not to treat it as a KPI. What decides who shows, and in which position, is Ad Rank, which Google recalculates for every single search. It combines:
| Factor | What It Means |
|---|---|
| Your bid | The maximum you’re willing to pay for a click. What you actually pay is often less. |
| Auction-time quality | The quality of your ad and landing page at the moment of the search. It can include expected CTR, ad relevance, and landing page experience. |
| Ad Rank thresholds | Minimum quality bars an ad must clear in order to show. Stronger ads can clear them with a smaller bid. |
| Competitiveness of the auction | How strong the other ads are in that specific auction. |
| Context of the search | Location, device, time of search, the search terms, the other ads and results on the page, and other user signals. |
| Expected impact of assets and ad formats | How much sitelinks, call buttons, and similar assets are expected to improve performance. |
Notice the second row. Auction-time quality draws on the same kinds of signals as Quality Score, measured live. That is why working on the three components still pays off, even though the 1 to 10 number never enters the auction. Google names better ads and landing pages as one of the two ways to win more top-of-page visibility. The other is a higher bid.
How to Check Your Quality Score
- In Google Ads, open the Campaigns menu and go to Keywords.
- Click the Columns icon in the upper right corner of the table, then choose Modify columns.
- Open the Quality score section and tick Quality Score, Exp. CTR, Ad Relevance, and Landing Page Exp.
- Optional: add the (hist.) versions of the same columns and segment the table by day to see how your scores changed over time.
- Click Apply.
You will now see a rating for each component next to every keyword. Aim for Above average on all three wherever you can, and treat the ratings as a to-do list rather than a scoreboard. Start with the ad groups where something is rated Below average.
Where to Look First
| If This Is Below Average | It Usually Means | Start Here |
|---|---|---|
| Exp. CTR | Your ad isn’t compelling or competitive enough next to the others shown for this search | Rewrite headlines and test stronger offers and calls to action |
| Ad Relevance | Your ad doesn’t mirror the intent behind the keyword | Tighten the ad group around one theme and write copy that repeats the search intent |
| Landing Page Exp. | The page doesn’t deliver what the ad promised | Send traffic to a dedicated page that matches the ad, loads fast, and works well on mobile |
One more thing you may run into: a dash instead of a number. It means there aren’t enough searches that exactly match your keyword for Google to calculate a score yet. Finding higher volume keywords with Keyword Planner, or broadening match types so the keyword enters more auctions, helps it collect the data it needs.
Pull Quality Score at Scale With GAQL (Optional)
If you manage many accounts, the same data is available through the Google Ads API under ad_group_criterion.quality_info. You can run it through the API directly, or through the search tool of the official Google Ads MCP server.
| API Field | What It Returns |
|---|---|
quality_score | The 1 to 10 score. It can come back empty when Google doesn’t have enough data to determine one. |
search_predicted_ctr | The Exp. CTR rating |
creative_quality_score | The Ad Relevance rating |
post_click_quality_score | The Landing Page Exp. rating |
SELECT
campaign.name,
ad_group.name,
ad_group_criterion.keyword.text,
ad_group_criterion.quality_info.quality_score,
ad_group_criterion.quality_info.search_predicted_ctr,
ad_group_criterion.quality_info.creative_quality_score,
ad_group_criterion.quality_info.post_click_quality_score
FROM keyword_view
WHERE campaign.advertising_channel_type = 'SEARCH'
AND ad_group_criterion.status = 'ENABLED'
AND ad_group_criterion.negative = FALSEImprove It on Three Levels
Improving a Google Ads account happens on three levels. Here is what to do on each one, and what it moves:
| Level | What to Do | What It Moves |
|---|---|---|
| Ad Copy | Repeat the searcher’s intent in your headlines: the service, the location, the promise. Keep each ad group focused on one tight theme so the copy can mirror it. Test new headlines and offers. | Ad Relevance and Expected CTR |
| Landing Page | Send each intent to a dedicated page instead of the homepage. Show what the ad promised right away: price, booking, key details. Make the page fast and easy to use on mobile. | Landing Page Experience |
| Bidding | Treat your bid as a ceiling and set it by what a click is worth to you, not by the urge to sit in position one. Add assets such as sitelinks and call buttons: they don’t change Quality Score, but Ad Rank counts their expected impact. | Ad Rank and what you pay |
Whenever you optimize a Google Ads account, remember it happens on three levels: Ad Copy, Landing Page, and Bidding. Do the best job you can on each one.
Common Quality Score Mistakes
| Mistake | Why It Backfires |
|---|---|
| Chasing a perfect 10 on every keyword | Google’s own guidance is not to treat Quality Score as a KPI or to chase it directly. Use it to find weak spots, then fix the ad or the page. |
| Reading only the single number | The three component ratings are what tell you where the problem actually is. |
| Sending every keyword to the homepage | A generic page rarely matches the intent behind a specific search, and that match is what Landing Page Experience measures. |
| Switching match types to raise the score | The score is built from past impressions on exact searches of the keyword, so changing match types won’t move it. |
| Adding assets to raise the score | Google strips the effect of assets out of the expected CTR calculation. Assets still help Ad Rank, but they won’t lift Quality Score. |
| Treating the score as the full picture | Device, user location, time of day, and assets can affect ad quality without showing up in Quality Score. |
Frequently Asked Questions
What is Quality Score in Google Ads?
Quality Score is a 1 to 10 diagnostic that Google gives each keyword in your Search campaigns. It shows how your ad experience compares with other advertisers, based on expected CTR, ad relevance, and landing page experience.
What are the three components of Quality Score?
Expected CTR (how likely people are to click your ad when it shows), Ad Relevance (how well your ad matches what the person searched for), and Landing Page Experience (how useful and on topic your page is for people who click). Each one is rated Above average, Average, or Below average.
Does Quality Score decide who wins the Google Ads auction?
Not directly. Google says the 1 to 10 score is not an input in the auction. Ad Rank decides, and it combines your bid with auction-time quality, Ad Rank thresholds, the competitiveness of the auction, the context of the search, and the expected impact of assets and ad formats. Auction-time quality draws on the same kinds of signals, so improving your ads and pages still pays off.
Where do I find Quality Score in Google Ads?
Open Keywords in the Campaigns menu, click the Columns icon, choose Modify columns, and add Quality Score, Exp. CTR, Ad Relevance, and Landing Page Exp. from the Quality score section.
Why does my keyword show a dash instead of a Quality Score?
There aren’t enough searches that exactly match the keyword to calculate a score yet. Finding higher volume keywords, or broadening match types so the keyword enters more auctions, helps it gather the data it needs.
Which Quality Score component matters most?
Google doesn’t publish how much each component weighs, so the practical move is to fix whichever one is rated Below average first. If several are, start with the ad groups that spend the most.
Sources
- About Quality Score for search campaigns (Google Ads Help)
- About Ad Rank (Google Ads Help)
- AdGroupCriterion.QualityInfo (Google Ads API reference)