Quality Score is a 1-10 diagnostic assigned at the keyword level, and raising it lowers what you pay to hold the same position. The process below gives you a repeatable way to find weak keywords and fix the specific component dragging each one down, which is the core of effective Google Ads quality score optimization. You need access to a Google Ads account with at least a few weeks of click data. Keywords with little or no data won't give you anything to work with.
Open the Keywords report in your Search campaigns. Click Columns, then Modify columns, and open the Quality Score section. Add Quality Score, Exp. CTR, Ad relevance, and Landing page experience. As of 2026 these are the labels in the interface, though Google moves menus around, so look for the nearest equivalent if yours differ. You can also add the historical versions of each column to see whether a keyword is improving or sliding.
Each component is rated Above average, Average, or Below average. The 1-10 number is a keyword-level estimate built from those components. It is not the figure the auction uses in real time.
Next, filter the view so you are looking at keywords that matter:
Keywords showing '--' have too little data to be scored. Skip them. There is nothing to diagnose.
Mistake to avoid: treating the 1-10 number as a KPI. Google describes Quality Score as a diagnostic tool. The auction itself runs on Ad Rank, which combines your bid, auction-time quality signals, asset impact, thresholds, and the context of each search. There is also no account-level Quality Score. Anyone quoting you one is averaging keyword scores on their own terms, which is fine as a rough gauge but not a Google metric. For a broader look at where an account is leaking budget beyond Quality Score, a full Google Ads account audit is a useful companion to this process.
Export the keyword view to a spreadsheet and build a triage sheet with these columns: keyword, ad group, monthly spend, Quality Score, and one column for each component showing whether it is Below average. This takes ten minutes and replaces guesswork with a ranked list.
Each component points to a different fix:
Prioritize by spend multiplied by the gap, not by the lowest score. A 4 on a keyword costing $5,000 a month matters far more than a 2 on a keyword costing $20. Add a priority column, sort on it, and work from the top.
For example, imagine a home services account where "emergency plumber" sits in a broad ad group alongside "pipe repair," "drain cleaning," and "water heater installation," all served by the same generic ad: "Quality Plumbing Services. Call Today." The keyword spends heavily, and its ad relevance is Below average. The fix is not a bid change or a new landing page. It is a structural problem, and Step 3 handles it.
Do not try to fix every row. Take the top ten or fifteen by priority and leave the rest for the next monthly pass.
Ad relevance improves when the ad can mirror the search intent, and that only works when the ad group contains one intent. Split mixed ad groups into themed groups. "Water heater repair" and "water heater installation" are different needs with different buyers, so they get separate groups, each with its own ads and its own landing page.
Do not over-correct. Google's guidance favors groups organized around a theme, not one keyword per ad group. A theme can hold a handful of close variants, such as "water heater repair," "repair water heater," and "water heater repair near me." The test is simple: could one ad headline accurately answer every keyword in the group? If yes, the group is tight enough.
Work through the restructure in this order:
The Search terms report is where you see what your keywords actually match. If "water heater installation" group is picking up repair queries, add "repair" as a negative there, and the reverse in the repair group. This keeps each group from matching queries its ads were never written for. Left unchecked, those mismatched queries are also a common source of wasted ad spend on Google Ads.
Check match types too. Broad match combined with loose structure is a common source of irrelevance, because Google can stretch a keyword to queries only loosely related to it. Match-type behavior has changed several times over the years, so confirm how each type currently works in Google's documentation before deciding which to use. Tight themes with phrase or exact match are the safest starting point for a keyword that is spending heavily with weak ratings.
With the structure fixed, write ads that say what the searcher is looking for. Put the core keyword in at least a few of your headlines so the match is obvious. Pin sparingly. Pinning a headline to a position forces it to appear there every time, and heavy pinning shrinks the number of combinations Google can test, which weakens the thing responsive search ads are built to do.
Then give people a reason to click this ad over the three above and below it. Specifics beat adjectives:
Only claim what the business actually delivers. A promise the landing page contradicts costs you on both clicks and conversions.
Assets also matter for expected CTR. Add sitelinks, callouts, structured snippets, and call assets where relevant, since they increase the space your ad takes up and give searchers more ways to engage. Google factors the expected impact of assets into Ad Rank.
Ad strength is a guide, not a score input. It is not part of Quality Score, so do not bend your copy to reach "Excellent" if the result is vague or repetitive. Clear, accurate copy that matches the query is better than a rating-optimized ad nobody wants to click.
Run at least two ads per ad group, and give tests enough impressions before judging. A difference of a few clicks on a few hundred impressions is noise. Wait until each ad has a volume that makes the gap meaningful before pausing the loser.
Start with the pages attached to your highest-spend keywords. Improving a page nobody lands on from ads changes nothing.
Message match. The headline and first screen should repeat the service or product the person searched for. Someone who typed "emergency plumber" and lands on a homepage headline reading "Your Trusted Home Partner" has to work to confirm they are in the right place. Many will not bother.
Speed and mobile usability. Run each key page through PageSpeed Insights, and check Core Web Vitals in Search Console if the site has enough traffic to report. Fix the largest causes first. Usually that means oversized images, render-blocking scripts, and heavy third-party tags such as chat widgets and multiple tracking pixels. Test on a phone, not just a desktop browser, since most paid traffic in local and service verticals arrives on mobile.
Conversion path. A visible form or tap-to-call number should be above the fold. Add trust elements that fit the vertical:
If clicks are healthy but the page still isn't turning visitors into leads, the problem often goes beyond Quality Score, and it helps to understand why Google Ads aren't converting before making more changes.
Mistake to avoid: sending every keyword to one page. A single generic page can never match every theme. Build dedicated pages for your top-spending themes first. A page for "water heater repair" and another for "water heater installation" will outperform one "water heaters" page on relevance and conversion rate.
Page changes take time to register in the landing page experience rating, so do not expect an immediate shift in the column.
Some keywords will not improve however well you restructure. Decide on each one:
Then wait. Component ratings update slowly, so compare results two to four weeks after changes, and resist editing the same ad group repeatedly. Every edit resets the evidence you are trying to read.
Judge success by outcomes, not the digit. The numbers that matter are cost per conversion, click-through rate, and impression share lost to rank. If a keyword's score moves from 4 to 6 and cost per conversion falls, the work paid off. If the score hits 8 on a keyword with five clicks a month, you spent effort where it did not matter. Google does not publish an exact formula linking Quality Score to cost per click, so measure the effect in your own account. If cost per lead is still climbing after these fixes, see why your Google Ads cost per lead is so high for the other levers worth checking.
Set a monthly review using the same triage sheet from Step 2. Refresh the export, re-rank by spend and gap, and take the next ten or fifteen keywords. For a second walkthrough of the same fundamentals, our guide on how to improve Google Ads Quality Score covers the process from a slightly different angle.
The process only compounds if it runs every month. Each pass fixes the most expensive remaining problems, and new keywords, search terms, and page changes keep producing new ones. One account is manageable. Ten or twenty client accounts usually are not, especially alongside reporting and everything else.
If you lack the capacity, Triad Media Lab can run this work as part of full paid media management, or behind your brand through the white-label Agency Partner Program. Learn more about our services
