How do I fix low Quality Score for my keywords?

Diagnose why your keyword Quality Score is low (before you “optimize” anything)

Know what Quality Score is actually measuring

Quality Score is a 1–10 diagnostic rating at the keyword level that reflects how competitive your ad quality is versus other advertisers for the same keyword. It’s built from three component ratings—Expected CTR, Ad Relevance, and Landing Page Experience—each shown as Above average, Average, or Below average. If you improve the specific component that’s below average, the overall score typically follows.

Two details matter a lot when you’re troubleshooting. First, the score is based on historical performance for exact searches of your keyword, which is why simply changing match type usually doesn’t “fix” the score on its own. Second, your visible 1–10 Quality Score is not the same thing as the real-time quality evaluations used in the auction; think of the 1–10 number as the dashboard warning light, and the three components as the diagnostic codes that tell you what to repair.

Pull the right columns (including historical) so you can see the real problem

If you try to fix Quality Score without looking at the component columns, you’ll waste time. Your job is to identify which of the three components is dragging the keyword down, confirm it’s not a data issue, then apply the smallest set of changes that directly addresses that component.

• Add columns: Quality Score, Expected CTR, Ad Relevance, Landing Page Experience.
• Add historical columns too: Quality Score (hist.) and each component (hist.) so you can pinpoint when the drop started.
• Segment by day (or compare date ranges) to connect score changes to changes you made (new ads, new landing page, new tracking, etc.).
• Ignore paused keywords for diagnosis: paused keywords can keep old scores that don’t reflect today’s reality.

Rule out “false alarms” that look like low Quality Score

Not every low score is a true quality problem you can solve immediately. If a keyword has very limited exact-match data, you may see a dash instead of a score, or you may see a score that’s heavily modeled and slow to respond. Also remember that traffic quality and engagement can vary by device, location, time, and the assets showing with your ad—so you can have a keyword that “should” be relevant, yet still underperform in Expected CTR or Landing Page Experience in the real world.

Fix low Quality Score by repairing the component that’s “Below average”

1) Fix “Below average” Ad Relevance (make the ad match the query’s intent)

Ad Relevance is about whether your ad reads like the best answer to the user’s search, not whether you managed to cram the keyword into a headline. The fastest wins usually come from tighter grouping and clearer intent matching. If you have one ad group covering multiple themes (brands, services, pricing terms, locations, problem/solution terms), your ads end up generic—and generic ads almost always lose relevance.

In practice, I aim for ad groups where a single landing page and a single ad message can truthfully satisfy most searches that keyword set can trigger. When that’s not possible, split the ad group until it is.

• Split “mixed intent” ad groups (for example: “buy”, “repair”, “reviews”, “pricing”, “near me”) so each group gets its own dedicated message.
• Write ads that mirror the search language and answer the implied question (price, availability, appointment, quote, demo, etc.).
• Avoid vague keyword insertion setups where the default text is broad or unclear—this can create relevance problems when the insertion doesn’t fire.

If you’re using responsive search ads, don’t treat them as “set and forget.” Strong coverage across headlines/descriptions should include the core theme, a specific value proposition, and a clear next step—so the system can assemble combinations that stay relevant across close variants and contexts.

2) Fix “Below average” Expected CTR (earn the click, don’t try to buy it)

Expected CTR is a prediction of how likely your ad is to get clicked when shown, and it’s adjusted so ad position doesn’t artificially inflate the rating. That’s why “I’ll just bid higher” is not a Quality Score strategy. Instead, you improve Expected CTR by making your ad the most compelling, most clearly relevant option on the page for that search.

Start by aligning the offer and the call-to-action with what the searcher is trying to accomplish. If your keyword implies high intent (for example, “same day”, “pricing”, “quote”, “book”), your ad should make it easy to choose you without guessing what happens after the click.

• Upgrade specificity: include concrete differentiators (lead time, pricing model, guarantees, inventory depth, service area, certifications—only if true).
• Match intent, not just topic: “compare,” “best,” “reviews,” and “pricing” searches often need different angles than “buy” or “book.”
• Use assets aggressively: stronger assets can improve your ability to win clicks by making your result larger and more informative, and the auction considers the expected impact of assets and formats.
• Cut waste that suppresses CTR: add negatives and separate broad discovery from high-intent terms so your best ads show for your best searches.

One nuance experienced advertisers learn the hard way: sometimes making ads more specific can reduce CTR while improving conversion rate. That’s not automatically “bad.” The goal is profitable performance. Use the component rating as guidance, but keep conversion outcomes as your north star.

3) Fix “Below average” Landing Page Experience (make the post-click experience frictionless)

Landing Page Experience reflects whether your landing page is relevant and useful for people who click your ad, and whether the page is easy to navigate and matches the expectations your ad creates. It’s not just “does the page contain the keyword.” It’s “did the click lead to the best next step for that search, quickly, clearly, and without surprises.”

Here’s how I troubleshoot landing page experience in a way that actually moves the needle:

• Message match: the first screen of the page should confirm the exact product/service and promise implied by the ad (and do it without scrolling).
• Navigation clarity: users should immediately know where to click next (pricing, booking, contact, product options). Confusing menus and “hunt for it” layouts are silent killers.
• Speed + stability: slow mobile load times and heavy scripts drag down engagement, which feeds poor experience signals. Reduce bloat, compress media, and keep the path to conversion lightweight.
• Functional destinations: avoid broken pages, “under construction” experiences, or pages that intermittently fail for crawlers or users. Make sure your destination works reliably across common devices and for automated crawlers.
• Trust and transparency: make key business info easy to find (pricing clarity, shipping/returns where applicable, contact details, policies). Pages that feel incomplete or evasive often underperform even when they look “relevant.”

Also pay attention to tracking and redirects. Over-complicated click tracking, chains of redirects, or inconsistent destination behavior can create slowdowns and occasional access issues. Modern tracking setups are designed to send users to the final landing page immediately while measurement runs in the background—if your tracking vendor or template conflicts with that approach, you can lose both speed and reliability.

High-impact advanced fixes (and common traps) that keep Quality Score low

Don’t “restructure” expecting Quality Score to magically improve

Reorganizing campaigns and ad groups can make your account easier to manage, but it doesn’t inherently improve quality. Quality changes when user experience changes—new, more relevant ads; better keyword-to-ad mapping; stronger landing pages. Moving keywords around without changing the ad or landing page experience is usually just busywork.

Be careful when you remove or heavily edit ads

If you wipe out the ads in an ad group and replace them, you can reset performance history that was helping you. When possible, iterate: keep a proven control ad (or asset set) running while you test improved messaging. That lets you improve relevance and CTR without forcing the system to relearn everything from scratch.

When Quality Score won’t move, it’s often a data problem (not an “optimization” problem)

If a keyword doesn’t collect enough meaningful exact-match history, the score can be slow to update or may not fully reflect your recent improvements. In those cases, focus on building clean data: tighten targeting, route searches to the right ad groups, eliminate irrelevant matches with negatives, and ensure your best assets are eligible to show. Once the keyword accrues stronger performance history on the right searches, the component ratings usually begin to shift.

A practical weekly workflow that improves Quality Score without obsessing over it

• Filter to keywords with low Quality Score and meaningful impressions/cost (don’t waste time on low-volume edge cases).
• Sort by the worst component first (Expected CTR vs Ad Relevance vs Landing Page Experience).
• Apply one targeted fix per ad group (split themes, rewrite ads to intent, or upgrade the landing page experience), then wait long enough to measure impact.
• Validate with outcomes: CTR, conversion rate, and post-click engagement should improve alongside component ratings if you fixed the real issue.

If you’re working through low Quality Score, it often comes down to pinpointing which component is dragging you down (Expected CTR, Ad Relevance, or Landing Page Experience) and then applying a focused fix—something that’s hard to do consistently across lots of keywords. Blobr is a Google Ads platform that connects to your account, monitors performance continuously, and turns best-practice checks into concrete recommendations using specialized AI agents, including ones focused on ad copy relevance and landing page alignment (for example, mapping keywords to the most relevant pages and suggesting where to split ad groups or adjust messaging). You stay in control of what gets analyzed and what changes you apply, but the diagnostic “grunt work” becomes much easier to keep up with week to week.