How do I write ad copy that increases Quality Score?

Quality Score: what it is (and what it isn’t), so you write the right kind of ad copy

Quality Score is a keyword-level diagnostic (1–10) meant to help you understand how your ad quality compares to other advertisers, and where improving the user experience could help. It’s not something to “game” with clever wording tricks; it’s a feedback loop that points you back to fundamentals: relevance, clarity, and usefulness.

At a practical level, your ad copy can influence two of the three Quality Score components most directly: Ad relevance (does your message match the intent behind the keyword?) and Expected CTR (how likely someone is to click when your ad shows). The third component, landing page experience, isn’t “ad copy,” but your copy can improve it indirectly by setting accurate expectations and keeping messaging consistent from ad to landing page.

Two important reality checks that keep your optimization grounded: Quality Score is not an input in the ad auction, and it’s not a KPI you should aggregate or obsess over. Use it to diagnose, then focus your effort on improving the underlying components (and your real business outcomes).

Start with diagnosis: which component is your ad copy actually hurting?

Before rewriting anything, confirm which lever you need to pull. In the keyword reporting table, you can add columns for Quality Score and the component statuses, and you can also add historical versions of those columns (for example, Quality Score (hist.) and Exp. CTR (hist.)) to see whether your changes are moving the needle over time.

 
• If Ad relevance is “Average/Below average”, you usually have a message-to-intent mismatch (often caused by ad groups that contain mixed themes).
 
• If Expected CTR is “Average/Below average”, you often have a weak value proposition, vague language, or you’re not clearly answering the searcher’s “why you?” question.
 
• If Landing page experience is “Average/Below average”, your copy might still be part of the fix—because better message match reduces pogo-sticking and frustration—but you’ll also need landing page work.

Write ad copy that lifts Ad Relevance and Expected CTR (the two QS components you can move fastest)

In mature accounts, “better ad copy” usually isn’t about being more creative; it’s about being more specific and more intent-matched. That’s how you earn the click (CTR) and prove relevance (Ad relevance) at the same time.

1) Mirror the searcher’s intent in plain language (not marketing poetry)

A reliable pattern: when the keyword suggests immediate action (buy, book, quote, near me), your copy should lead with availability, price, turnaround time, and a direct call to action. When the keyword suggests research (best, compare, reviews, vs), your copy should lead with proof (ratings, guarantees, years in business, transparent pricing) and a “learn more” style CTA that fits the stage.

One of the simplest ways to improve Ad relevance is to match the language in your ad text more directly to the user’s search terms, and when you can’t do that cleanly across a mixed set of keywords, you split the themes into separate ad groups so each ad can speak clearly. (

2) Use Responsive Search Ads the way they’re designed: more unique assets, less redundancy

With Responsive Search Ads (RSAs), you’re not writing “one perfect ad.” You’re writing a set of high-quality building blocks that can assemble into the most relevant message for different searches. RSAs can use up to 15 headlines and 4 descriptions, and more assets (when they’re truly unique) create more opportunities to match intent and improve performance.

In practice, that means you want enough headline variety that the system has real choices. A strong baseline is to write roughly 8–10 headlines, ensure you include a keyword in two headlines, and also include at least three headlines that don’t include keywords (benefits, objections, shipping/returns, warranties, financing, etc.). Then add at least two unique descriptions that don’t just restate the headlines.

Avoid repeating the same phrase across multiple headlines and descriptions. Redundancy narrows the number of meaningful combinations and can make your ad feel generic—both of which tend to show up as weaker CTR and weaker relevance over time.

3) Treat pinning as a last resort (it can reduce your ability to match intent)

Pinning is useful when you have mandatory language that must appear in a specific position, but it’s not recommended for most advertisers because it reduces the number of combinations that can be shown and matched to different searches. If you must pin, pin multiple options to the same position so you preserve some flexibility.

4) Upgrade vague claims into specific, clickable proof

Expected CTR improves when your ad makes a clear promise and reduces uncertainty. In ad copy terms, that means swapping fluff for specifics:

 
• Replace “High Quality Service” with “Same-Day Appointments” or “Licensed & Insured”
 
• Replace “Great Prices” with “From $49” or “Price Match Guarantee”
 
• Replace “Best Software” with “Free Trial” or “Cancel Anytime”

This approach aligns with how CTR is used in the platform: clickthrough rate is clicks divided by impressions, and CTR helps indicate whether users find your ads helpful and relevant; CTR also contributes to expected CTR (a component used in Ad Rank).

5) Use dynamic insertion carefully: it can help relevance, but it can also create awkward (or risky) ads

Keyword insertion can make ads more relevant by automatically inserting a keyword from your ad group into your ad text (with a fallback if the keyword is too long). It’s especially effective when your ad groups are tightly themed, so every keyword that could be inserted is “safe” and makes grammatical sense.

Two important nuances: keyword insertion shows the keyword (not necessarily the actual search term), it works across match types, and you’re still responsible for policy compliance after insertion.

If you need dynamic messaging at scale beyond keywords—like dynamically inserting product name, price, discount percent, or a countdown—ad customizers for RSAs can do that, and they’re structured differently than older formats.

Examples: intent-matched copy templates you can adapt

Transactional (“buy/quote/book”)
Headline ideas: “Get a Quote in 2 Minutes”, “Install This Week”, “From $99”, “Warranty Included”, “Financing Available”
Description idea: “Upfront pricing. Licensed pros. Book online in minutes.”

Comparison (“best/compare”)
Headline ideas: “Compare Plans Side-by-Side”, “Transparent Pricing”, “Top-Rated Support”, “Cancel Anytime”
Description idea: “See what’s included in every plan before you buy.”

Local service (“near me”)
Headline ideas: “Serving [City]”, “Same-Day Appointments”, “Local, Licensed & Insured”
Description idea: “Fast response times with clear, upfront estimates.”

Make your Quality Score gains stick: align assets and landing page messaging with your ad copy

Even the best ad copy can struggle if the rest of the ad experience is thin. Two areas matter most here: (1) making your ad more useful with assets, and (2) ensuring the landing page delivers exactly what your ad promised.

1) Use assets to increase usefulness and improve performance signals

Assets (the elements that can show in addition to headlines and descriptions) contribute to Ad Rank alongside bids, ad/landing page quality, thresholds, and the search context. In real accounts, assets often provide the fastest “surface area” win because they let you say more, prove more, and give users better paths to what they want.

Sitelinks are a great example of “copy that behaves like navigation.” They let you route different intents to different pages (pricing, reviews, locations, services), which improves relevance and reduces wasted clicks. They also contribute to overall Ad Strength, and improving Ad Strength (for RSAs and sitelinks) from Poor to Excellent is associated with higher conversions on average.

2) Maintain message match from ad to landing page (don’t bait the click)

Landing page experience is evaluated based on how relevant and useful your landing page is to people who click your ad. One of the most common Quality Score killers I see is “copy promises X, landing page leads with Y.” Fixing that mismatch typically improves both conversion rate and the Quality Score component status over time.

Also make sure the page you send traffic to is genuinely the right page. Your ad uses a final URL (landing page URL) to send people to a specific area of your website, and your URL setup needs to clearly represent where users will land.

3) Clean up “wrong intent” traffic so your best copy can win

Ad copy can’t fully compensate for keywords that match irrelevant searches. Use the search terms report to identify queries that triggered your ads, then add negative keywords and refine targeting so only the right searches cause your ad to show. This is one of the most underrated ways to lift expected CTR, because your impressions become more qualified.

Critical “ad copy QA” checklist (run this before you publish)

 
• Does the ad explicitly answer the likely intent behind the keyword (buy vs compare vs local)? ([
 
• For RSAs, do you have enough unique headlines/descriptions to avoid redundancy and enable more meaningful combinations?
 
• If you’re using keyword insertion, are all eligible keywords safe, grammatical, and policy-compliant when inserted?
 
• Do your sitelinks and other assets add new information (instead of repeating your headlines)?
 
• Does the landing page headline/hero section confirm the promise you made in the ad?

If you’re working on ad copy to improve Quality Score, it often helps to have a clear, keyword-level view of what’s actually dragging performance—ad relevance, expected CTR, or landing page experience—so you can tighten intent-matching language, add more distinct RSA assets, and make sure the promise in the ad is echoed on the landing page. Blobr plugs into your Google Ads and can support that workflow with AI agents like the Ad Copy Rewriter (which reviews your ad groups, keywords, search terms, and landing pages to suggest better-aligned headlines and descriptions) and the Keyword Landing Optimizer (which helps map high-value keywords to the most relevant URLs), turning best-practice checks into practical, account-specific recommendations you can apply when you’re ready.