How to Fix Low Quality Score Issues in PPC: A Step-by-Step Guide for Google Ads

TL;DR: Low Quality Scores in Google Ads drive up your CPCs, hurt your ad rank, and quietly drain your budget. This guide walks you through exactly how to diagnose and fix low quality score issues in PPC—step by step—so you can pay less per click and show up more often for the right searches.

Quality Score is Google's 1–10 rating of how relevant your keyword, ad, and landing page are to a user's search. A low score (1–5) means you're paying a premium for mediocre placement. A high score (7–10) means Google rewards you with lower CPCs and better positioning.

The three components Google weighs are: Expected CTR, Ad Relevance, and Landing Page Experience. When any one of these is "Below Average," your Quality Score suffers—and your account pays the price.

This guide is written for marketers, freelancers, and agency owners who are already running Google Ads and want a practical, no-fluff process for diagnosing what's dragging scores down and fixing it fast. We'll cover how to audit your current scores, tighten up ad group structure, write more relevant ad copy, clean up your search terms, and optimize your landing pages. No vague advice—just a repeatable workflow you can apply to any account.

Step 1: Audit Your Current Quality Scores and Identify the Weak Spots

Before you fix anything, you need to know exactly what's broken. In most accounts I audit, the problem isn't that Quality Scores are uniformly bad—it's that a handful of high-spend keywords are dragging everything down while the rest of the account is fine.

Here's how to pull the data you need. In Google Ads, navigate to your Keywords view, then use the Columns menu to add these four columns: Quality Score, Expected CTR (status), Ad Relevance (status), and Landing Page Experience (status). These four columns together tell you not just that a keyword has a low score, but exactly which component is failing.

Once those columns are visible, filter for keywords with a Quality Score of 1–5. That's your problem list. Now look across the three status columns for each flagged keyword. If you see "Below Average" under Ad Relevance, you have an ad copy problem. "Below Average" under Expected CTR usually points to irrelevant search terms or weak ad copy. "Below Average" under Landing Page Experience means Google doesn't think your page delivers on what the ad promises.

Here's the move most guides skip: sort your filtered list by cost. A keyword sitting at QS 3 and spending $500 a month is a dramatically bigger problem than one spending $8. Prioritize by spend impact, not by how bad the score looks. Work through your highest-spend, lowest-QS keywords first—that's where you'll recover the most budget fastest.

Export your findings into a simple working list with four columns: keyword, current Quality Score, which component is failing, and monthly spend. This becomes your audit document for the rest of this process.

Common mistake to avoid: Don't try to fix everything at once. Pick your top 10 highest-spend, lowest-QS keywords and focus there. Fixing 10 keywords that collectively spend $3,000 a month will move the needle far more than fixing 50 keywords that spend $50 combined.

Success indicator: You have a prioritized list of keywords with clear labels on which Quality Score component is failing. That's your roadmap for every step that follows.

Step 2: Tighten Your Ad Group Structure Around Tightly Themed Keywords

Ad group structure is one of the most underrated levers for improving Quality Score—and it's also where most accounts are a complete mess. When one ad has to serve 30 loosely related keywords, it can't be highly relevant to any of them. Google knows this, and it shows up as "Below Average" Ad Relevance.

The fix is tighter theming. The single-theme ad group (STAG) approach groups keywords by tight intent clusters so your ad copy can speak directly to each query. Instead of one ad group called "Running Shoes" containing everything from "buy trail running shoes" to "best shoes for marathon training for beginners," you'd have separate ad groups for each distinct intent.

How do you spot bloated ad groups? Look for ad groups with 20 or more keywords that span multiple intents or product types. If you can't write one ad that's genuinely relevant to every keyword in the group, the group is too broad.

The practical restructuring workflow looks like this:

1. Pull your keyword list for the bloated ad group and group them by intent clusters. Keywords that share the same user goal should stay together. Keywords with different goals—even if they're topically related—should be split out.

2. Create new ad groups for each intent cluster. Name them clearly so you can track performance by theme.

3. Write dedicated ad copy for each new group. This is the whole point—tighter groups let you write ads that directly address what that specific cluster of searchers wants.

If you want a deeper process for clustering keywords effectively, keyword clustering is worth exploring as a dedicated workflow before you restructure.

Tighter ad group structure also helps your search terms stay more relevant. When your keyword themes are focused, Google's matching algorithms tend to pull in more on-target search queries—which means fewer irrelevant impressions dragging down your CTR.

Success indicator: After restructuring and letting a few weeks of data accumulate, your Ad Relevance status should move from "Below Average" to "Average" or "Above Average." If it doesn't, the next step—ad copy rewrites—is where to look next.

Step 3: Rewrite Your Ads to Match Keyword Intent More Closely

Ad Relevance measures how closely your ad copy matches the intent behind the keyword. Generic ads hurt this score. If your ad could run for any keyword in any category, it's not relevant enough.

The most direct fix: include the exact keyword phrase (or a close variant) in Headline 1 and in your description. This signals relevance to Google and to the searcher. It's not about keyword stuffing—it's about making the ad feel like it was written specifically for that search.

But relevance goes deeper than just including the keyword. You also need to match the intent type. A keyword like "buy running shoes" is transactional—the person wants to purchase. Your ad should lead with a clear offer, price point, or promotion. A keyword like "best running shoes for beginners" is informational with commercial intent—the person is still deciding. Your ad should lead with guidance, comparison, or a reason to trust you. Using the same ad copy for both of these keywords is a relevance problem, even if the keyword appears in both ads.

For Responsive Search Ads, use the pinning feature strategically. Pin your most relevant headline to Position 1 so it always shows. Let Google test other combinations in Positions 2 and 3. This gives you control over the most important relevance signal while still benefiting from Google's testing.

Write at least three headline variants for each keyword cluster, each speaking directly to a different angle of the searcher's goal: the pain point, the outcome they want, and the reason to choose you. This gives Google enough material to work with while keeping every option relevant.

Common pitfall: Don't change one word and expect results. If your Ad Relevance is "Below Average," a full rewrite of the ad copy is usually needed—not a minor tweak. The bar Google sets for "Average" is not that high; you just need to be clearly relevant to the keyword's intent.

Success indicator: Check your Expected CTR status after two to three weeks. If it moves from "Below Average" to "Average," your rewrites are working. Ad Relevance status should also improve as Google re-evaluates the updated ads against the keyword's search history.

Step 4: Clean Up Your Search Terms to Stop Irrelevant Clicks from Killing Your CTR

Expected CTR is one of the trickiest Quality Score components to improve because it's influenced by something most advertisers don't think about enough: what search queries your ads are actually showing for.

Here's what usually happens. You have a broad match keyword. Google matches it to dozens of search queries, some relevant, many not. Your ad gets shown for searches that have nothing to do with your offer. Those searchers don't click. Impressions pile up with no clicks attached, and your CTR tanks. Google interprets low CTR as low relevance—and your Expected CTR status drops to "Below Average."

The fix starts in the Search Terms Report. Filter for search terms with high impressions and zero or very few clicks. For each one, ask: is this actually relevant to what I'm selling? If the answer is no, add it as a negative keyword immediately. This is one of the fastest ways to improve Expected CTR because you're removing the dead weight that's suppressing your ratio.

It's worth clarifying the distinction here: keywords are what you bid on; search terms are what users actually type. A single keyword can trigger hundreds of different search terms. Quality Score is calculated at the keyword level, but it's influenced by the real-world search terms that keyword attracts. Cleaning up your search terms directly improves the relevance of what your keyword is "known for" in Google's system.

Match types are the other lever here. Broad match keywords are the most likely culprits for irrelevant traffic. If you're running high-spend broad match keywords and the search terms report is consistently showing off-target queries, consider switching to phrase match or exact match. You'll lose some volume, but the traffic you keep will be far more relevant—and your CTR will reflect that.

For agencies managing multiple client accounts, this process needs to happen regularly. Weekly search term audits are the standard for accounts with meaningful spend. Letting it slide for a month means weeks of irrelevant impressions accumulating against your CTR.

This is exactly where a tool like Keywordme becomes genuinely useful. Instead of exporting search terms to a spreadsheet and manually cross-referencing negative keyword lists, Keywordme lets you add negative keywords with a single click directly inside the Search Terms Report—without leaving Google Ads. For anyone managing multiple campaigns or client accounts, that time savings adds up fast.

Success indicator: After two to four weeks of active negative keyword management and match type tightening, your Expected CTR status should improve. You'll also likely see a reduction in wasted spend as a side effect.

Step 5: Fix Landing Page Experience—Speed, Relevance, and Message Match

Landing Page Experience is the third Quality Score component and, in most accounts I look at, the most neglected. Google evaluates your landing page on several factors: load speed, mobile-friendliness, content relevance to the keyword, ease of navigation, and transparency (things like a clear privacy policy and visible business information).

The biggest single issue I see is message match failure. Your ad makes a specific promise, and your landing page doesn't deliver it. If your ad says "Get a Free Quote for Roof Repair," and clicking it takes the user to your homepage with a generic "Welcome to Our Services" headline, Google's systems notice the disconnect—and so does the user, who bounces immediately. Both signals hurt your Landing Page Experience score.

The fix: your landing page headline and above-the-fold content should directly reflect what the ad promised. Same offer, same language, same intent. If your ad is about a specific product, the landing page should feature that product prominently—not bury it three scrolls down.

For speed issues, start with Google's PageSpeed Insights tool (it's free). Run your landing page URL through it and look at the specific recommendations. Common fixes include compressing images, reducing unnecessary redirects, and minimizing render-blocking scripts. Mobile performance matters as much as desktop—Google evaluates both.

The structural change with the biggest impact is this: create dedicated landing pages per ad group theme instead of sending all traffic to a generic homepage. One ad group about "emergency roof repair" should go to a page specifically about emergency roof repair services—not your general roofing homepage. This single change often produces the largest improvement in Landing Page Experience scores because it solves the message match problem at the root level.

Timeline note: Landing page changes can take two to four weeks to be re-evaluated by Google. Don't make a change and check back the next day expecting an update. Monitor the Landing Page Experience status column weekly and give it a full evaluation cycle before drawing conclusions.

Success indicator: Your Landing Page Experience status moves from "Below Average" to "Average" or "Above Average" within four to six weeks of making meaningful changes to speed, relevance, and message match.

Step 6: Pause or Restructure Persistently Low-Scoring Keywords

Sometimes a keyword is fundamentally misaligned with your ad and landing page—and no amount of tweaking will fix it. After you've worked through Steps 2 through 5, most keywords should start showing improvement. But some won't. Those are the ones you need to make a decision about.

If a keyword has been sitting at QS 1–3 for 30 or more days after you've addressed ad relevance and landing page issues, it's time to evaluate whether it belongs in the account at all. You have three options:

Pause it: If the keyword isn't converting and the Quality Score is irreparably low, cutting it is often the right call. Keeping low-QS keywords active can drag down the overall account health signal.

Move it to a dedicated ad group: If the keyword has conversion potential but just doesn't fit anywhere in your current structure, build a purpose-built ad group around it with a dedicated ad and a matching landing page. This is the right move when the keyword is too specific to fit neatly into an existing theme.

Replace it with a long-tail variant: Broad, low-QS keywords are often hard to fix because they attract too many different search intents. Replacing "running shoes" with "men's trail running shoes for wide feet" gives you a much tighter target—one you can write a highly relevant ad for and send to a precisely matched landing page. Long-tail keywords typically achieve higher Quality Scores because the intent is clearer and easier to match.

Before you pause anything, check the conversion data. If a low-QS keyword is still converting profitably, don't cut it—build a dedicated ad group around it and give it the structure it needs to improve. The goal isn't to delete every low-scoring keyword; it's to ensure every keyword in the account has a real shot at performing well.

Success indicator: After restructuring or replacing problematic keywords, monitor Quality Score weekly for four to six weeks. You should see gradual improvement as Google re-evaluates the new structure and accumulates fresh performance data.

Your Quality Score Fix Checklist—And What to Do Next

Here's the full workflow consolidated into a quick-reference checklist you can use on any account:

Audit QS columns: Add Quality Score, Expected CTR status, Ad Relevance status, and Landing Page Experience status to your Keywords view. Filter for scores 1–5 and sort by cost.

Identify the failing component: For each flagged keyword, note which of the three sub-components shows "Below Average." That tells you exactly where to focus your fix.

Restructure bloated ad groups: Group keywords by tight intent clusters. Split any ad group with 20 or more loosely related keywords into focused sub-groups.

Rewrite ad copy: Match your headline and description to the specific intent behind each keyword cluster. Include the keyword phrase and mirror the user's goal—informational, transactional, or comparative.

Clean up search terms: Review the Search Terms Report weekly. Add irrelevant queries as negative keywords. Tighten match types on broad match keywords generating off-target traffic.

Fix landing page message match and speed: Create dedicated landing pages per ad group theme. Run PageSpeed Insights. Ensure above-the-fold content mirrors the ad's promise.

Pause or restructure persistently low-scoring keywords: After 30 or more days of no improvement post-fixes, decide whether to pause, rebuild, or replace with a long-tail variant.

Monitor weekly for four to six weeks: Quality Score is a lagging indicator. Changes take time to reflect. Consistency matters more than one-time fixes.

The most time-intensive part of this ongoing process is search term auditing and negative keyword management. It's the step that needs to happen every week, and it's the one that slips when you're managing multiple campaigns or client accounts.

That's where Start your free 7-day trial of Keywordme makes a real difference. Instead of exporting data, working through spreadsheets, and switching between tabs, Keywordme lets you remove junk search terms, add negative keywords, and apply match types with one click—directly inside your Google Ads Search Terms Report. No spreadsheets, no switching tools, just faster optimization right where you're already working. After the trial, it's just $12/month per user.