What Causes Low Quality Score and How to Fix It: A Practical Guide for Google Ads

You open your Google Ads account on Monday morning, coffee in hand, ready to check last week's performance. Everything looks fine until you scroll to the keyword list and spot a cluster of 3s and 4s in the Quality Score column. Your stomach sinks a little. Those keywords aren't just underperforming—they're actively costing you more per click while showing your ads in worse positions. Sound familiar?

Quality Score isn't some mystical Google penalty. It's actually a diagnostic tool showing you exactly where your campaigns need work. Google rates every keyword on three components: expected click-through rate (will people actually click your ad?), ad relevance (does your ad match what they searched for?), and landing page experience (does your page deliver on the ad's promise?). Each component gets graded as "Above Average," "Average," or "Below Average," and together they form that 1-10 score you see next to each keyword.

Here's why this matters for your wallet: Quality Score directly affects your Ad Rank and cost-per-click. A keyword with a Quality Score of 8 might pay $2.50 per click and show in position 2, while the same keyword at Quality Score 4 could cost $4.80 and barely crack the first page. The math gets brutal fast when you're spending hundreds or thousands per day.

TL;DR: Low Quality Scores usually stem from generic ad copy that doesn't match search intent, bloated ad groups stuffing too many keywords together, landing pages that don't align with your ads, or irrelevant search terms triggered by broad match keywords. The fix involves tightening your ad groups, making your ad copy hyper-relevant to each keyword, optimizing your landing pages for speed and message match, and religiously pruning junk search terms. Most improvements take 2-4 weeks to fully reflect in your scores.

The Three Pillars Google Uses to Calculate Quality Score

Google doesn't keep you guessing about what's wrong. When you click on a keyword's Quality Score bubble in your account, you'll see three component ratings staring back at you. Understanding what each one actually measures is the first step to fixing problems.

Expected Click-Through Rate: This is Google's prediction of whether users will click your ad when it shows for this specific keyword. It's based on historical performance—both your account's past CTR and how similar ads have performed for similar queries across all advertisers. If your ad has been showing for weeks with a 1.2% CTR while competitors average 4%, Google labels your expected CTR "Below Average." The system is basically saying, "Based on what we've seen, people don't want to click this ad."

What usually happens here is advertisers write one generic ad and hope it works for twenty different keywords. It doesn't. Each keyword represents a slightly different question or intent, and your ad needs to speak directly to that intent to earn clicks.

Ad Relevance: This measures how closely your ad copy matches the search query itself. If someone searches "emergency plumber Brooklyn" and your ad headline says "Plumbing Services in New York," you're losing relevance points. Google wants to see the actual keyword (or close variations) in your headlines and description. It's checking whether your ad is actually about what the person searched for, or if you're just casting a wide net hoping something sticks.

The mistake most agencies make is building ad groups around themes that are too broad. They'll throw "emergency plumber," "24 hour plumber," and "plumber near me" into one ad group with the same ads. Google sees those as three different intents and dings the relevance score for all of them.

Landing Page Experience: This is where Google evaluates what happens after the click. Is your page fast? Does it work on mobile? Does the content match what your ad promised? Are there trust signals like contact information, clear privacy policies, and actual useful content? Google also checks for sketchy stuff like intrusive pop-ups, auto-playing videos, or pages that are basically just forms with no context. Understanding what is low landing page experience can help you identify exactly where your pages fall short.

In most accounts I audit, landing page experience is the sleeper issue. Advertisers obsess over ad copy and keywords but send everyone to a homepage that loads in 6 seconds and makes users hunt for what they need. That's a Quality Score killer.

Why Your Expected CTR Tanks (And What to Do About It)

Low expected CTR is usually a symptom of boring, invisible ads. When your ad looks exactly like the three ads above it and the four below it, users scroll right past. Google notices this pattern and downgrades your expected CTR before you even realize there's a problem.

Generic Ad Copy That Blends In: Open your search terms report and look at a low-scoring keyword. Now go search that exact phrase on Google and look at the ads. If your ad doesn't immediately stand out with specific benefits, numbers, or unique angles, you're invisible. The fix is specificity. Instead of "Quality Plumbing Services," try "Same-Day Plumbing Repairs - Licensed & Insured Since 1998." Instead of "Digital Marketing Agency," try "PPC Management That Cuts Your CPA by 30-50%."

Include the actual keyword in at least one headline. If someone searches "best accounting software for freelancers," and your headline is "Best Accounting Software for Freelancers," that's an instant relevance boost and CTR lift. It's almost embarrassingly simple, but most advertisers don't do it. Mastering click-through rate optimization is essential for improving this component.

Missing or Weak Ad Extensions: Extensions make your ad physically larger on the page, which naturally improves CTR. If you're not using sitelinks (those extra links below your main ad), callouts (short benefit phrases), and structured snippets (category lists), you're giving up 20-40% of your potential clicks. In most accounts I audit, extensions are either missing entirely or set up once three years ago and never updated.

Set up at least four sitelinks pointing to your most relevant pages. Add six to eight callout extensions highlighting specific benefits ("Free Shipping," "24/7 Support," "No Setup Fees"). Use structured snippets to show categories or services. These aren't optional nice-to-haves—they're table stakes for competitive CTRs.

Keyword Cannibalization: This one's sneaky. If you have the same keyword in multiple ad groups or campaigns, Google has to pick which ad to show. Sometimes it picks the one with the worse ad copy or lower bid, which tanks your CTR. The searcher never knows you had a better ad available—they just see the mediocre one and don't click.

Run a keyword conflict report (Google Ads has this built in under "Insights and Reports") and consolidate duplicates. Each keyword should live in exactly one place with the best possible ad serving it.

Fixing Ad Relevance Issues at the Root

Ad relevance problems almost always trace back to ad group structure. If your ad groups are bloated with loosely related keywords, there's no way to write ad copy that's relevant to all of them. The solution is ruthless organization.

Tightly Themed Ad Groups: The old-school approach was stuffing 30-50 keywords into one ad group and writing three generic ads. That approach is dead. Modern best practice is ad groups with 5-10 tightly related keywords max—or even single keyword ad groups (SKAGs) for your highest-volume terms. When every keyword in the group is a close variant of the same core idea, your ads can be hyper-relevant to all of them. Learning the best way to structure campaigns and ad groups is foundational to fixing relevance issues.

For example, instead of one "plumbing services" ad group with keywords ranging from "emergency plumber" to "water heater installation" to "drain cleaning," split those into separate ad groups. Each gets its own ads speaking directly to that specific service. Your relevance scores will jump almost immediately.

Dynamic Keyword Insertion Done Right: Dynamic keyword insertion (DKI) automatically plugs the searcher's query into your ad headline. When it works, it's magic—instant perfect relevance. When it backfires, it creates bizarre, unprofessional ads that hurt your CTR and brand.

The mistake most agencies make is using DKI in ad groups with wildly different keyword lengths or formats. If your DKI headline is "Get {KeyWord:Plumbing Services} Today" and someone searches "emergency 24 hour plumber near me Brooklyn," your headline becomes a truncated mess. Use DKI only in tightly themed ad groups where all keywords are similar length and format. Always set a sensible default in case something breaks.

Matching Search Intent: Not all searches want the same thing, even if the keywords look similar. "How to fix a leaky faucet" is informational—the searcher wants a guide, not a plumber. "Emergency plumber near me" is transactional—they want someone at their house in the next hour. If your ad copy doesn't match the intent behind the query, your relevance score suffers.

Look at your search terms report and group queries by intent. Informational queries should get ads that promise guides, tips, or resources. Transactional queries need ads emphasizing speed, availability, and clear calls-to-action. Navigational queries (people looking for your brand specifically) need ads that confirm they found the right place. One ad can't serve all three intents well. Understanding the difference between search terms and keywords helps you better analyze intent patterns.

Landing Page Problems That Quietly Kill Your Score

Your ad can be perfect, but if the landing page disappoints, your Quality Score still tanks. Google tracks what happens after the click—bounce rate, time on page, navigation patterns—and uses that data to grade your landing page experience.

Message Mismatch: This is the most common landing page mistake. Your ad promises "Free Quote on Kitchen Remodeling" but the landing page is a generic homepage about all your construction services with kitchen remodeling buried three scrolls down. The searcher feels tricked, hits the back button within seconds, and Google marks that as a poor experience.

Every ad should send traffic to a page that immediately delivers on the ad's promise. If your ad is about emergency plumbing, the landing page headline should mention emergency plumbing in the first screen. If your ad promises a free consultation, the form should be visible immediately. This isn't complicated—it's just discipline. Proper landing page optimization for Google Ads can dramatically improve your scores.

Technical Issues: Page load speed is a huge Quality Score factor. If your page takes more than three seconds to load, you're losing visitors before they even see your content. Google knows this and downgrades slow pages. Run your landing pages through PageSpeed Insights and fix the obvious issues—compress images, enable caching, minimize JavaScript, use a CDN.

Mobile experience is equally critical. More than 60% of Google Ads clicks happen on mobile devices. If your landing page isn't mobile-optimized—tiny text, buttons too close together, horizontal scrolling required—you're getting hammered on landing page experience. Test every landing page on an actual phone, not just a browser simulator. This is where device optimization in Google Ads becomes crucial.

Trust Signals and Content Quality: Google wants to send users to legitimate, helpful pages. Thin content (just a form and three sentences) raises red flags. Missing contact information makes you look sketchy. No privacy policy or terms of service suggests you're not a real business. Intrusive pop-ups that cover the content before users can read it are an instant penalty.

The fix is straightforward: add real, useful content that helps the visitor understand their options. Include clear contact information, testimonials if you have them, and trust badges (BBB, industry certifications, security seals). Make sure your privacy policy is linked and current. Remove pop-ups that appear within the first few seconds or cover more than 15% of the screen.

The Hidden Culprit: Irrelevant Search Terms Dragging You Down

Here's what usually happens: you set up a campaign with phrase or broad match keywords to capture volume. Google starts showing your ads for all kinds of tangentially related searches. Some of those searches are completely irrelevant, so they don't click. Your CTR drops. Google notices and lowers your expected CTR rating. Your Quality Score falls. You're now paying more per click for worse positions, and you might not even realize why.

How Match Types Trigger Junk Traffic: Broad match keywords are especially dangerous. If you're bidding on "accounting software" in broad match, Google might show your ad for searches like "free accounting software reviews," "accounting software tutorial," or "how to build accounting software." None of those searchers want to buy your product, so they don't click (or worse, they click and immediately bounce). Each irrelevant impression hurts your CTR and expected CTR rating. Understanding how match types affect Quality Score is essential for preventing this damage.

Phrase match is better but still risky. The keyword "emergency plumber" in phrase match can trigger searches like "what to do before calling emergency plumber" or "emergency plumber cost average." Again, informational intent that won't convert and will drag down your CTR.

Building and Maintaining Negative Keyword Lists: Negative keywords are your defense against irrelevant traffic. If you sell accounting software, you should have negatives for "free," "tutorial," "review," "comparison," "how to," "diy," and dozens of other modifiers that signal non-buyer intent. Most advertisers set up a small negative list when they launch and never touch it again. That's a mistake. Learning how to build a master negative keyword list can save thousands in wasted spend.

Your negative keyword list should grow continuously as you discover new irrelevant patterns. In most accounts I audit, adding 50-100 carefully chosen negatives can improve Quality Score by 1-2 points within a month just by filtering out the junk that was diluting CTR.

Using the Search Terms Report Regularly: The Search Terms Report shows you the actual queries triggering your ads. If you're not checking it weekly (at minimum monthly), you're flying blind. Sort by impressions and look for patterns of irrelevant searches. Add those patterns as negatives immediately. Effective search term optimization is one of the fastest ways to improve Quality Score.

This is where tools that streamline the process become invaluable. Manually exporting search terms, sorting through hundreds of rows in spreadsheets, and adding negatives one by one is tedious and error-prone. The faster you can identify and block junk terms, the faster your Quality Scores recover.

Putting It All Together: A Quality Score Improvement Workflow

Fixing Quality Score isn't about random tweaks—it's about diagnosing the specific problem and addressing it systematically. Here's the workflow that actually works:

Step 1: Diagnose Which Pillar Is the Problem. Click on the Quality Score bubble next to your lowest-scoring keywords. Look at the component ratings. If expected CTR is "Below Average," your ads aren't compelling enough or your match types are too broad. If ad relevance is the issue, your ad groups are probably too bloated or your ad copy doesn't include the keyword. If landing page experience is flagged, you've got technical or content issues on the destination page. Knowing what is a bad Quality Score helps you benchmark where you stand.

Step 2: Prioritize the Lowest-Hanging Fruit. Ad relevance is usually the quickest fix. Splitting bloated ad groups and rewriting ads to include keywords in headlines can show improvement within a week. Expected CTR takes longer because you need new performance data to accumulate. Landing page fixes (especially technical ones like load speed) can take 2-4 weeks to fully reflect in Quality Score.

Start with ad relevance. Identify your worst-performing ad groups, split them into tighter themes, and write new ads with keywords in the headlines. Monitor CTR for a week. If CTR improves but Quality Score doesn't budge, move to landing pages. If CTR stays flat, you've got an expected CTR problem and need to make your ads more compelling or tighten your match types and negatives.

Step 3: Set Realistic Timeline Expectations. Quality Score doesn't update in real-time. Google needs to collect enough new performance data to recalculate the score, which typically takes 2-4 weeks after you make changes. Don't panic if you fix everything and your scores don't jump overnight. Keep monitoring CTR and conversion rate—those are leading indicators that Quality Score will follow.

In most accounts I audit, the first improvements show up within 7-10 days, but full recovery to "Above Average" ratings can take a month or more for keywords with long histories of poor performance. New keywords start with neutral scores and can reach high scores faster if you nail the fundamentals from day one.

Your Next Move: Turn Quality Score Into a Maintenance Habit

Quality Score isn't a one-time fix—it's a diagnostic tool showing you where your campaigns need ongoing attention. The accounts with consistently high scores all have one thing in common: disciplined maintenance routines. They check search terms weekly, update negatives continuously, refresh ad copy when CTR starts to drift, and optimize landing pages based on actual user behavior. This is the essence of Quality Score optimization as an ongoing practice.

The biggest quality score killer is neglect. Campaigns that performed well six months ago slowly degrade as competitor ads improve, search behavior shifts, and irrelevant search terms accumulate. Consistent maintenance prevents scores from sliding in the first place, which is much easier than trying to recover from a Quality Score crisis.

Start this week with a simple audit: identify your ten lowest-scoring keywords, check their component ratings, and fix the most obvious problem for each one. If ad relevance is below average, tighten the ad group and rewrite the ads. If landing page experience is the issue, check load speed and message match. If expected CTR is dragging you down, audit your search terms and add negatives to filter junk traffic.

The real breakthrough comes when you make search term hygiene a weekly habit instead of a quarterly fire drill. Every irrelevant search you block before it racks up impressions is a CTR point saved and a Quality Score point protected. Start your free 7-day trial of Keywordme and discover how much faster optimization becomes when you can remove junk search terms, build high-intent keyword lists, and apply match types instantly—right inside Google Ads, without the spreadsheet nightmare. Just $12/month after your trial, and you'll wonder how you ever managed campaigns without it.