How to Improve Your Google Ads Quality Score (Actionable Steps)

A higher Quality Score means lower costs, better ad positions, and more efficient campaigns. Every point you gain on Quality Score directly reduces what you pay per click. For South African businesses running Google Ads on tight budgets, Quality Score optimisation is often the highest-return activity available. This guide provides the specific, actionable steps. Related: Google Ads account structure.

1. Improve Ad Relevance: Match Your Ads to Your Keywords

The single most reliable Quality Score improvement tactic is including the keyword in your ad’s headline 1 or headline 2. If your keyword is ‘accountant Cape Town’, your primary headline should say ‘Accountant Cape Town’ or ‘Trusted Accountant in Cape Town’. The headline creates an immediate relevance signal for both the searcher (who scans for their search term) and Google’s quality rating system.

In Responsive Search Ads, pin your most keyword-relevant headline to position 1 or 2 so it always appears. Without pinning, Google may choose to show a less keyword-specific headline in the most prominent position, reducing the relevance signal for that specific keyword.

2. Improve Expected CTR: Write More Compelling Ads

Expected CTR is improved by writing ads that are more likely to be clicked than competitor ads for the same keyword. Tactics that reliably improve CTR:

• Include the keyword in the headline so searchers see their search term reflected back
• Use specific numbers: ’20+ Years Experience’, ‘Response in Under 60 Minutes’, ‘From R499’
• Include a location in the headline for local searches: ‘Cape Town Electricians’
• Use strong call-to-action words: ‘Get a Free Quote’, ‘Call Now’, ‘Book Online Today’
• Highlight a differentiator: ‘No Call-Out Fee’, ‘Same-Day Service’, ‘SACAP Registered’
• Use all available headline and description slots — more content = more real estate on the results page

3. Improve Landing Page Experience: Make Your Page Match the Ad

Landing page experience is Google’s assessment of whether your page delivers what the ad promised. The most impactful improvements:

• Match the headline: Your landing page H1 should echo the ad headline — if the ad says ‘Emergency Plumber Cape Town’, the page should lead with that message
• Load fast on mobile: Target under 3 seconds on a mobile connection. Use PageSpeed Insights to identify and fix speed issues.
• Clear call to action: Make it immediately obvious how to contact you — a visible phone number and prominent contact form above the fold
• Remove navigation distractions: Dedicated landing pages without site-wide navigation headers typically convert better and signal stronger landing page relevance
• HTTPS security: All pages should be served over HTTPS — unsecured pages receive poor landing page experience ratings

4. Restructure Ad Groups for Better Relevance

If your ad groups contain 30+ loosely related keywords, restructuring into tighter groups of 5-15 closely related keywords will improve ad relevance for each group. Tighter groups allow you to write more specific ads that match every keyword in the group — the foundation of high ad relevance and expected CTR.

5. Pause Low Quality Score Keywords

Keywords with persistent Quality Scores of 1-3, despite improvements to ad copy and landing pages, may simply be too broad or too irrelevant to your actual offering to ever perform well. Pausing these keywords removes the drag they place on average account performance and allows budget to concentrate on better-performing keywords.

Google’s guide to improving Quality Score provides additional technical detail on each optimisation area and the diagnostic steps for identifying which component to address first.

Frequently Asked Questions

How long does it take for Quality Score improvements to show?

Quality Score updates based on accumulated data — it does not change instantly when you edit an ad or landing page. Most advertisers see significant Quality Score movement 2-4 weeks after making substantive changes to ad copy or landing pages. For new keywords with no history, it takes 2-4 weeks of impressions before Google has enough data to assign a meaningful Quality Score.

Can I improve Quality Score by bidding higher?

No — bid amount is not a component of Quality Score. Quality Score is purely about relevance and expected performance. You can achieve high Quality Scores with low bids, and low Quality Scores are not fixed by increasing bids. However, higher bids do improve Ad Rank, which can lead to more impressions and more data — which can indirectly accelerate Quality Score improvement.

Does pausing and reactivating a keyword affect its Quality Score?

Pausing a keyword does not reset its Quality Score — the historical data is retained. When you reactivate it, Quality Score resumes from where it was. However, if the competitive landscape has changed significantly during the pause period, your Quality Score may adjust based on how other advertisers have performed in the interim.

Is Quality Score the most important Google Ads metric?

Quality Score is an important diagnostic metric but not a primary performance metric. Your primary metrics should be cost per conversion, conversion rate, and return on ad spend. Quality Score is a means to these ends — improving it reduces costs and improves positions, which helps achieve better conversion economics. Do not optimise Quality Score in isolation from actual business outcomes.

Does account history affect Quality Score?

Yes — older accounts with longer histories of good performance tend to have more stable Quality Scores. New Google Ads accounts start with less historical data, which means Quality Scores may be lower initially and fluctuate more. This is one reason why a well-managed account over 12-24 months typically outperforms a new account in the same market, even with the same budget.