Google Quality Score Myths and Truths

Myth #1 – Quality Score suffers when ads are paused.

Google does not lower an advertisers quality score when their budget settings or low bid amounts cause their ads not to show.  Intermittently turning on and off your ads can have other negative repercussions, but this will not affect an advertisers quality score.

Myth #2 – If I don’t see an ad on page one of SERPS, no one is bidding on any of the queried terms.

Google prefers to show no ads at all if the only ads that are available are low quality ads.

Myth #3 – An ads position helps determine its quality score.

Clickthrough rate (CTR) is used in determining quality score, but the positioning of an ad is not a factor in determining its quality score.  It is true that ads in higher positions often have higher CTRs, but this positive effect derived from an ad in a higher position is removed from the quality score calculation.

There are some known truths in what comprise Googles Quality Score Ratings.  The three main components in determining quality score:

ClickThrough Rate – This is what Google uses to ensure that what users click on and thus what they are interested in are rewarded through a more positive quality score.
Relevancy – Google uses relevancy to ensure advertisers don’t pay their way onto Search Engine Result Pages (SERPS).
Landing Page Quality – Google also takes into account advertisers landing pages to ensure that users are presented with a page with relevant original content that among other things loads quickly.  This helps ensure a good experience for users.