How Quality Score Is Determined

A Quality Score is calculated every time your keyword matches a search query -- that is, every time your keyword has the potential to trigger an ad. The formula behind Quality Score varies depending on whether it's affecting ads on Google and the Search Network or ads on the Display Network.

I. Quality Score for Google and the Search Network

While we continue to refine our Quality Score formulas for Google and the Search Network, the core components remain more or less the same:

•The historical clickthrough rate (CTR) of the keyword and the ad on Google. Note that CTR on the Google Network only ever impacts Quality Score on the Google Network -- not on Google

•Your account history, which is measured by the CTR of all the ads and keywords in your account

•The historical CTR of the display URLs in the ad group

•The quality of your landing page

•The relevance of the keyword to the ads in its ad group

•The relevance of the keyword and the ad to the search query

•Your account's performance in the geographical region where the ad will be shown

•Other relevance factors

Note that there are slight variations to the Quality Score formula when it affects ad position and first page bid:

•For calculating a keyword-targeted ad's position, landing page quality is not a factor. Also, when calculating ad position on a Search Network placement, Quality Score considers the CTR on that particular Search Network placement.

•For calculating first page bid, Quality Score doesn't consider the ad or search query, since this estimate appears as a metric in your account and doesn't vary per search query.

II. Quality Score for the Display Network

The Quality Score for determining whether an ad will appear on a Display Network placement differs for contextually-targeted ads and for placement-targeted ads. (Learn the difference between these two.)