Quality Score and landing page experience for lead offers

Quality Score is a keyword-level diagnostic in Google Ads built from expected clickthrough rate, ad relevance and landing page experience. For lead offers sent to a Summit lander, improve what you control: themed keywords, ads that repeat the search, the right lander for each ad group, and a tracking link set up as agreed during onboarding.

What is Quality Score in Google Ads?

Google describes Quality Score as a diagnostic tool, scored from 1 to 10 at the keyword level, that shows how your ad quality compares with other advertisers. It is calculated from three components, and each one is rated "Above average", "Average" or "Below average" against other advertisers whose ads showed for the same search over the last 90 days:

• Expected clickthrough rate: how likely your ad is to be clicked when it shows.
• Ad relevance: how closely your ad matches the intent behind the search.
• Landing page experience: how relevant and useful the landing page is to people who click the ad.

The same Google page says Quality Score is not an input in the ad auction and should not be treated as a key performance indicator. The quality of your ads and landing page does count in the auction, through Ad Rank, together with your bid, the competition and the context of the search. So the score is a pointer to problems, not a target.

What a publisher controls with a Summit lander

When you send Google traffic to a Summit offer, the click goes through your tracking link to the Summit lander for that offer. Summit builds and hosts the lander, captures TCPA consent on every lead, and routes the lead by real-time ping/post. You do not edit the page, its form or its consent language. That changes where your effort goes:

In short: Google judges the page against the search that led to it. You cannot rewrite the page, but you decide which searches reach it.

How landing page experience works when the lander is not yours

Google's definition of landing page experience says pages with higher ratings are well organized and have text that relates to the person's search terms. A Summit roofing lander is about roofing. If a roofing ad group also pulls in searches for gutter cleaning, roofing jobs or shingle prices at a store, the page does not relate to those searches, and the rating for those keywords can suffer.

Use these steps to keep the lander relevant to every keyword that reaches it:

1. One offer per ad group. Car accident, truck accident, roofing and bathroom remodeling each get their own ad groups and their own tracking links. Do not send a mixed ad group to one lander.
2. Check the keyword against the lander. Open the lander for the offer and read the headline and form. If a keyword asks for something the page does not offer, move it to the right offer or remove it.
3. Split by service inside a vertical. Window replacement searches and siding searches go to different offers. A siding keyword on a window lander is a relevance problem you created.
4. Read the search terms report. The search terms report shows the real searches behind your clicks. Add negatives for searches the lander does not serve. See match types and negative keywords.
5. Test the page on a phone. Open each ad group's link on a phone (do not click your live ads) and confirm the right lander loads for the right offer. If the lander itself has a problem, email team@summitleads.ai with the offer name and the steps you took.

How to check Quality Score for each keyword

1. 1

   Step 1: Add the columns

   In the keywords table, add Quality Score and the three component columns (expected clickthrough rate, ad relevance and landing page experience). Google's Quality Score page lists where to find them.

2. 2

   Step 2: Sort by cost

   Start with the keywords that spend the most. A low score on a keyword with almost no spend is not the first job.

3. 3

   Step 3: Find the weakest component

   For each high-spend keyword, note which component is "Below average". That tells you whether the fix is in the keyword list, the ad or the keyword-to-lander match.

4. 4

   Step 4: Read a dash correctly

   A dash in the Quality Score column means there are not yet enough searches that exactly match the keyword. It is not a bad score. Wait for data rather than rebuilding the ad group.

5. 5

   Step 5: Make one change and date it

   Change one thing per ad group, write down what and when, and compare sold leads before and after over the same length of time.

Which fix for which low component

Google's guide to using Quality Score to improve performance suggests fixes for each component. Applied to lead offers sent to a Summit lander, they look like this:

Ad copy also has to stay inside Google's rules. See Google Ads policies for legal and home services traffic before you rewrite ads to chase clicks.

Tracking link setup and the landing page

Two Google rules matter for how your tracking link sits in an ad. Google's destination requirements policy can disapprove ads whose display URL does not match the final URL, or whose final URL redirects to a different domain. And in Google's description of tracking in Google Ads, parallel tracking sends people straight to the final URL while the tracking template loads in the background.

Which of these fields holds your Summit tracking link (final URL, tracking template or both) is agreed during onboarding, so the ad domain and the lander domain line up. Ask during onboarding which other tracking options apply to your account. Then:

• Set up each ad group's link exactly as agreed, for the matching offer.
• Use ValueTrack parameters to fill sub IDs with values such as campaign, ad group, keyword and device.
• Open the link once on mobile and once on desktop and confirm the lander loads and every sub ID holds a real value.
• Check that leads appear under the right tracking link and sub IDs. See tracking links and sub IDs explained.

Why Quality Score is not the goal for lead offers

You are paid rev share on sold leads, and unsold leads are not paid. A keyword with a high score can still send people who submit and do not sell. Google's own guidance notes that a more specific ad may get fewer clicks but more conversions. For lead offers, an ad that says who the offer is for often lowers expected clickthrough rate and raises sold leads.

Use the score to find relevance problems, then decide on sold leads, returns and cost. The rev share break-even calculator gives you the cost per click your sold leads can carry, and reading your publisher reports covers the report side.

Common mistakes

• Asking to change the lander for a higher score. The lander and its consent language are Summit's. Fix the match between your keywords and the offer instead.
• One lander for many services. Sending window, siding and gutter searches to one offer lowers relevance for most of them.
• Writing curiosity ads to raise clicks. More clicks from the wrong people lower sold rate and can break ad policy.
• Rebuilding ad groups because of a dash. A dash means too little data, not a low score.
• Changing link setup on your own. A tracking link placed in the wrong field can trigger a destination disapproval or lose sub IDs. Keep to the setup agreed during onboarding.
• Treating the score as the result. The result is sold leads at a cost that leaves you above break-even.

Frequently asked questions

Related guides

• Google traffic for publishers: How Google campaigns work with Summit landers.
• How to run MVA traffic on Google Ads: Search campaign setup for accident offers.
• How to run home improvement traffic on Google Ads: One campaign per service.
• Keyword research for lead gen offers: Build themed keyword lists before launch.
• Landing pages for lead generation: What a lead gen lander needs.
• Hosted landers vs your own landers: Who controls the page in each setup.

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