What "below average" means
Quality Score has three parts: expected clickthrough rate, ad relevance, and landing page experience. Google rates each part as above average, average, or below average.
Google defines landing page experience as how relevant and useful your landing page is to people who click your ad. The rating is a comparison. Google looks at other advertisers whose ads showed for the exact same search over the last 90 days. Below average means your page came out behind theirs.
It helps to know what the warning is not:
- It is not a ban. Your ad still runs.
- It is not a grade on your business. It is about the page after the click.
- It is not a goal by itself. Google says Quality Score is a diagnostic tool and should not be optimized for its own sake.
Google also says a low rating on any part may point to a chance to improve. So treat it like a pointer. It says, "look at the page."
Where you see the rating
In Google Ads, open Keywords from the Campaigns menu. Click the columns icon. Under Quality score, add Quality Score, Landing Page Exp., Exp. CTR, and Ad Relevance. You can also add the historical versions to see how they changed over time.
Look for patterns. Is it one keyword or all of them? Do the below average keywords share one final URL? If every keyword pointing at one page is below average, the page is the likely cause. If only one keyword is, the page may just be a poor match for that search.
Then open the Landing pages report. Go to Campaigns, then Insights and reports, then Landing pages. The mobile-friendly click rate column shows how often a page passed Google's mobile-friendly check. Anything under 100% means it did not always pass.
The fix order
Fix in this order. Each step can make the next one pointless if you skip it. There is no reason to polish copy on a page that does not load.
Make sure it works
Open the exact final URL on a phone. Does it load? Does it redirect to the wrong place? Does the form send? Does the phone number dial?
Match the ad
Google says to pick a page that closely matches your ad and keywords, and to mirror the ad's call to action. Ad says "free estimate"? The page should lead with it.
Speed it up on mobile
Google says to make the page mobile-friendly and to keep the mobile site quick. Heavy images, video headers, and extra scripts are common causes of slow pages.
Clear the clutter
Google says to avoid too many ads or pop-ups, use simple navigation, and put important info near the top so people do not have to scroll.
Add useful detail
Give useful, original info about what you offer. Google also suggests customer reviews. Say what you do, where you work, and what happens next.
Make contact easy
Let people call, book, or send a form without hunting. Google says to make it easy for visitors to contact you.
A quick message match test
Put three things side by side: the search term, your ad headline, and your page headline. Read them out loud. If the page sounds like it is answering a different question, fix the headline first. This costs nothing and takes ten minutes.
A quick speed test
Load the page on your phone with Wi-Fi off. Count the seconds until you can read the headline and tap the button. If you find yourself waiting, so are the people paying you a click. Our landing page speed test guide covers how to test it the right way.
After you fix it
Be patient with the label. Google compares your page to others over the last 90 days, so the status may lag behind your changes. Use the historical Quality Score columns to watch the trend instead of checking every morning.
Also watch for the page breaking again. Pages change. Someone adds a chat widget, a plugin updates, a new tracking script goes in, and the page that loaded in 2 seconds now takes 5. Nobody tells the ad account. That is why it pays to check the page on a schedule, not just once. See landing page monitoring for how agencies handle this across many client pages.
Here is what a fix can look like. A restoration company's ad page went from a ClickMend score of 71 to 99, with a load time of 2.0 seconds. That is a better page. It is not a promise about Quality Score, which only Google sets.
Where ClickMend helps
ClickMend does not read your Quality Score or Google's landing page experience rating. Only Google Ads shows those. What it does is check the parts of the page that feed them.
Paste the final URL from your ad. ClickMend gives the page a score from 0 to 100. The score blends Google PageSpeed Insights performance (40%), Core Web Vitals (25%), SEO basics (20%), best practices (10%), and accessibility (5%). For Core Web Vitals it uses real-user field data when Google has it, and lab data when it does not.
It also checks tracking. Is the Google Ads conversion tag on the page and did it load? Is the conversion ID still a placeholder? Is Google Tag Manager missing? Is the conversion linker turned off? And it names unused JavaScript and other slow parts, so you know what to cut.
- Free: 2 scans a week, no card. Shows the problems.
- Paid plans: show the fixes, plus weekly monitoring with alerts when a page gets worse.
- Starter $29/mo, Growth $99/mo, Scale $199/mo, by number of client workspaces and pages.
If your keywords say below average, scan the landing page before you touch the bids. To learn how the three Quality Score parts fit together, read Google Ads Quality Score and your landing page.
Frequently asked questions
How long until the status changes?
Google rates this part against other advertisers for the same search over the last 90 days, so do not expect it to flip overnight. Keep checking the historical Quality Score columns over the following weeks.
Does below average mean my ad is disapproved?
No. It is one of three Quality Score parts. Google calls Quality Score a diagnostic tool, not a key performance indicator. Your ad can still run.
Should I send the ad to my home page instead?
Usually not. Google's tips say to pick a page that closely matches your ad and keywords. A home page that covers everything often matches nothing well.
Can ClickMend show me Google's landing page rating?
No. ClickMend does not read Quality Score or Google's landing page experience rating from your account. It checks the parts of the page that feed them, like speed, Core Web Vitals, and tracking.