The Truth About Ad Quality: Is Ad Strength Telling the Full Story?

As marketers, we’ve all seen it—the "Ad Strength" metric glaring at us in Google Ads with anything less than "Excellent" feeling like a jab to our professional integrity. But here's the truth: Ad Strength isn’t always a direct reflection of how your ads will perform in the wild.

In this post, we’ll dive into the nuances of ad quality, dive deeper into Google’s Ad Strength metric, and explore what really matters when crafting high-performing ads.

What Is Ad Strength?

Ad Strength measures the diversity and number of headlines and descriptions in your ads. It provides feedback on the effectiveness of your ad copy and how well it can match with various search queries. From "Poor" to "Excellent," the scale seems like an intuitive way to guide ad optimization.

Ad Strength is not used in the Google Ads auction. It does not have any impact on your actual cost per click or the number of impressions you receive. Here is a clear explanation from Ginny Marvin, the Google Ads Product Liaison:

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Do Google Ads With Higher Ad Strength Lead To Better Performance?

You may be wondering: if Ad Strength isn’t the be-all, end-all, then what is? The key lies in understanding that ad quality is multidimensional. It’s not just about diverse copy; it’s about relevance, user intent, and overall campaign context.

According to Optmyzr's findings, advertisers who focused solely on achieving a higher Ad Strength rating sometimes lost sight of core fundamentals like audience targeting and ad relevance. In one striking example, ads with a lower Ad Strength actually outperformed their "Excellent" counterparts in some instances—showing that quality is more about matching the right message to the right audience than ticking all the boxes Google suggests.

Ad Strength vs. Performance

The Optmyzr study analyzed over 1.2 million ads, and the results might surprise you: achieving an "Excellent" Ad Strength correlated with a slightly higher click-through rate (CTR), but not with significant improvements in conversions or return on ad spend (ROAS). This proves that while Ad Strength might impact visibility, it doesn’t guarantee that users will convert.

Think of Ad Strength as a helpful guideline for getting started, not a final arbiter of ad quality. Ad copy needs to resonate deeply with your audience, align with their search intent, and fit the overall strategy. You can have an "Excellent" Ad Strength, but if your copy doesn’t speak to your customer’s needs or isn’t targeted to the right intent, it won't hit the mark.

The Role of Machine Learning

One key reason Google emphasizes Ad Strength is to leverage its machine learning algorithms, which use the variety in your headlines and descriptions to match ads with diverse search queries. However, Google is incentivized to collect more data from users, which is achieved through advertisers including a broad range of headlines and descriptions. This data helps Google refine its algorithms and improve ad relevance at scale.

This ranking system often aids Google’s own ulterior motives by prioritizing feeding the machine learning with more options and combinations. However, by simply unpinning a headline, you may disrupt this incentive-driven approach and achieve a more balanced and effective ad performance, sometimes leading to unexpected improvements in ranking and overall ad efficacy.

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Additionally, Google’s KPIs often prioritize metrics like click-through rate (CTR) over conversion rate. This means that while Ad Strength might help increase visibility and CTR, it doesn’t always align with optimizing for conversions. This focus can sometimes skew the importance of variety over effectiveness, leading to a situation where ads are optimized for quantity rather than quality. But remember, machine learning is only as good as the inputs it’s given. If you prioritize this quantity over quality approach, you could end up with ad combinations that are irrelevant or too generic to drive engagement.

Focus on the Right Metrics

What should you prioritize instead? Here are a few elements that matter more than the Ad Strength score alone:

Relevance: Ensure that your ad copy aligns with both your target keywords and your landing pages. This creates a more seamless experience for users, which is a key driver of performance.

User Intent: Always write with the searcher in mind. Does your ad answer their question or solve their problem? If so, it’s more likely to convert.

A/B Testing: Test various combinations of headlines and descriptions to find what resonates most with your audience. Don’t rely on Ad Strength as the only guide for ad success.

Clarity: Don’t dilute your messaging just to hit a high Ad Strength rating. If you have a clear, concise message that speaks to your target audience, that’s often more valuable than a variety of vague headlines.

The "Excellent" Illusion

There’s nothing wrong with aiming for "Excellent" Ad Strength—it provides guidance on diversity and makes sure your ads are primed to show across various search queries. But if you’re making compromises on copy quality just to get that "Excellent" rating, you might be sacrificing the very thing that makes your ads convert: relevance and resonance with your target audience.

The Verdict: Context Is King

At the end of the day, Ad Strength is a helpful tool, but it’s not the ultimate measure of ad quality. Use it as a tool to guide ad creation, but don’t let it dictate your entire approach. Remember, quality ads are the ones that speak to the right audience, at the right time, with the right message.

So the next time Google tries to convince you that your ad isn’t "Excellent" enough, take a step back. Refocus on what really matters: relevance, resonance, and results.