- What the global score is
The SteerAds global score is a 0 to 100 grade reflecting the overall health of your Google Ads (or Bing Ads) account. It's a weighted summary of 5 axes, each measuring a different aspect of performance.
More than the score itself, what matters is its evolution over time and the per-axis breakdown: a score of 62 can easily hide one axis at 95 and one axis at 30.
0 – 39
Critical
Major structural issues. You're likely losing 30 to 50% of your budget. Urgent fixes required.
40 – 59
Sub-optimal
Account works but is full of easy wins. Potential gain of 20 to 30% in 2-4 weeks.
60 – 79
Well-maintained account. Remaining gains take more effort but stay meaningful (10-20%).
80 – 100
Excellent
Top 10% of accounts. Ongoing maintenance is required to stay there — Google's algorithm changes every month.
- The 5 graded axes
Each axis grades a set of concrete, measurable sub-criteria. Here's the breakdown.
1. Keyword quality
Weight 25%Measures the relevance and tidiness of your keyword inventory.
- Quality Score average weighted by impressions
- Match type ratio (exact/phrase/broad)
- Presence of broad-match keywords without negatives
- Long-tail variant coverage
2. Account structure
Weight 20%Is your account properly segmented by intent?
- Number of keywords per ad group (target: 5-15)
- Brand / generic / competitor separation
- Dedicated Search / Display / Performance Max campaigns
- Existence of a shared negatives list
3. Bidding & budget
Weight 20%Is your money flowing to the right places?
- Budget ratio across profitable vs unprofitable campaigns
- Bid strategy aligned with the goal (CPA, ROAS, traffic)
- No chronic "limited by budget" campaigns
- Dayparting enabled where relevant
4. Audiences & targeting
Weight 15%Are you targeting the right profiles?
- Active remarketing lists in place
- Lookalike / Customer Match audiences uploaded
- Coherent geo / language / device exclusions
- Observation vs targeting: avoid over-targeting
5. Tracking & conversions
Weight 20%Are you measuring what actually matters?
- At least 1 conversion with a monetary value
- Enhanced conversions enabled (iOS 14+)
- GA4 linkage configured
- No double-counting (redundant pixel + tag manager)
- Weighting table
| Axis | Weight | Max points contributed |
|---|---|---|
| Keyword quality | 25% | 25 |
| Account structure | 20% | 20 |
| Bidding & budget | 20% | 20 |
| Audiences & targeting | 15% | 15 |
| Tracking & conversions | 20% | 20 |
| Total | 100% | 100 |
- How the score is computed
The score is recomputed once a day from a rolling 30-day window. The simplified formula:
score = 0.25×quality + 0.20×structure + 0.20×bidding + 0.15×audiences + 0.20×tracking
Each axis is normalised between 0 and 100 against thresholds calibrated on more than 2,000 audited accounts. A broad-match keyword without negatives is penalised differently depending on its impression volume — the larger the keyword, the heavier the score impact.
Because the 30-day window slides, and Google updates your Quality Scores in real time. A variation of plus or minus 2 points day over day is normal. Beyond that, there's likely an event (large negatives push, bid strategy switch, etc.).
- Top 5 actions to gain 20 points fast
Ranked by impact / effort ratio. Applied together, these 5 actions push the score up by about 20 points over 2 to 4 weeks on most accounts.
| # | Action | Score impact | Effort |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Add a shared negatives list (~100 negatives) | +7 to +10 | 30 min |
| 2 | Fix conversion tracking (monetary value, enhanced conv) | +5 to +8 | 2 h |
| 3 | Split ad groups beyond 20 keywords into SKAG/STAG | +4 to +6 | 3-4 h |
| 4 | Switch to Target CPA or Maximize Conversions | +3 to +5 | 15 min |
| 5 | Refresh ad creatives older than 6 months (3 variants per ad group) | +2 to +4 | 1-2 h |
- Real case: from 42 to 87 in 30 days
Fashion/accessories e-commerce account, $12,000/month Google Ads budget. Starting point in March 2026:
- CPA: $58
- ROAS: 1.8x
- Conversions/month: 207
- Wasted budget: ~30%
- CPA: $36 (-38%)
- ROAS: 2.9x (+62%)
- Conversions/month: 257 (+24%)
- Wasted budget: ~8%
Actions applied in order: 143 shared negatives added (day 2),
conversion tracking fixed with
transaction_id
(day 4), switched to Target CPA at $40 (day 7), 4 oversized ad groups
restructured into 17 thematic ad groups (day 10-14), creatives refreshed
with 3 variants per ad group (day 20-25).
- FAQ
My score is going down while my conversions are going up — is that normal?
Yes. Conversions are an output of performance, the score is an audit of structural hygiene. You can drive more conversions while letting drift accumulate (broad keywords, bloated ad groups). Tackling the technical debt now prevents the plateau in 2-3 months.
Can I compare my score against my competitors?
Not directly: the score is private to each account. We do publish a
quarterly benchmark report by industry (e-commerce, B2B
SaaS, local services…) with median observed scores — available from
/dashboard/insights/benchmarks.
Does the score include Bing Ads?
Yes, if you connected Microsoft Advertising. The score is computed per platform then aggregated by relative budget. An 80% Google / 20% Bing account will give a global score weighted 80% Google.