What Is Ad Strength Actually Measuring?
Google's Ad Strength score evaluates how well your RSA follows its best practices. It ranges from Incomplete to Excellent, offering recommendations to improve variety, uniqueness, keyword usage, and pinning behavior.
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Variety: Max out your 15 headlines and 4 descriptions.
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Uniqueness: Avoid bland, repetitive phrases. Highlight your unique selling points.
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Keywords: Insert target keywords into headlines and descriptions.
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Pinning: Google prefers fewer pins to allow more ad combinations.
The system uses machine learning to score your RSA based on these factors — but that score only reflects alignment with Google's guidelines, not your actual PPC results.
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Why Ad Strength Gets Overvalued
Google claims that advertisers improving from Poor to Excellent see, on average, 12% more conversions. Sounds great, right? But here's where many advertisers misinterpret the metric:
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Poor ads can still run. Ad strength doesn't affect ad eligibility unless policy violations are involved.
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Excellent doesn't guarantee conversions. A perfect score doesn't promise real-world performance.
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Pinning isn't always bad. If pinning ensures compliance or protects brand messaging, it can still be valuable — even if Google penalizes flexibility.
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Less isn't always worse. You don't need to provide 15 headlines just for the sake of it. Focus on quality over quantity.
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Ad strength ≠ Ad rank. They're completely separate. Ad strength helps asset variety; Ad rank determines where you show based on bid, quality score, and competition.
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Ad Strength Can Change Over Time
One often overlooked fact: ad strength is fluid. What was Excellent today could be downgraded to Average tomorrow as Google's algorithms evolve or as competition shifts.
How Advertisers Should Use Ad Strength
Treat ad strength as a guidance tool, not a performance metric. Here's how smart advertisers approach it:
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Focus on your actual conversion data, CTR, and ROI.
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Pin when necessary for brand control, testing, or legal reasons.
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Don't blindly chase Excellent if the recommendations don't match your business reality.
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Use ad strength recommendations as inspiration — not strict rules.
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Always sanity-check automated suggestions before applying them.
The Bottom Line for PPC Pros
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Ad strength can help optimize your RSAs structurally.
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But don't confuse it with your actual campaign performance.
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Real-world data always beats Google's "best practice" guesses.
As with most automated Google Ads tools: helpful, but dangerous when misused.