What’s the single biggest change that can improve Ad Rank in Google Ads? A viewer recently asked me this question, specifically about losing impressions to rank while competitors appear more often in Search results. In my latest video, I share three things I would inspect: relevance, ad assets, and account structure.
I’ve seen businesses add hundreds of keywords to broad ad groups, write general ads and direct everyone to the same generic landing page. Then they wonder why their ads aren’t getting enough exposure or qualified leads. While there are other auction factors, the gap between what someone searches for, what the ad promises and what the landing page delivers is where I would start looking.
Watch My Video: 3 Ways to Improve Google Ads Ad Rank
Watch the full Google Ads Ad Rank video.
In this four-minute video, I also explain how different regions can justify localized ads or campaigns and why a business should test the performance of each service area rather than treating all locations equally.
Why Search Lost Impression Share (Rank) Matters
Google defines Search Lost IS (rank) as the percentage of eligible Search impressions a campaign missed due to insufficient Ad Rank. If your competitors repeatedly appear while your ads don’t, this metric can help distinguish a rank problem from another common cause: insufficient daily budget.
Ad Rank itself isn’t a fixed score you can manually maximize. Google recalculates it around the auction and considers bids, ad and landing-page quality, thresholds, auction competitiveness, search context and the expected impact of ad assets. See Google’s official Ad Rank overview.
My Number One Priority: Relevance Across the Entire Journey
In the video, I say that relevance is one of the biggest things I would work on. By that I mean creating a consistent experience between the search query and keyword theme, the ad text and the landing page.
For example, if a customer is looking for emergency plumbing in New Jersey, the advertisement should clearly refer to emergency plumbing rather than vaguely promoting every home service. The landing page should also make it easy to find service coverage, response information and a contact option.
I mention a more aggressive tactic in my video: if you have ten high-performing keywords, consider dedicated ads and landing pages for each where you want maximum message control. That’s a tactic you can test, not a universal rule. If several keywords have the same commercial intent, one carefully designed landing page may serve them better than ten near-duplicates.
Google’s own landing-page recommendations confirm that the destination should match the ad’s promise and the user’s search intent. That is far more important than multiplying pages just to change account structure.
Second: Use Useful Ad Assets, Not Just Headlines
A lot of advertisers write good headlines but overlook other information they can share in Search ads. I refer to call assets, location information, prices, promotions and other assets in the video.
Ad assets can help someone choose your business because they answer common questions before the click. A customer may appreciate seeing your phone number, a link to your pricing page or a genuine promotion.
Google considers the expected impact of assets when calculating Ad Rank, but it decides whether to show them in each auction. An irrelevant asset added just to make the ad bigger won’t necessarily help. My rule is simple: add assets that genuinely make the advertisement better for the customer.
Third: Structure Campaigns Around Real Differences
In the video, I use an example of a business advertising across ten areas where New Jersey performs poorly. If one location is consuming money without producing qualified leads, I would investigate why.
Perhaps that area has a different level of competition. Perhaps it needs a different offer or landing page. Or maybe the business can’t serve customers there effectively.
One option is excluding it when there is no viable return. Another is testing a separate campaign for that location, with its own budget, ad message and targeted page when you believe the opportunity justifies the effort.
But creating a new campaign is not itself an Ad Rank boost. Google says account structure alone doesn’t determine ad quality. Restructuring helps only when it creates better relevance, targeting or budget control. Splitting every location without enough volume could make optimization unnecessarily difficult.
What About Quality Score?
Advertisers often focus on the familiar 1–10 Quality Score. Google says it evaluates expected click-through rate, ad relevance and landing-page experience. It’s useful for understanding where an ad may be weaker than its competition.
However, the displayed Quality Score isn’t a direct input to the ad auction. I would use it to spot problems, not treat it as the final business objective. A better campaign should ultimately produce more qualified enquiries, customers or revenue at an acceptable cost.
The Simple Audit I’d Perform Before Raising Bids
- Review Search Lost IS (rank) and Search Lost IS (budget) for the same reporting period.
- Compare impression share, top visibility, actual conversions and cost per lead.
- Look at the keyword themes and determine whether their ad copy fits the same intent.
- Open the landing pages on a phone and test speed, clarity, trust and conversion actions.
- Check which eligible ad assets are relevant, accurate and actually useful.
- Compare locations, devices and conversion quality to identify real differences.
- Then evaluate the bidding strategy and auction competitiveness alongside the quality improvements.
Frequently Asked Questions
Will separate landing pages guarantee better Ad Rank?
No. They can improve relevance for distinct intents, but a page that doesn’t deliver useful content can still perform poorly. Duplication by itself is no advantage.
Will improving account structure fix Search Lost IS (rank)?
Not by itself. It can enable better ads, local targeting, landing pages and budgets. The underlying improvements—not the arrangement of campaigns—are what matter.
Can ad assets affect Ad Rank?
Yes, their expected impact is an input in Google’s calculation. However, visibility and performance improvements are not guaranteed for every asset or every auction.
Should I just increase CPC bids?
Bids are one part of Ad Rank. If there is room for profitable visibility, higher bids may help, but I would first examine relevance, user experience and the true cost of acquiring a customer.
My Final Advice
Start by helping the searcher. Make the advertisement clearly relevant, deliver what the ad promises on the landing page, use genuinely useful assets and structure the account in a way that gives you control where performance differs.
That’s where I would begin before spending more to chase ad positions. If your business needs a deeper review, my team offers Google Ads management and a free Google Ads audit.
You may also like my article on increasing Search Impression Share and my earlier high CPC and low conversion rate guide.
References: Google Ads Ad Rank; Quality Score; ad-quality signals and account structure. My three primary suggestions are taken from my narrated video; the distinctions about Ad Rank inputs and Quality Score are based on Google’s documentation.
