AD STRENGTH IN GOOGLE ADS: WHY AVERAGE IS BETTER THAN EXCELLENT

Summary from the TLDR Marketing newsletter

Ad strength in Google Ads is not a reliable performance metric and should not be blindly optimized for. While ads rated Excellent by Google can lead to a 12% increase in conversions, real-world data shows that both Poor and Excellent rated ads often perform worse than Average or Good ones. Completely unpinned headlines, which Google requires for Excellent ratings, tend to lower ad relevance and increase CPCs. Advertisers like Nike and Best Buy pin keyword-rich headlines to improve performance, even if it means settling for lower ad strength scores.