The typical Google Ads account wastes $1,127.54 a month, and the typical Quality Score is only 5 to 6. This page pulls together what independent studies measured about both: how scores are distributed, what a low score does to click prices, how much spend goes to irrelevant searches and which fixes show up in the data. Secondary or unverified figures are labeled as such.

$1,127.54typical wasted spend per account per month (WordStream)
36%of accounts have a Quality Score below 4 (WordStream)
13% vs 4.6%conversion rate with versus without negative keywords (WordStream)

Key Takeaways

  • The median account spends $3,127.38 a month and wastes $1,127.54 of it, about 36% (WordStream account study).
  • Only 22% of accounts reach a Quality Score of 7 or higher, and 36% sit below 4.
  • Accounts using negative keywords converted at 13% versus 4.6% for those that do not, yet 25% of advertisers never added one.
  • A widely cited but unofficial table puts a Quality Score of 10 at a 50% click discount and a score of 1 at a 400% premium (StoreGrowers).
  • Seer Interactive found about 15% of budget went to irrelevant keywords across 30 accounts (Seer Interactive).
How we compiled these statistics. Every figure on this page comes from a published report or platform disclosure including WordStream, LocaliQ, StoreGrowers and Retail TouchPoints. Each number links to its original source in the text, and the full list sits under Sources and Further Reading. Page last updated .

How Much Google Ads Spend Is Wasted?

Short answer: WordStream's 2025 study of 15,666 accounts found a typical account wastes $1,127.54 a month, against typical monthly spend of $3,127.38.

The most reliable recent measure is the WordStream account study: 251,236 reports from 15,666 accounts between January 1 and November 17, 2025. All figures are medians.

$3,127.38typical monthly Google Ads spend
$1,127.54typical wasted spend per month
29%of accounts had zero conversions over 90 days
25%of advertisers never added a negative keyword
6.66%average click through rate, with 28% of accounts above 10%
18.8% vs 14.2%conversion rate for advertisers spending under $1K a month versus $10K or more
15%of budget spent on irrelevant keywords on average across 30 paid search accounts (Seer Interactive, 2019)
$17.4BSeer projection if that rate held across the industry, based on about $116B of Google ad revenue in 2018
51%of spend on average goes to search terms Google groups under other terms, in an Adthena review (Adthena)
26%of campaign traffic is covered by the Performance Max search terms report, per earlier Adthena research (Adthena)
Data Note

Seer's figure is from 2019 and a small sample, and Adthena does not state its sample size. The two measure different things: irrelevant keywords versus hidden terms. Use them as indicators of how common waste is, not as a precise rate.

Quality Score Distribution

Share of accounts by Quality Score band (percent)

Quality Score below 4
36%
Quality Score 7 or higher
22%
Quality Score 8 or higher
12%
Elite: score 8+ and 10%+ conversion rate
3%
Source: WordStream Google Ads account study. Typical Quality Score is 5 to 6.
4.2average non brand Quality Score across 300 plus B2B SaaS accounts, per a source cited by Flint
60%of non brand keywords score 1 to 3 in typical B2B audits, per the same cited source
7+is reached only by top quartile accounts in that B2B sample

B2B figures come from a secondary summary that cites a vendor blog, so treat them as indicative. The WordStream distribution is the larger and more recent sample. Between them, they say the same thing: most accounts sit in the middle or below, and few reach the scores that earn real discounts.

How Does Quality Score Change Your Cost Per Click?

Short answer: Google publishes no table, but the common estimate is that a Quality Score of 10 cuts cost per click about 50% versus a score of 5, while a score of 1 raises it about 400%.

Google does not publish a discount table. The table below is the commonly cited estimate, reproduced by StoreGrowers with a baseline of 5 out of 10. Its own worked examples do not match its percentages, so use it for direction, not budgeting.

Estimated effect on cost per click by Quality Score

Quality ScoreEffect on cost per click
1050% discount
944% discount
837% discount
729% discount
617% discount
5baseline
425% premium
367% premium
2150% premium
1400% premium
Source: StoreGrowers. Unofficial estimate, not published by Google.
$10 vs $35average cost per conversion for keywords with Quality Score 9 to 10 versus 1 to 2, in a GrowByData analysis of 2,182 health and beauty keywords (Retail TouchPoints)
about 7%conversion rate for ads scoring 9 to 10 in the same analysis (Retail TouchPoints)
16% to 50%CPC reduction reported from moving landing page experience from below average to above average, per a source cited by Flint)

The GrowByData sample is a single vertical and a single study, but it is one of few that publish cost per conversion by score band. It points the same way as the estimate table: higher scores mean cheaper conversions.

What Drives Quality Score?

Short answer: Quality Score reflects expected click through rate, ad relevance and landing page experience, and third party estimates put landing page experience at about half the weight.

Reported component weights

ComponentReported weight
Landing page experienceabout 50%
Expected click through rateabout 30%
Ad relevanceabout 20%
Source: Weights from a Growthspree blog post, as cited by Flint. Google does not publish a formula, so these are third party estimates.
44%of B2B companies send paid traffic to generic homepages instead of campaign matched pages (involve.me via Flint)
9.6% vs 3.3%conversion rate for pages loading in 1 second versus 5 seconds (Genesys Growth via Flint)
53%of mobile users abandon pages that take more than 3 seconds to load (Genesys Growth via Flint)
1.8% to 4.7%one B2B SaaS company after moving to solution specific landing pages (SaaS Hero via Flint)

All four figures are secondary and some are single company results. They explain why the page after the click matters as much as the ad. See our conversion rate statistics for landing page medians from a larger dataset.

Which Fixes Show Up in the Data

Account settings and outcomes

SettingResultSource
Using negative keywords13% conversion rate versus 4.6% withoutWordStream account study
Smaller monthly spend, under $1K18.8% conversion rate versus 14.2% at $10K plusWordStream account study
Fewer impressions, under 20K4.1% conversion rate versus 2.4% at 80K plusWordStream account study
Quality Score 9 to 10$10 per conversion versus $35 at score 1 to 2GrowByData via Retail TouchPoints
Page load 1 second9.6% conversion rate versus 3.3% at 5 secondsGenesys Growth via Flint
Source: WordStream, Retail TouchPoints and Flint.

The cheapest fixes sit on this list: add negative keywords, tighten match types and send each ad group to a matching page. Our guide to why Google Ads cost per lead runs so high walks through them in order, and our write up on why Google Ads campaigns fail shows the same issues in real accounts.

Profitability and Industry Context

78.2%of 13,350 surveyed marketers struggle to make paid advertising profitable, 21.8% achieve profitability (survey cited by Opensend)
$5.26median cost per click in 2025 (WordStream)
$70.11median cost per lead (WordStream)
$66.69average cost per lead in 2026 (LocaliQ)

When a lead costs $66 to $70 on average, a monthly waste of $1,127.54 equals roughly 16 to 17 leads you paid for and did not get, our calculation. For industry specific numbers, see our cost per click statistics and the overall Google Ads statistics page.

Sources and Further Reading

Every statistic on this page links to its original source. Figures were checked on October 24, 2026. Where sources disagree, we show both and say so.

Want to Find the Waste in Your Account?

Growth Architech audits your Google Ads search terms, Quality Score and tracking, then shows you where spend leaks, with no contract.

Get Your Free PPC Audit →