How to Fix Low Quality Score in Dental Google Ads (Dubai)

Access One is the healthcare-only Google Ads agency in Dubai and a Google Partner. This is the order we check a UAE dental account in when this problem comes up. By Youssef Hajri, Founder.

Quick diagnosis checklist

Open the Quality Score columns first. The components tell you exactly where to work.

Diagnostic flowchart

The likely causes, ranked

1. Mixed ad groups. One ad group holding "dental implants", "teeth whitening" and "dentist near me" cannot have one ad that fits all of them.
2. Home page as landing page. Someone searching "Invisalign Dubai Marina" lands on a slider about the clinic and leaves.
3. Generic headlines. "Your Smile, Our Passion" and "Trusted Dental Care" say nothing about the search. DHA rules also block the easy superlatives, so specifics are the only way to stand out.
4. Slow mobile pages. Heavy sliders, video headers and booking widgets that load late hurt the landing page experience.
5. Language mismatch. Arabic searches matched to English ads and pages.

How to fix it, step by step

1. Switch the columns on

1. Go to Campaigns > Audiences, keywords and content > Search keywords.
2. Click the columns icon, open Quality Score, and tick Quality Score, Landing page exp., Exp. CTR and Ad relevance. Add the "(hist.)" versions to see trends.
3. Sort by cost. Work on the top 20 keywords only. Google calls Quality Score a diagnostic tool, not a target, so low-spend keywords can wait.

A dash instead of a number means not enough exact searches yet, which is common for "treatment plus neighbourhood" keywords. That is fine.

2. Fix ad relevance: one treatment per ad group

A clean dental structure looks like this:

Each ad then repeats its own treatment in the first headline.

3. Fix expected CTR: be specific

• Name the treatment and the area: "Dental Implants in Al Barsha".
• Give a fact people decide on: insurers accepted, evening or weekend hours, female dentist available, "from" price with conditions, where true.
• Add sitelinks, callouts, a call asset and a location asset. Assets make the ad bigger and more useful.
• Avoid claims DHA rules ban, such as "best" or "painless". They are risky and they do not lift CTR anyway.

4. Fix landing page experience

1. One page per ad group, opening with the treatment name and the area.
2. Call, WhatsApp and a short form visible on a phone without scrolling.
3. Dentist name and DHA-licensed title, what happens, visits needed, price range, insurers.
4. Test speed on your own phone on mobile data. Remove sliders and autoplay video above the fold.

5. Recheck in two to four weeks

Use the historical columns, segmented by week. Google's Quality Score page explains that the score is based on recent exact-match auctions, so it moves only as new searches come in.

UAE and DHA specifics

• Write Arabic ads for Arabic searches. Matching Arabic keywords to English ads hurts relevance and CTR. Build Arabic ad groups with Arabic pages if you want those patients.
• DHA titles in ads and pages. Use titles exactly as on the licence, such as "Specialist Orthodontist". The DHA standard rules out invented titles.
• Price conditions. If you show a price, state the conditions. Accurate prices with conditions are a DHA requirement and also a strong CTR lever in a price-aware market.
• Insurance in the copy. For general dentistry, "Insurance accepted" with named insurers often beats any other headline. Check what basic plans cover in our dental insurance guide.

The full background on how the score works is in our Quality Score guide.

Fix it yourself, or have it fixed

Raising Quality Score properly takes a restructure by treatment, new ads for every ad group, and a landing page per treatment that loads fast and follows DHA rules. That is a project of a few weeks, mostly page building.

If the page building is the blocker, Access One does this every day for UAE dental clinics. Start with the free audit, or see our dental marketing service.

Frequently asked questions

What is a good Quality Score for dental keywords?

Google gives no official target. In practice, aim for Average or Above average on all three components for your highest-spend keywords. A 6 that books patients beats a 9 that does not.

Does a higher Quality Score lower my cost per click?

Indirectly. The score itself is not used in the auction, but the same quality signals feed Ad Rank, which affects what you pay.

Why is my implant keyword Quality Score low when the page is about implants?

Check expected CTR. In a crowded market like Dubai implants, generic headlines get fewer clicks than competitors, which drags the score down even with a good page.

Should I delete keywords with low Quality Score?

Not by default. If a low-score keyword books patients at a good cost, keep it. Fix the high-spend keywords first.

Sources

• Google Ads Help: About Quality Score
• Google Ads Help: Using Quality Score to guide optimizations
• Google Ads Help: About Ad Rank
• DHA: Standards for Medical Advertisement Content on Social Media (PDF)

Published 28 Oct 2026 · Access One