Starting the week of September 12, new keywords and those that haven’t received any recent clicks and impressions will display a Quality Score of null in AdWords, shown as dashes (“–“).
By default, any keywords with null Quality Scores will be excluded from reports and automated rules that have Quality Score filters, unless a new box is checked to include them. Google advises reviewing any reports, filters, rules, and scripts that include Quality Score before September 12 to ensure they function correctly.
This change updates Google’s approach from July 2015, when they decided to assign new keywords a default reported Quality Score of 6. At the time, Google explained that assigning a single default Quality Score for new keywords would “simplify some of our core systems.” The default Quality Score updates after new keywords receive sufficient impression data.
Prior to this update, Google assigned a new keyword a Quality Score based on the keyword’s performance across the entire system and the individual account’s historical performance.
The switch from a default reported score of 6 to null won’t affect the ad auction or the way ads are served. For users, null is a clearer placeholder for reported Quality Score than a default of 6.
