# Keyword metrics source pack

Pack ID: B05-KEYWORD-METRICS-v1

Frozen: 6 October 2026. Source check date: 2026-10-06.

Purpose: factual input for one retained teaching draft explaining keyword metrics. This is an editorial paraphrase of the linked primary documentation, not a tool test or a keyword dataset. It contains no observed volumes, traffic results or ranking outcomes for any keyword or website.

## Eight supplied facts

1. **Average monthly searches:** Keyword Planner averages searches for a keyword and close variants over the selected period, location and Search Network settings. The default period is 12 months. Values are rounded. [A]

2. **Competition:** Keyword Planner's competition field describes advertiser competition for a keyword under the selected targeting. It is not a measure of organic ranking difficulty. [A]

3. **Top-of-page bid ranges:** Keyword Planner's low and high ranges approximate the 20th and 80th percentiles of historical top-of-page advertising bids, respectively, for the selected location and network. [A]

4. **Forecasts:** Keyword Planner forecasts concern possible advertising performance. Forecasted impressions account for bid, budget, seasonality and historical ad quality. These forecasts differ from historical search-volume metrics. [A]

5. **Search Console measures:** The Search results Performance report describes a site's Google Search performance. It includes clicks and impressions; CTR is clicks divided by impressions. [B]

6. **Average position:** Search Console reports average position using the topmost result for the relevant site or grouping. A new manual search can differ because results depend on time, location, device and search history. [B]

7. **Query completeness:** Some Search Console queries are omitted for privacy, and additional rows can be omitted because of internal limits. A visible query table is not an exhaustive list. [C]

8. **Export caveat:** In Search Console exports, values displayed as `~` or `-` in the report, meaning unavailable or not a number, become zeros. Those exported zeros require that context. [B]

## Exact primary sources

- **[A] Google Ads Help, About Keyword Planner forecasts.** https://support.google.com/google-ads/answer/3022575?hl=en . Relevant sections: What your historical metrics mean; Things to keep in mind about your historical metrics; Forecasts. Checked 2026-10-06.
- **[B] Google Search Console Help, Performance report (Search results): Overview and basic setup.** https://support.google.com/webmasters/answer/7576553?hl=en . Relevant sections: Choosing metrics; Choosing dimensions; Exporting report data. Checked 2026-10-06.
- **[C] Google Search Console Help, Performance report (Search results): Dimensions and data groupings.** https://support.google.com/webmasters/answer/17011259?hl=en&ref_topic=17010766 . Relevant section: Queries, Query details and limitations. Checked 2026-10-06.

## Pack boundaries and retention

This bounded pack does not describe every setting, data source, API, search product or exception. It supplies definitions and qualifications for a short explanation, not a forecast, tool recommendation or publishing policy. Missing observations remain unknown. The dates above identify this verification, not the period of a measured dataset.

Retain this exact file alongside the actual prompt and unedited model output. If a source correction is needed after the run, preserve v1 and issue a separately identified replacement rather than silently changing the experimental input. No draft, output, model identity or review finding is asserted by this file.