Glossary
What does Avg. monthly searches mean in Keyword Planner?
Melvin Salas1 min readVerified 5 October 2026
Short answer
Avg. monthly searches is a historical metric in Google's Keyword Planner. Google defines it as the average number of times that people have searched for a keyword and its close variants based on the month range as well as the location and Search Network settings that you selected. By default, the number of searches for the term (regardless of language) is averaged over a 12-month period.
Google says you can use this information to see how popular your keywords are during different times of the year. It also says historical stats like average monthly searches are only shown for exact matches, so the figure for a keyword is the same whichever match type you enter it with, and that search volume statistics are rounded, so volumes for several locations might not add up as you'd expect.
It is not a forecast. Google says forecasts take bid, budget, seasonality and other factors into account, while historical metrics don't. Avg. monthly searches counts searches, not your ads, your clicks or your sales.
How we use it, which is our practice and not Google's: as the demand curve. Read month by month over a full year, it says when people look for a product. It says nothing about whether the people searching that month are ready to buy, which is why we read it next to the share of sign-ups that go on to purchase before blaming or crediting the season.
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