Historical metrics provide metrics on how keywords have previously performed on Google Search including:
- Average monthly searches (past 12 months)
- Approximate monthly search volume (per month)
- Competition level
- Competition index
- 20th percentile of bids
- 80th percentile of bids
You can use historical metrics to reduce a large set of keywords to a more manageable size based on the performance. If you already know the keywords you want to use, you can skip historical metrics and go straight to forecast metrics.
Generate metrics
To generate historical metrics call
KeywordPlanIdeaService.GenerateKeywordHistoricalMetrics
with the parameters you would like to include.
Java
This example is not yet available in Java; you can take a look at the other languages.
C#
This example is not yet available in C#; you can take a look at the other languages.
PHP
This example is not yet available in PHP; you can take a look at the other languages.
Python
This example is not yet available in Python; you can take a look at the other languages.
Ruby
This example is not yet available in Ruby; you can take a look at the other languages.
Perl
This example is not yet available in Perl; you can take a look at the other languages.
Metrics like search volume are updated monthly by looking at the last month's search volume. This is the same data as Google Trends.
Map to the UI
KeywordPlanIdeaService.GenerateKeywordHistoricalMetrics
has similar functionality in the UI's Keyword Planner.
| Keyword Planner UI | Google Ads API |
|---|---|
| Enter Keywords | GenerateKeywordHistoricalMetricsRequest.keywords |
| Locations | GenerateKeywordHistoricalMetricsRequest.geo_target_constants |
| Language | GenerateKeywordHistoricalMetricsRequest.language |
| Search Networks | GenerateKeywordHistoricalMetricsRequest.keyword_plan_network |
| Date Range | GenerateKeywordHistoricalMetricsRequest.historical_metrics_options |
| CPC Bid | HistoricalMetricsOptions.include_average_cpc |