In the past, we used a 12 month average of monthly search volume to calculate organic traffic estimations. However we changed our default search volume calculation logic from 12-month average to monthly trends.
In fact, since there are use cases for both, we decided to add a toggle for these two modes for any Site Explorer report that provides Organic Traffic or Paid Traffic estimations.
You can see examples of how traffic changes when you choose average or monthly volume:
Monthly volume is more volatile but helps you monitor seasonal search trends and popular topics.
Average volume is based on the last known 12 months of data. It’s more consistent and helps you troubleshoot traffic drops.
Where Monthly volume and Average volume options can be selected
The option to select average will only appear in reports with charts to troubleshoot drops. This is mainly the reports in the Organic search, and Paid search sections in Site Explorer.
The traffic estimation in the reports will change depending on the volume option selected.
