“Competition” indicates how competitive a keyword’s ad placement is. This information is unique to the location and Search Network targeting you’ve chosen.
The amount of advertisers bidding on each keyword determines the level of competition (low, medium, or high). When “Competition” for a term is high (i.e., more advertisers are bidding on that keyword), you must bid high to get top places.
The effectiveness (in generating conversions (leads/sales)) of a keyword should be the deciding factor for a firm. It cannot be determined just on the basis of competition status.
Keywords with a high level of competition, on the other hand, are more likely to convert (that is why more advertisers are bidding on them).
The Google Ads Keyword Planner shows the Competition (indexed value) on a scale of 0 to 100 (0 being very low). The competitiveness of a keyword for the location and search network you’ve chosen is represented by its value.
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In the Google Ads Keyword Planner, the value isn’t accessible by default; you must enable the column in the change column section. When you download your keyword suggestions, though, the value is visible.
How is the value calculated?
Google’s formula for calculating Competition (indexed value) is as follows:
Number of ad slots filled / the total number of ad slots available
If there isn’t enough information, a dash will appear.
How is the Competition Indexed value useful?
The value is more detailed than the more well-known Competition value, which only has three options: Low, Medium, and High. It allows you to determine whether a keyword has extremely low competition, i.e. 1, or slightly below medium competitiveness, i.e. 32.
Definition Competition (indexed value) by Google:
“Competition (indexed value)” shows how competitive ad placement is for a keyword, specific to the location and Search Network targeting options that you’ve selected. The level of competition from 0-100 is determined by the number of ad slots filled divided by the total number of ad slots available. If not enough data is available, you’ll see a dash (-)”