The arithmetic mean is the everyday average: add up every observed value, then divide by the number of observations. It collapses a set of measurements into a single representative number.
| Term | Arithmetic Mean |
|---|---|
| Category | Statistics and Evidence |
| Also known as | Mean, Average |
| Where it appears | Deficit strategies and report statistics |
What it means in RankGear
The arithmetic mean is how RankGear reduces a set of measurements to one representative figure. When it builds a deficit strategy — the recommended target for a given on-page factor — and when it summarizes run statistics, it frequently averages the values it observed across the pages ranking for your keyword. That average becomes the baseline your page is compared against, so the number you see is the center of what competitors are already doing rather than a rule handed down by the search engine.
How to interpret it
An average tells you only the center of a group of numbers; it says nothing about how tightly or loosely those numbers cluster. Read it next to the sample size and the spread. A mean drawn from three pages is far shakier than one drawn from ten, and two keywords can share an identical average while one has competitors packed close to that figure and the other has them scattered widely. Check, too, whether a zero is a real measured zero or a missing value that was treated as one — that difference can drag the average in either direction.
| Distribution | What the mean does |
|---|---|
| Values clustered symmetrically | Represents the typical page well; a safe target. |
| One large outlier | Pulled upward toward the outlier; can overstate a realistic goal. |
| Small sample | Unstable; a single ranking change can move it noticeably. |
Example
Say you are optimizing for “commercial roofing” and RankGear inspects the ten pages currently ranking. Most run word counts in the 1,100 to 1,400 range, but one long guide sits at 4,900 words. The arithmetic mean lands near 1,900 — well above what almost every competitor actually publishes — because the single long page drags it upward. A deficit strategy anchored to that mean would suggest a target no typical competitor meets, which is exactly when checking the spread, or reaching for the median instead, gives a more realistic goal.
Important considerations
- The mean is sensitive to outliers: one unusually large or small page can move it substantially, so pair it with the spread or the median before acting on it.
- Small SERP samples make any average unstable — a mean over a handful of pages can shift with a single ranking change.
- Missing values silently coerced to zero bias the mean downward; confirm a zero is genuinely measured before you trust it.
- An average describes pages that already rank. Matching an averaged target is a comparative indicator, not a cause of ranking: statistical association is not causation, and provider metrics are comparative signals rather than Google’s own scores.
Related terms
Part of the RankGear glossary · how RankGear measures · the 870 factors.