diff --git a/plugin/forward/connect.go b/plugin/forward/connect.go
index 7e34837e1..63a0bfe50 100644
--- a/plugin/forward/connect.go
+++ b/plugin/forward/connect.go
@@ -11,7 +11,6 @@ import (
 	"sync/atomic"
 	"time"
 
-	"github.com/coredns/coredns/plugin/pkg/dnsutil"
 	"github.com/coredns/coredns/request"
 
 	"github.com/miekg/dns"
@@ -130,11 +129,9 @@ func (p *Proxy) Connect(ctx context.Context, state request.Request, opts options
 		rc = strconv.Itoa(ret.Rcode)
 	}
 
-	qtype := dnsutil.QTypeMonitorLabel(state.QType())
-
 	RequestCount.WithLabelValues(p.addr).Add(1)
 	RcodeCount.WithLabelValues(rc, p.addr).Add(1)
-	RequestDuration.WithLabelValues(p.addr, rc, qtype).Observe(time.Since(start).Seconds())
+	RequestDuration.WithLabelValues(p.addr, rc).Observe(time.Since(start).Seconds())
 
 	return ret, nil
 }
diff --git a/plugin/forward/metrics.go b/plugin/forward/metrics.go
index 51685a599..9519c3c9b 100644
--- a/plugin/forward/metrics.go
+++ b/plugin/forward/metrics.go
@@ -27,7 +27,7 @@ var (
 		Name:      "request_duration_seconds",
 		Buckets:   plugin.TimeBuckets,
 		Help:      "Histogram of the time each request took.",
-	}, []string{"to", "rcode", "type"})
+	}, []string{"to", "rcode"})
 	HealthcheckFailureCount = promauto.NewCounterVec(prometheus.CounterOpts{
 		Namespace: plugin.Namespace,
 		Subsystem: "forward",
diff --git a/plugin/pkg/dnsutil/monitor.go b/plugin/metrics/vars/monitor.go
similarity index 69%
rename from plugin/pkg/dnsutil/monitor.go
rename to plugin/metrics/vars/monitor.go
index b86f8e43a..17ca7cf63 100644
--- a/plugin/pkg/dnsutil/monitor.go
+++ b/plugin/metrics/vars/monitor.go
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-package dnsutil
+package vars
 
 import (
 	"github.com/miekg/dns"
@@ -25,13 +25,11 @@ var monitorType = map[uint16]struct{}{
 	dns.TypeANY:  {},
 }
 
-const other = "other"
-
-// QTypeMonitorLabel returns dns type label based on a list of monitored types.
-// Will return "other" for unmonitored ones.
-func QTypeMonitorLabel(qtype uint16) string {
+// qTypeString returns the RR type based on monitorType. It returns the text representation
+// of thosAe types. RR types not in that list will have "other" returned.
+func qTypeString(qtype uint16) string {
 	if _, known := monitorType[qtype]; known {
 		return dns.Type(qtype).String()
 	}
-	return other
+	return "other"
 }
diff --git a/plugin/metrics/vars/report.go b/plugin/metrics/vars/report.go
index 9bad43582..d32e361b1 100644
--- a/plugin/metrics/vars/report.go
+++ b/plugin/metrics/vars/report.go
@@ -3,7 +3,6 @@ package vars
 import (
 	"time"
 
-	"github.com/coredns/coredns/plugin/pkg/dnsutil"
 	"github.com/coredns/coredns/request"
 )
 
@@ -18,14 +17,14 @@ func Report(server string, req request.Request, zone, rcode string, size int, st
 		fam = "2"
 	}
 
-	qtype := dnsutil.QTypeMonitorLabel(req.QType())
-
 	if req.Do() {
 		RequestDo.WithLabelValues(server, zone).Inc()
 	}
 
+	qtype := qTypeString(req.QType())
 	RequestCount.WithLabelValues(server, zone, net, fam, qtype).Inc()
-	RequestDuration.WithLabelValues(server, zone, qtype).Observe(time.Since(start).Seconds())
+
+	RequestDuration.WithLabelValues(server, zone).Observe(time.Since(start).Seconds())
 
 	ResponseSize.WithLabelValues(server, zone, net).Observe(float64(size))
 	RequestSize.WithLabelValues(server, zone, net).Observe(float64(req.Len()))
diff --git a/plugin/metrics/vars/vars.go b/plugin/metrics/vars/vars.go
index 2187e13f0..7a803a62a 100644
--- a/plugin/metrics/vars/vars.go
+++ b/plugin/metrics/vars/vars.go
@@ -21,14 +21,14 @@ var (
 		Subsystem: subsystem,
 		Name:      "request_duration_seconds",
 		Buckets:   plugin.TimeBuckets,
-		Help:      "Histogram of the time (in seconds) each request took.",
-	}, []string{"server", "zone", "type"})
+		Help:      "Histogram of the time (in seconds) each request took per zone.",
+	}, []string{"server", "zone"})
 
 	RequestSize = promauto.NewHistogramVec(prometheus.HistogramOpts{
 		Namespace: plugin.Namespace,
 		Subsystem: subsystem,
 		Name:      "request_size_bytes",
-		Help:      "Size of the EDNS0 UDP buffer in bytes (64K for TCP).",
+		Help:      "Size of the EDNS0 UDP buffer in bytes (64K for TCP) per zone and protocol.",
 		Buckets:   []float64{0, 100, 200, 300, 400, 511, 1023, 2047, 4095, 8291, 16e3, 32e3, 48e3, 64e3},
 	}, []string{"server", "zone", "proto"})