Definition
Share of voice is your brand's portion of the total visibility in a market, such as rankings, ad impressions or mentions, compared with competitors.
Share of voice explained
The idea comes from advertising, where it measured a brand's share of all ad spending in a category. In search, it is usually calculated from a tracked set of keywords: for each keyword, estimate the clicks each site gets from its ranking position, weighted by search volume, then sum across the set to get each brand's share.
Share of voice can be measured for several channels:
- Organic search: estimated share of clicks across tracked keywords.
- Paid search: impression share against competitors in auction insights.
- AI search: share of brand mentions across AI assistant answers to a set of prompts.
- Earned media: share of press and social mentions.
The keyword or prompt set decides everything, so build it from the searches that matter commercially, not from vanity terms, and keep it stable to compare over time. Share of voice is especially useful for seeing competitive shifts before they show up in revenue.
Example
Across 200 tracked keywords about payroll software, your brand's organic share of voice is lower than two larger rivals', but it is growing while theirs is flat. Your AI share of voice for the same topics is higher, showing where your content is already strong.
Why it matters
It puts your visibility in competitive context: flat traffic can still mean you are gaining ground if the market is shrinking, or losing it if competitors are growing faster.
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Related terms
- AI share of voiceAI share of voice is the proportion of relevant AI assistant answers that mention your brand, compared with how often they mention your competitors.
- Impression shareImpression share is the percentage of impressions your ads received out of the total they were estimated to be eligible for.
- Organic trafficOrganic traffic is visits that come from unpaid search results, as opposed to ads, social media, email or direct visits.
- AI visibilityAI visibility is how often and how favorably AI assistants mention, recommend or cite your brand when people ask questions related to what you sell.