Share of Search (SoS) is a marketing measurement metric that calculates the percentage of search queries related to your brand compared to the total search volume for your entire product category or competitive set. This digital marketing KPI provides insights into brand visibility, market position, and consumer interest relative to competitors.
Share of Search measures your brand's "share of voice" in the digital search landscape. The calculation is straightforward:
Share of Search = (Your Brand's Search Volume / Total Category Search Volume) × 100
For example, if your brand receives 10,000 monthly searches and the total category receives 100,000 searches, your Share of Search would be 10%.
Share of Search serves as a leading indicator of brand awareness, often correlating with traditional brand tracking studies but providing real-time insights at a fraction of the cost.
Understanding your position relative to competitors helps identify growth opportunities and potential threats in your market space.
Changes in Share of Search can indicate the effectiveness of marketing campaigns, PR initiatives, and brand-building activities.
Research suggests Share of Search can be predictive of future market share changes, making it valuable for strategic planning.
Identify relevant keywords that represent your product or service category. Consider:
Use tools like Google Keyword Planner, SEMrush, Ahrefs, or Google Trends to collect monthly search volumes for:
For each brand (including yours):
Compare your Share of Search against:
Many marketing measurement platforms, including advanced MMM (Marketing Mix Modeling) solutions, incorporate Share of Search as a key input for comprehensive attribution analysis.
Challenge: Inconsistent or incomplete search volume data
Solution: Use multiple data sources and focus on relative trends rather than absolute numbers
Challenge: Seasonal businesses may see dramatic SoS fluctuations
Solution: Year-over-year comparisons and seasonal indexing
Challenge: Defining the competitive set and relevant keywords
Solution: Regular review and refinement of keyword lists based on customer research
Challenge: Connecting search behavior to business outcomes
Solution: Integrate SoS with comprehensive measurement frameworks like MMM
Track product category dominance and seasonal shifts in consumer interest
Monitor thought leadership and solution awareness in professional markets
Measure brand equity and competitive positioning in retail categories
Assess brand trust and consideration in highly regulated industries
Understand patient and provider search behavior for treatments and services
As search behavior evolves with voice search, AI-powered search, and changing consumer habits, Share of Search methodology continues to adapt. Emerging considerations include:
Share of Search provides marketers with a powerful, cost-effective method for measuring brand performance and competitive positioning. When integrated with comprehensive marketing measurement frameworks, it offers actionable insights for strategic decision-making and campaign optimization.
For brands seeking to improve their market position, regular Share of Search monitoring should be a cornerstone of their measurement strategy, providing the competitive intelligence needed to drive growth and defend market share.
Lauri Potka is the Chief Operating Officer at Sellforte, with over 15 years of experience in Marketing Mix Modeling, marketing measurement, and media spend optimization. Before joining Sellforte, he worked as a management consultant at the Boston Consulting Group, advising some of the world’s largest advertisers on data-driven marketing optimization. Follow Lauri in LinkedIn, where he is one of the leading voices in MMM and marketing measurement.