# Share of voice

Category: [Keywords & Research](https://seo-geo-glossary.com/en/glossary/category/keywords-research/) › [Rankings & rank tracking](https://seo-geo-glossary.com/en/glossary/category/keywords-research/rankings-rank-tracking/)

**Share of voice (SOV)** is a marketing metric that shows how much of the visibility or conversation in a market a brand holds compared with its competitors. It is expressed as a percentage.

## How is it calculated?

The general formula divides your own value by the total of all brands considered: your metric divided by the sum of your metric and your competitors' metrics. Wikipedia describes the original advertising meaning: a company's media spending as a share of total media spending in its category. For example, 5 million in a market with 100 million in total spending is 5 percent.

Sprout Social lists four areas where it is used: social media mentions, media coverage, PPC impression share from Google Ads, and organic search visibility.

## Share of voice in SEO

In SEO, the value is built from the keywords a team has chosen and the positions of each domain for them. Providers differ in what they plug into the formula. Some use rankings, some impressions, some an estimate of clicks per position. Two tools can therefore show different values for the same domains, and the result applies only to the selected keyword set and competitors.

Share of voice is not market share. Market share counts revenue or customers, while share of voice measures visibility.

## Example

A team tracks 100 keywords with three competitors. Estimated clicks over the set add up to 10,000. Site A earns 2,500 of them, so its SEO share of voice is 25 percent. If A reaches 3,000 clicks after a content project while the total stays equal, the share rises to 30 percent.

## FAQ

**What is a good share of voice?**
None of the guides checked gives a general benchmark. The useful comparison is your own value over time against the same competitor set.

**What does 100% share of voice mean?**
All the measured visibility belongs to one brand within the selected set.

## Related terms

- [AI share of voice](https://seo-geo-glossary.com/en/glossary/ai-share-of-voice/index.md)
- [AI visibility tracking](https://seo-geo-glossary.com/en/glossary/ai-visibility-tracking/index.md)
- [Rank tracking](https://seo-geo-glossary.com/en/glossary/rank-tracking/index.md)
- [Ranking](https://seo-geo-glossary.com/en/glossary/ranking/index.md)
- [SERP (search engine results page)](https://seo-geo-glossary.com/en/glossary/serp/index.md)

## Sources

- [Share of voice – Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Share_of_voice)
- [Share of voice – Sprout Social](https://sproutsocial.com/insights/share-of-voice/)
- [The Beginner's Guide to Share of Voice – HubSpot](https://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/share-of-voice)

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Last updated: October 7, 2026
URL: https://seo-geo-glossary.com/en/glossary/share-of-voice/