Share of Voice: Definition, Benefits, How to Calculate It

What Is Share of Voice in SEO?

In general, share of voice is a metric used to measure the visibility of your brand or product compared to your competitors in the same market. It reflects your brand's popularity, awareness, and level of dominance in the industry.

In SEO, share of voice refers to how often your brand or website appears in organic search results compared to your competitors for specific keywords. Simply put, it helps determine how much of a presence your brand has on search engines like Google.

With this information, you can improve your website’s visibility and drive more clicks to outperform your competitors.

SoV Areas Measurement

Generally, you can measure your brand's SoV by calculating your brand's metrics divided by the total market metrics.

The formula remains consistent regardless of the marketing channel you use. The only variation lies in the objectives and metrics you choose to calculate. In this context, there are four main areas that brands should focus on when measuring their SoV:

• PPC Share of Voice: This relates to ad visibility and impression share. You can find this under the “Campaigns” section in Google Ads.
• SEO Share of Voice: This pertains to your brand’s visibility in organic search results and how it compares to competitors.
• Social Media Share of Voice: This involves relevant metrics that accurately indicate how often your brand is mentioned in consumer conversations on social media.
• Media Share of Voice: This refers to how frequently your brand is mentioned in blogs, news sites, and publications mentioning your competitors.

How to Measure SEO Share of Voice (SoV)?

SoV in SEO shows how much of the total organic search traffic flows to your site. To calculate it, simply divide your website’s visits by the total visits in the market.

For example, if the total market receives 100 million monthly visits from organic search and your site gets 1 million of those visits, your SoV is 1% of the total organic search traffic in that market. 

You can track and monitor your SoV alongside other metrics like organic traffic and keyword rankings.

Benefits of SoV

Not only does SoV provide insights into your brand's visibility, but it can also help you improve your overall digital marketing strategy. Here are some key benefits of measuring SoV in SEO:

1. Real-Time Market Comparison

SoV allows you to compare your SEO performance with your competitors to identify opportunities and gaps you can take advantage of to increase your business growth. 

If you notice a sudden drop in your SoV, you need to investigate the cause immediately. For example, it could be due to a competitor publishing more engaging or informative content.

Knowing where your brand stands compared to others helps you identify areas for improvement and fine-tune your SEO strategy based on your SoV analysis.

2. Increasing Brand Growth Potential 

Another benefit of SoV is the increased potential for brand growth. You will gain a clear picture of how much attention your brand is receiving.

This metric reveals your brand's position in SEO, how many people recognize it, how they discover it online, and how frequently they mention it to others. It also paves the way for brand growth by identifying new expansion opportunities.

3. Supporting Other Marketing Tactics

Using data from your SoV analysis to align your content with customer preferences can refine your marketing efforts more effectively.

For example, an SoV report might reveal search queries that boost your brand’s visibility, including content that gets widely shared on social media. With this data, you can make informed decisions to enhance your SEO return on investment (ROI).

4. Tracking SEO Effectiveness

Regularly monitoring your share of voice SEO allows you to track your website’s organic search performance over time. 

If your SoV is increasing, it means your SEO efforts are paying off, and you are driving more organic traffic for your target keywords. 

However, if your SoV drops, it is time to reevaluate your SEO strategy, as competitors may be gaining an edge. You might need to optimize for different keywords.

SoV provides a clear view of your SEO's effectiveness, helping you set realistic targets and identify areas for improvement. You can also include this metric in SEO reports to showcase your ROI to clients.

5. Outperforming Competitors 

Measuring SoV is an effective way to analyze your competitors. By understanding their SoV, you can pinpoint what is driving their success and how you can apply that knowledge to elevate your own rankings.

If competitors have a higher SoV, dig deeper to find out the reason. Start by reviewing the keywords they are targeting and the high-ranking pages they have.

Also, explore whether they are using different strategies. Is their content more engaging? Do they have more backlinks or better optimization for SERP features? 

Understanding your competitors’ strengths can help you adjust your SEO strategy and boost your performance in search results.

6. Measuring Campaign Results

SoV can be a powerful tool to measure the results of your marketing campaigns. By analyzing SoV, you can identify which elements resonate most with your target audience, such as the types of content that receive positive responses or the most effective marketing channels.

It also gives you insights into your competitors' successes, allowing you to obtain strategies you could potentially adapt to your own efforts. With these insights, you can create more effective campaigns in the future and refine your messaging to engage better and attract your audience.

7. Effective Brand Management

Lastly, SoV is incredibly useful for brand management and brand awareness. It allows you to assess how many individuals recognize your brand and how often it is mentioned across various platforms.

Additionally, you can understand the sentiments associated with those mentions. This information will help you proactively manage your brand's reputation.

How to Improve Your SEO Share of Voice

If you have measured your brand's SoV and identified areas for improvement, consider the following steps to boost your brand's visibility:

• Produce high-quality content that speaks to your audience and encourages them to share it.
• Showcase your expertise by contributing insights to your own blog or other relevant sites.
• Improve your website’s SEO and content by incorporating the right keywords.