Share of voice (SoV)

How share of voice is calculated

The simplified formula:

Your SoV = (Σ your visibility per query × query volume) ÷ (Σ all competitors' visibility × query volume) × 100%

Where “visibility per query” is a position-weighted score (position 1 = 100, position 2 = 60, etc.) and “query volume” is the monthly search volume.

The result: a percentage representing how much of the addressable search demand your brand captures.

Why SoV is more useful than raw rankings

Raw ranking reports show “we’re #3 for keyword X” — context-free.

SoV shows “we capture 23% of the visible search demand for our priority cluster, vs Competitor A at 31% and Competitor B at 18%.” That’s a strategic metric.

SoV captures:

• Position weighted by likely traffic value (top positions count more)
• Volume-weighted aggregation (high-volume queries count more)
• Competitive landscape (you see who’s winning vs losing)

Tools that report SoV

• Sistrix Visibility Index — Europe’s standard; one of the cleanest implementations
• Semrush Position Tracking — built-in SoV across tracked keyword sets
• Ahrefs Rank Tracker — similar SoV view
• Custom calculations — using GSC + competitor rank tracking + SEMrush API

Each tool’s SoV methodology differs slightly. Pick one and stay consistent for reporting.

What “good” SoV looks like

Highly category-dependent. Examples:

• Tiny niche, dominant brand — 60-80% SoV is achievable
• Broad B2B SaaS category — 5-15% is good; nobody dominates beyond that
• Local services — 20-40% in your geography is strong
• Ecommerce category — 8-15% on long-tail product queries is healthy

Track YOUR SoV trend (up vs down) more than the absolute number. A growing SoV is winning regardless of starting position.

How SoV moves

The levers, ranked by impact:

1. Better rankings on high-volume head terms — biggest single move
2. Better rankings on cluster-relevant mid-tail terms — compounds
3. Earning featured snippets — captures position-0 visibility
4. Capturing AI Overview citations — surface-share matters
5. Losing rankings on previously-strong terms — biggest single LOSS

Quarterly SoV reviews surface which lever is moving and where to invest.

Resocial perspective

SoV per topic cluster is one of our top-3 reported metrics in monthly client reports. We track it for the client AND for 3-5 named competitors, so the report shows market context — not just absolute numbers. A client with 18% SoV who’s growing while the leader sits at 31% but flat is in a much better position than the raw numbers suggest.