Marketing & Acronyms

Share of Search

Quick Definition

Share of Search is the percentage of total brand-name search volume in a category captured by your brand — a leading indicator of market share popularised by Les Binet and James Hankins (2020).

In context

Share of search is correlated strongly with market share, often leading by 6–18 months — making it a valuable forecasting signal. Calculation: pull monthly search volume for your brand and your top competitors (Google Trends or Keywords Everywhere), sum, calculate your share. SOV in SEO measures organic visibility; share of search measures brand demand. Both matter; share of search is the brand-strategy metric SEO programs sometimes neglect.

Example

A Canadian D2C brand grew share of search from 8% to 19% over two years (against 5 named competitors) — accurately predicting the 14-point market-share gain reported in industry data 12 months later.

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