How to Measure Share of Voice: Your Guide for 2026

One of the things that keeps marketers fretting late at night is trying to decide which metrics to measure. When you have the ability to count every click and scroll, the indecisive marketer could easily develop analysis paralysis. 

Measuring share of voice is a great place to start. It provides an overview of the business landscape you operate in. With the right tools in place, it can open doors to reveal deeper insights for further exploration. 

What is share of voice & why does it matter?

Share of voice refers to how much of the conversation your brand dominates compared to competitors within your industry or market segment.

Put another way: if all the online conversations about your industry were represented as a pie, what size slice would your brand own?

Historically, share of voice began as a metric primarily used in paid advertising to measure the percentage of ad space or air time a brand captured compared to the total market. However, as digital marketing evolved, so did the concept of share of voice.

Today, it encompasses a brand's visibility across numerous channels, including: 

• Organic search results 
• Paid advertising impressions 
• Social media mentions and engagement 
• PR and media coverage 
• Industry conversations 

The importance of measuring share of voice extends beyond simple visibility metrics. A strong share of voice can mean that you have increased brand awareness and recognition, and research has shown a correlation between a brand's share of voice and its share of market. 

The formula: How to calculate share of voice

Before diving into channel-specific measurement approaches, it's important to understand the fundamental formula for calculating share of voice.  

Share of voice % = (Your brand metrics ÷ total market metrics) × 100  

For example, if your brand gets 500 mentions on Instagram, and your industry as a whole (including competitors) gets 10,000 mentions, then your share of voice on Instagram would be 5%.  T

his straightforward formula is always the same regardless of the channel you're measuring, though the specific metrics will vary depending on what you're analyzing. Let's look at how to apply this formula across different marketing channels.

How to measure share of voice by channel

Share of voice can be applied to any channel where your brand or industry is mentioned. In this section, we'll look at how to calculate the share of voice on different types of channels. 

Measuring SEO share of voice

SEO share of voice represents your brand's visibility in organic search results compared to competitors. To calculate SEO share of voice, you'll need to track: 

• Organic keyword rankings: How many keywords your site ranks for compared to competitors 
• Search visibility: The percentage of all possible organic traffic your site captures 
• Organic impressions: How often your site appears in search results 
• Click-through rates: The percentage of impressions that result in clicks 

Tools like Ahrefs or SEMrush are used to track these metrics. Ahrefs will give you a dedicated "Visibility" metric that represents your share of voice for a set of keywords, and SEMrush provides "Market Share" and "Position Tracking" features to monitor ranking positions. 

Here's the step-by-step process for measuring your brand's share of voice: 

1. Identify your top competitors for organic search 
2. Compile a comprehensive list of relevant keywords for your industry 
3. Track rankings for these keywords across all competitors 
4. Calculate the weighted visibility based on search volume and position 
5. Apply the SOV formula: Your organic visibility ÷ total market visibility × 100 

Example: If your website receives 15,000 monthly organic searches for your target keywords, and the total market (including competitors) receives 100,000 searches, your organic search share of voice would be 15%. 

Measuring PPC share of voice

Pay-per-click (PPC) advertising is an effective way of marketing your brand while sticking to a defined budget. Calculating your PPC share of voice helps you understand whether your return on investment (ROI) was worth it.  

PPC share of voice (often called "impression share" in Google Ads) helps you understand how much of the available paid advertising space your brand has captured compared to competitors. 

To calculate PPC share of voice, track: 

• Impression share: The percentage of impressions your ads received compared to the total impressions they were eligible to receive. 
• Click share: The percentage of clicks your ads received compared to the estimated total clicks they could have received. 
• Absolute top impression share: How often your ads appear in the very top position. 

Google Ads is where this information lives and you can even see reasons for lost impression share, such as running out of budget or rank issues . This information is invaluable for improving your PPC share of voice through better keyword and campaign settings. 

Here's the step-by-step process for measuring PPC share of voice: 

1. In Google Ads, navigate to Campaigns, Ad Groups, or Keywords 
2. Click the Columns icon and select "Competitive metrics" 
3. Add impression share columns to your report 
4. Analyze your impression share data against total available impressions 

Example: If your impression share is 40%, it means your ads showed up in 40% of the auctions you were eligible for, giving you a 40% PPC share of voice in your market segment. 

Measuring PR and media share of voice

PR share of voice measures your brand's presence in news articles, press releases, industry publications, and other media outlets compared to competitors. 

To calculate PR share of voice, you can track: 

• Media mentions: How often your brand appears in news sources 
• Publication reach: The audience size of outlets featuring your brand 
• Article prominence: Whether your brand is the focus or merely mentioned 
• Message penetration: How well your key messages are being picked up 

As for tools, you can use CisionOne for easy tracking – it offers extensive monitoring and analytics for public relations professionals.

Here's the step-by-step process for measuring PR and media share of voice: 

1. Define the media outlets and publication types most relevant to your industry 
2. Set up monitoring for your brand and key competitors 
3. Collect mention data over a set period (typically monthly or quarterly) 
4. Apply weighting factors based on publication importance if necessary 
5. Calculate your total weighted mentions 
6. Divide by the total industry mentions and multiply by 100 

Example: If your PR team secured 35 media placements in a quarter, and the total industry (including competitors) received 140 placements, your PR share of voice would be 25%. 

How to use share of voice data in strategic decision making

Once you've established a system for measuring share of voice across marketing channels, the next challenge is turning that data into actionable insights. Here are a few starting points:  

1. Identifying opportunities for growth: Share of voice data can reveal specific areas where your brand has room to expand. For example, you might identify what's known as 'channel gaps' (marketing channels where your SOV lags significantly behind competitors) or 'topic opportunities' (conversations where your voice is missing). 
2. Measuring marketing campaign effectiveness: Share of voice metrics provide a helpful framework for evaluating campaign performance. For example, if you track your SOV before campaign or product launch, this will give you a baseline to compare against during the campaign and after. 
3. Monitoring a crisis: Tracking your SOV can even be interesting during a crisis, as it can help you monitor reputation challenges against competitors who may also be involved. Sentiment analysis is particularly helpful here.  

How to improve share of voice

Improving PPC share of voice

To capture more paid advertising visibility, you'll need to look at your budget and see if you can invest a little more in high-performing campaigns. 

You could also make bid adjustments for valuable keywords or refine your audience targeting by focusing on segments with a better potential for ROI. 

Targeting relevant keywords that your competitors are using with success is another option. 

To help with all this, Google Ads provides impression share columns that show exactly how much additional share is available and why you're missing out (budget or rank reasons). This data offers a roadmap for improving your PPC share of voice through better keyword and campaign settings. 

Improving social media share of voice

To see more mentions of your brand in social media conversations, you should primarily focus on creating content that resonates with the interests of your target audience. 

After that, you could try a few engagement tactics to increase interaction and get people talking about your brand. Influencer partnerships are great for spreading that conversation to other parts of social media, as is a bit of active community building (for example, taking part in relevant conversations). 

Social listening tools can also be good for identifying trending topics to create timely content around.  

Consistency is key when managing social media accounts. This is because brands with the highest social media SOV typically tend to be visible and focused on constant engagement rather than popping up on social media sporadically. 

Improving PR share of voice

To enhance your brand's media coverage, you could try developing stronger relationships with key journalists or position executives from your company as industry experts to provide thought leadership. 

Publishing original research with interesting data revelations can also generate stories and coverage in the media. A bit of press release optimization might also help with crafting more compelling announcements. 

Having some high-quality and attention-grabbing visuals to hand can also make coverage more likely. 

Your PR team should also regularly analyze media channels where competitors receive coverage but your brand doesn't. This analysis can reveal new outlets to target and topics to address in future PR efforts. 

The best share of voice tools and software

The right tools can help you get an accurate, efficient share of voice measurement. 

For brands who want to check on their share of voice across many channels at once, Brandwatch can provide advanced analytics on social and traditional media. As a bonus, you'll also get AI-powered insights and custom dashboards.

For brands focusing on specific marketing channels, you might want to consider a channel-specific tool. For example, Ahrefs or SEMrush have features that will help to track your SEO share of voice, while Google Ads will tell you more about your impression share from advertising.

The tools you choose will likely depend on your channel coverage needs, budget constraints, and the other tools you're already using, since integration is key.

Most vendors offer product demonstrations, allowing you to evaluate which platform best meets your specific share of voice measurement needs. If you're just getting started, our guide on choosing the right social media monitoring tool can help you navigate the options.

Making share of voice central to marketing success

So, that’s our guide to calculating share of voice: a great starting point to map the landscape your brand operates in. 

Whether you're just beginning to track share of voice or looking to enhance your existing measurement approach, the strategies and tools outlined in this guide should give you a roadmap for success. Start with the channels most relevant to your business, establish consistent measurement processes, and gradually expand to a comprehensive voice analysis framework. 

Remember that share of voice is not simply a vanity metric – it's a fundamental indicator of your brand's market presence and a proven predictor of business growth. By making share of voice central to your marketing strategy, you position your own brand for sustainable success. 

Ready to improve your brand's share of voice? Our suite of tools don’t just make this possible, they make the impact powerful. Chat with our team or explore the full range of platform features today.