# Share of Search

## Quick answer

Share of search is the percentage of brand-name search interest in a category that belongs to one brand rather than its named competitors, typically estimated from relative search volume or search trends data for each brand's name. It measures demand for a brand's name specifically, not how often the brand is mentioned elsewhere.

## Why it matters

Share of search is often treated as a leading indicator, since people tend to search a brand's name before or around the time they seriously consider buying from it. A rising share of search can show up before a corresponding rise in actual sales or mentions elsewhere, which makes it a different signal from share of voice, which measures how often a brand is talked about across coverage rather than how often its name is specifically typed into a search box.

## How to measure it

Compare relative search volume for a brand's name against the same measure for a fixed set of named competitors over the same period, using the same search-volume data source and the same time window for every brand in the comparison so the result stays comparable rather than an artifact of mismatched data. Recomputing it on a rolling basis turns a single snapshot into a trend worth watching alongside a brand's other metrics.

## Example

A brand's share of voice across communities and news stays flat for a quarter, which looks unremarkable on its own. Its share of search rises steadily over the same months. The share of search move turns out to be an early signal of word-of-mouth growth that hadn't yet reached public community posts or press coverage, showing up first simply as more people searching the brand's name directly. By the time share of voice catches up, the team already had weeks of warning that something was shifting.

## FAQ

### Is share of search the same as share of voice?

No. Share of search measures brand-name search interest. Share of voice measures mention share across coverage. The two can move in different directions at different times for the same brand.

### Why is share of search called a leading indicator?

Because people often search a brand's name before or around a purchase decision, a shift in share of search can appear before a matching shift shows up in sales or mention volume elsewhere.

### What data is share of search usually built from?

Relative search volume or search trends data comparing a brand's name against a fixed set of named competitors over the same period, using one consistent data source for every brand.

### Does share of search work for a brand with a very generic name?

Less reliably. A generic brand name can pick up unrelated search volume, so share of search tends to work best for distinctive, clearly brand-specific names.

## Related terms

- /glossary/competitor-analysis
- /glossary/ai-visibility-score
- /glossary/prompt-volume

## Related

- LLM share of voice for SaaS: /blog/llm-share-of-voice-for-saas
- Share of voice: /glossary/share-of-voice