Share of search
Also: SoS, share of search, SOS, part de recherche, search share
The proportion of searches in your category that mention your brand, a leading indicator of market share.
What it is
Share of search is the percentage of total search volume in a defined category that is captured by branded queries for your company. If people run 100,000 category searches in a month and 12,000 of them include your brand name, your share of search is 12%.
The metric is usually built from search engine query data (via keyword tools or platform APIs). You define a category by grouping the generic queries that describe it (for example "running shoes", "trail shoes", "marathon trainers") and the branded queries for every competitor, then divide your brand volume by the total.
Why it matters
Share of search tends to move ahead of market share, which makes it a leading indicator rather than a lagging one. Rising consumer intent shows up in search behaviour before it shows up in revenue or reported share.
- It is available weekly or monthly, far faster than syndicated market share panels.
- It is relatively cheap to track and covers competitors you do not have sales data for.
- It captures demand and attention, not just conversion, so it helps separate a brand problem from a distribution or pricing problem.
How it is used in practice
- Forecasting: correlate historical share of search against market share to estimate future share.
- Campaign measurement: watch for lifts in branded search after advertising or PR, a proxy for mental availability.
- Competitive tracking: benchmark your trend line against rivals to detect share shifts early.
- Early warning: a sustained decline often precedes a revenue decline by one or more quarters.
Caveats: category definition drives the result, so keep the query set stable. Generic and branded queries must be classified consistently, and voice, app, and marketplace search sit outside most datasets.
Worked example
A category has 500,000 monthly searches. Branded volumes:
- Brand A: 150,000 (30%)
- Brand B: 120,000 (24%)
- Brand C: 80,000 (16%)
- Unbranded / others: 150,000 (30%)
Brand A holds a 30% share of search. If its current market share is 26%, the 4 point gap suggests demand is running ahead of sales, pointing to a distribution or availability constraint worth investigating.