Share of voice
Also called SOV, visibility share
The proportion of total available search visibility a domain holds across a defined keyword set, usually weighted by search volume and by expected click-through at each position. It is a portfolio metric, not a per-keyword one.
A table of two hundred rankings is hard to read as a trend. Share of voice collapses it into one number: of all the attention available across this keyword set, how much is yours.
The calculation weights two things. Volume, because a move on a 2,000-a-month term matters more than the same move on a 20-a-month term. And position, because the difference between three and four is worth far less than the difference between one and two — click-through falls away steeply.
What it is good for: noticing that a portfolio is drifting while no individual keyword looks alarming, and comparing your trajectory against a competitor’s across the same set.
What it is not good for: any decision about a single page. Share of voice is an average, and averages hide the case you were about to act on.
The keyword set has to be fixed for the number to mean anything. Add twenty easy terms and your share of voice rises without anything improving.
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