Share of Search Explained: Why It Matters (and How to Measure Yours)

Ever wondered how often people actually type your brand name into Google compared to your competitors? That’s what share of search tells you. It’s a simple but surprisingly powerful metric: the slice of all branded searches in your market that belong to you.

The math isn’t rocket science:

Share of Search = (Searches for your brand ÷ Total branded searches in your category) × 100

So, say your brand gets searched 25,000 times in a month, while the rest of your competitors together rack up 75,000 searches. Your share of search? A neat 25%.

Why does this matter? Because search is one of the most honest signals of interest. People may ignore your ads, scroll past your social posts, and forget your email campaign — but when they actually look you up in Google, their intent is made visible.

In this guide, I’ll unpack the ins and outs of share of search: how it stacks up against other metrics like share of voice and share of market, the smartest ways to measure it using tools (SEO PowerSuite and Google’s own data), and most importantly, what you can actually do to grow it.

Let’s get into it!

Why share of search matters

Most brand metrics look in the rearview mirror. Ad spend tells you how much money you threw into visibility, not whether anyone actually noticed. Sales reports? By the time they land on your desk, the market may already have shifted under your feet.

Share of search, on the other hand, gives you something fresher. It’s based on real behavior, it updates constantly, and it’s tough to fake. When more people are typing your brand name into Google instead of your competitor’s, that’s a sign you’re capturing attention right now.

Two big shifts make this metric especially relevant today:

For SEOs, the lesson is simple: share of search isn’t just about visibility anymore. It’s becoming the currency that decides which brands AI tools surface to users.

Before we dig into how to measure and grow it, let’s clear up two terms that often get mixed in — share of voice and share of market.

Share of search vs. share of voice vs. share of market

Because the names sound similar, these three metrics often get tangled together. Here’s the quick way to tell them apart:

Think of it as a funnel: voice drives awareness → search shows intent → market reflects sales.

With that cleared up, let’s look at the practical side — how to measure your brand’s share of search.

How to measure your share of search

You can calculate the share of search with a few reliable tools. The key is to compare your brand only against the competitors that matter most in your category.

Google Trends

Google Trends lets you track search interest over time and see how often your brand is searched compared to others.

Now set filters for:

The chart will update instantly, showing how branded searches for each company rise or fall over time. Hover over any point on the graph to see exact scores for that period.

What the values mean:

This data is relative, not absolute, but it’s an excellent way to visualize brand momentum and identify spikes from campaigns or events.

SEO PowerSuite’s Rank Tracker

For more precise data, you’ll want actual search volumes. Rank Tracker makes this easy:

Download Rank Tracker

Rank Tracker will show you the average monthly searches for each branded query, along with metrics like visibility, search trends, ranking position, etc. From here, you can calculate your exact share of search.

The benefit of using Rank Tracker is that it lets you view this data alongside other key metrics, manage keyword research, analyze competitors, and generate SEO reports.

Awario to track share of voice in conversations

Awario monitors all major social networks (X, Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, Reddit), plus blogs, news sites, and the wider web. It calculates your share of voice — the percentage of conversations mentioning your brand compared to competitors.

To get started with Awario, first sign up for an account and create a project. Within the project, you'll set up alerts to monitor specific mentions, like your brand name, product descriptions, and competitors. Awario then uses this information to collect mentions from various online sources and social media. You can refine your alerts with filters for location, language, and specific sources.

You can dig deeper by:

Comparing this data with your competitors often uncovers surprising insights. For example:

Since Awario collects data in real time, you can watch how your share of voice changes week by week, and see how campaigns, product launches, or PR events shift the conversation.

Used together, Google Trends, Rank Tracker, and Awario show the full picture: how often people search for you, how those searches stack up in volume, and how much you’re talked about online. 

Now, let’s move on to the part that matters most — growing your share of search and building a stronger place in the market.

How to improve your share of search

If you want more people typing your brand into Google, you need to meet them where they already are, create reasons to remember you, and make their search experience as smooth as possible. 

Here are some of the most effective ways to grow your share of search.

1. Find competitor mentions and claim your spot

Your competitors are probably already showing up in listicles, reviews, and roundups — the exact places people check before making a choice. If you’re missing from those conversations, you’re invisible at the moment it matters most.

The fix? Keep an eye on where those mentions are happening: blogs, forums, industry sites, or news outlets, and note which competitors keep coming up. Tools like Awario make this easier, but you can also do some manual searching. Once you’ve spotted the gaps, reach out to the writers or editors and pitch your brand as a worthy alternative.

The goal is simple: if your competitors are part of the conversation, you should be too.

2. Launch campaigns that spark curiosity

One of the quickest ways to drive branded searches is to give people a reason to look you up. Memorable campaigns, smart PR moves, or unexpected collaborations can do just that.

Take Duolingo’s viral “death of the owl” campaign in 2025. It was bold, funny, and just strange enough to get everyone talking. As a result, searches for “Duolingo” spiked to record highs.

The lesson here is simple: create moments that stick. If you can make people laugh, raise eyebrows, or start a conversation, you’ll see the impact in your branded search volume.

3. Strengthen your local SEO

For businesses tied to specific regions, local SEO is one of the most reliable ways to grow share of search. The path usually looks the same: someone searches “lawyer near me” or “best café in [city],” they find you in the map pack, and the next time they search, it’s by your brand name.

That second search is the gold. It means you’ve moved from being just one option among many to being the option they remember. Updating your Google Business Profile, keeping your details consistent across directories, and encouraging reviews are small steps that lead to big lifts in branded demand.

4. Create content that leads to branded searches

Not every branded search begins with brand awareness. Often, people start with generic queries like “best SEO software for small business” or “project management tool for freelancers.” If your content shows up with a helpful, trustworthy answer, you’ve planted the seed.

Here’s a simple way to find the right keywords for your non-branded content. In Rank Tracker, head to Keyword Research > Ranking Keywords, enter your competitor’s domain, and hit Search. You’ll see the keywords driving the most traffic to their site. From there, just filter out branded and irrelevant terms to focus on the real opportunities.

Download Rank Tracker

Once you know the queries your audience is asking, you can create content that introduces your brand in context. Over time, those exposures turn into direct searches — and eventually, loyal customers.

5. Optimize the branded search experience

When someone finally searches for you by name, that moment is too valuable to waste. What they see on the results page should give them instant confidence and a clear path forward. If someone searches for “[your brand] pricing,” they should land on a pricing page, not your homepage. If they type “[your brand] reviews,” the results should highlight testimonials, case studies, or social proof.

Use Search Console or Rank Tracker to see which of your pages actually rank for your branded terms.

Then check if those results match the intent behind the query. Aligning those two pieces — what people are searching and what they find — is often the quickest way to turn branded demand into real business.

6. Invest in event sponsorships

Events — whether industry conferences, local meetups, or even virtual summits — are natural brand amplifiers. Sponsoring or speaking at the right event doesn’t just put your logo on a banner; it puts your name in front of a targeted, motivated audience.

Think about it: when attendees hear your brand mentioned on stage or see you on the sponsor list, they’re far more likely to type your name into Google afterwards. Event buzz almost always leaves a digital footprint in search demand.

7. Collaborate with influencers

Influencers are some of the strongest drivers of branded search because their recommendations feel personal, not forced. When someone your audience already trusts casually mentions your brand in a post, video, or review, it sparks instant curiosity. People who might never have heard of you suddenly have a reason to type your name into Google.

And the impact can be huge. Take Beyoncé’s collaboration with Adidas: after the partnership was announced, online searches for Adidas jumped fivefold in just 30 days, according to Lyst.

That’s the kind of lift even a single high-profile mention can create. And even on a smaller scale, a mid-tier influencer in a trust-driven niche can move the needle and make branded search spike overnight.

Final thoughts

Share of search is a valuable signal of brand interest, but it’s not the full story. Results can be skewed by ambiguous brand names, support-related queries, or external noise like seasonality and viral events. Smaller brands may struggle with low volume, while bigger ones face dilution across products or regions. And since third-party tools aren’t perfect, the data should always be cross-checked.

Still, despite its quirks, share of search remains one of the few ways to glimpse consumer intent at scale. Used alongside direct traffic, social mentions, and sales data, it can reveal not just where your brand stands today, but where it’s heading.