Share of Search (SoS) is a strategic marketing metric that defines how often consumers search for a specific brand in Google compared to all brand searches within a given product category. It is calculated by dividing the search volume of a specific brand by the total search volume of all main brands in the sector. According to research by Les Binet (IPA), Share of Search is a leading indicator of future Share of Market, making it a critical metric for B2B and E-commerce budget planning.
Share of Search (SoS) is a hard metric demonstrating how big of a “slice of the attention pie” belongs to your company.
In the digital era, what people search for is the most accurate reflection of what they think about and intend to buy. Instead of relying on expensive survey research (which measures declared intent), Marketing Managers use search engine data to measure real Brand Equity.
Share of Search vs. Share of Market (Les Binet’s Golden Rule)
The breakthrough in understanding this metric was brought about by analyst Les Binet (Institute of Practitioners in Advertising). He proved a correlational relationship: Share of Search precedes Share of Market.
What does this mean for business?
- If your Share of Search is growing today, your actual sales market share (Share of Market) will grow in about 3 to 6 months (pipeline lag).
- If your SoS is dropping (even if current revenues are stable), it is an early warning signal that you will start losing clients to competitors in the upcoming quarters.
SoS and Traditional SEO (Why generic traffic isn’t enough)
Many Managers fall into the trap of optimizing solely for generic keywords (e.g., “best CRM system”). Traffic grows, but nobody remembers the brand.
Share of Search measures branded searches (e.g., “Salesforce CRM” vs. “HubSpot CRM”). A high SoS indicates that your Demand Generation efforts (digital PR, YouTube, podcasts) are working. Users are no longer searching for a solution to a problem—they are searching directly for your company to solve it. This is the highest-converting traffic, making it the most resilient to Google algorithm updates.
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