Share of Search
Track share of brand search during a sponsorship contract using Google Trends data.
What is Share of Search?
Share of Search (SoS) is a digital marketing metric that measures your brand's search volume relative to your competitors. It's calculated as the percentage of total search interest within your category that your brand captures.
Research has shown that Share of Search is a strong leading indicator of market share and brand consideration. Unlike traditional surveys, it reflects actual consumer behavior and can be tracked continuously at no cost.
For major sponsorships, such as venue naming rights, football teams, or nationwide events, share of search analysis can serve as an additional indicator of effectiveness. While we can't isolate the exact impact of the sponsorship on changes in search behaviour, we can demonstrate whether overall search volumes and share of search have increased during the sponsorship period. This provides a credible signal that the sponsorship is contributing to broader business growth.
Why Use Share of Search as a Proxy for Brand Consideration?
📊 Predictive Power
Studies show Share of Search correlates strongly with future market share (typically 6-12 months ahead)
💰 Cost-Effective
Free to track using Google Trends, unlike expensive brand tracking surveys
âš¡ Real-Time
Monitor changes weekly or monthly, allowing you to quickly assess sponsorship impact
🎯 Objective
Based on actual search behavior, not stated intentions or recall
The Formula
Share of Search = (Your Brand's Search Volume / Total Category Search Volume) × 100
Example: If your brand has 250 searches and the total category has 1,000 searches, your Share of Search is 25%.
Step-by-Step Guide to Using Google Trends
Gather the Data
- • Go to Google Trends
- • Enter your brand name and up to 4 key competitors (Google allows 5 terms total)
- • Pro Tip: Use the "Search Topic" or "Company" filter instead of "Search Term" if available. This groups variations (e.g., "iPhone" + "Apple Phone") for better accuracy
- • Select your target region and timeframe (e.g., "Past 12 months" or "Past 5 years")
Export / Download Data
- • Click the Download (CSV) button on the "Interest Over Time" chart
- • In your spreadsheet (Excel/Sheets), each column will represent a brand, with rows representing time (weekly or monthly)
Upload Your CSV Below
Our AI tool will automatically clean the data, calculate the Total Category Interest, and compute each brand's Share of Search percentage over time.
Upload Your Google Trends CSV
Upload your exported CSV file and we'll automatically calculate Share of Search for all brands