Before search engines were mainstream, brands had to speak directly to customers to learn more about their position in the market. Tactics such as focus groups, market research reports and surveys were conducted regularly. Now, share of search (SoS) gives marketers a quantitative way to gain insight into their brand.
Share of search measures the percentage of search queries for an industry that is linked to your brand, products or services. For example, if there were 100 searches yesterday for “steel roofing” and your brand appeared 25 times on the search results, your SoS would be 25%.
So, what does this metric say about your brand’s performance in the market? We’re here to help answer that question.
SoS is a way to see what visibility and strength your brand has in the market. A high SoS usually means that your brand has awareness in the market, and your name shows up in search queries related to your industry. You can also expect a higher level of engagement with your audience, branded keywords outranking the competition and more traffic to your website.
However, if your brand has a low SoS, a look at the data can help identify some areas of opportunity. For example, if you’re a decking brand with a lower SoS, a closer look at the keywords you’re being outranked for can help you adjust your SEO strategy.
At its core, SoS offers insight into how your brand stacks up against the competition. What your brand’s SoS says about your position in the market also depends on your brand type:
No matter what your brand’s SoS is, it’s important to investigate the data further to figure out the type of keywords you have strong rankings for. One way to break this down is by looking at your branded versus non-branded keywords. Any keyword that includes your brand name, product or service is a branded keyword (e.g.: ABC ceramic tile), whereas un-branded keywords don’t (e.g.: ceramic kitchen tile). The type of keywords that are contributing to your SoS says a lot about your position in the market.
Maybe your brand ranks well for branded keywords but hasn’t been able to break through the competition for non-branded terms. This means customers who have heard about your brand, products or services are engaged, and you’re winning keywords linked to your brand.
The most opportunity to raise your SoS is with un-branded keywords. You’d want to look at the stage of the funnel each of your un-branded keywords are in and the pain points they address. From there, you could adjust your SEO and content strategy to increase your ranking for those keywords.
With the sheer amount of data available to brands, it’s important to zero in on metrics that have continued value for your brand. SoS is not only a great indicator of how your brand is performing in the market, but it also helps to gauge organic interest as well. Since you’re looking at search queries and keywords, SoS shows an almost real-time look at your target audience’s behavior.
In most cases, your share of search will be closely tied to market share. If your SoS is steadily increasing, it’s a good sign that your brand is growing. It also lets you look at the competing brands and provides a general overview of how each brand’s marketing tactics stack up side-by-side.
While SoS is reliable to track, it isn’t a metric that will solve all a brand’s problems. It’s a key player for larger digital marketing strategies.
If your brand needs help rounding out a meaningful digital strategy, the experts on Team True are here to help. We can provide more insight into what SoS can do for your brand and how it’s used in a digital marketing strategy. We’re happy to learn more about how our team can help your building products brand reach its marketing goals. Contact True today!
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