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Strategy7 min read
Share of voice in LLMs: a new metric for brand marketers
Share of voice is back — but the medium changed. Here is how to define, compute and act on share of voice across AI answer engines.
Share of voice (SOV) is the cleanest top-of-funnel metric for the LLM era. It compresses dozens of weaker signals into one comparable number.
Formal definition
On a fixed prompt panel P, over engines E, SOV_brand = sum(mentions of brand) / sum(mentions of brand + competitors).
Build the panel
Reuse the four-bucket prompt panel from your monitoring program. Lock it for at least a quarter to keep numbers comparable.
Weighting
- Weight by prompt commercial value (branded < category < comparison).
- Weight by engine usage if you have referral data.
- Cap any single engine at 50% of the index to avoid distortions.
How to use it
Pair SOV with sentiment. A 40% SOV with 60% negative sentiment is worse than a 25% SOV with 90% positive sentiment. Plot both on a quadrant.
Frequently asked questions
- Is SOV better than ranking?
- It is a complement, not a replacement. Both belong in the weekly review.
- How do I avoid panel bias?
- Include competitor-flavored prompts. If you only track flattering ones, your SOV is inflated.
- Can SOV predict revenue?
- Branded-search SOV correlates with revenue. Category SOV is a leading indicator.
BrandMetricsGEO
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