How share of voice is calculated
Share of voice is a ratio. The two versions that matter for local and AI visibility:
- Local share of voice. Count the grid points where your business appears in the top 3 of the Local Pack and divide by the number of points. On a 7x7 grid, the top 3 at 20 of 49 points is 41%.
- AI share of voice. Count how many times AI answers name your brand and divide by the mentions of your brand and your competitors across the same answers. If answers name you 30 times and your competitors 70 times, your share is 30%.
The two measure different things, proximity driven map results and written answers, so keep them separate and read each trend on its own.
Why share of voice beats average position
An average hides how rank is spread. Two businesses with the same average rank can look very different on a map: one first across 70% of its area and missing from the rest, the other fourth everywhere. The first leads in part of its market; the second appears everywhere and never first.
At each point on a grid you are either in the top 3 or you are not, and the top 3 is what a searcher there sees first. The share of points where you make that cut is closer to what searchers actually see than an average position.
Share of voice vs organic visibility scores
SEO suites often report “visibility” as a weighted score across a keyword set, using search volume and an estimate of clicks by position. That estimates your share of organic traffic across a whole keyword list, a different question.
Local share of voice is about places on a map, and AI share of voice is about brand mentions in answers. Track organic visibility separately, with your rank tracker’s keyword data.
What counts as good
There is no universal target. Share of voice depends on how crowded your area and category are. A 30% local share for a plumber in a big city with hundreds of competitors means something different from 30% for a dentist in a small town.
The benchmark that matters is your own history. Measure the same way each time, watch the trend, and treat a sudden drop as a signal to investigate: a competitor opening nearby, a change to your profile, or a change in how Google ranks results.
Share of voice in Rank.ai
A Rank.ai map scan shows how many grid points put you in the results, in the top 3 and in the top 10, as counts and percentages, and hovering a point shows the top results there.
For AI answers, Rank.ai works out share of voice every day for each question and engine, as your mentions against the mentions of the competitors you track, so you can see who is named in your place.