SOV (Share of Voice)— definition

In one sentence

SOV (Share of Voice) is the share (percentage) of AI citations that your company receives for a given theme. It is one of the most important metrics in GEO.

What does it look like in practice?

For example, suppose that for the theme "B2B SaaS sales enablement tools" there were a total of 100 AI citations in a given month. If your company was cited 12 of those times, your SOV is 12%.

Your citation count ÷ Total citation count for the theme × 100 = SOV 12 ÷ 100 × 100 = 12%

Why it matters

• You can see your relative position vs. competitors: Rather than the absolute number (12 citations for your company), you see your presence within the whole industry
• You can grasp market-wide movement: Whether total citations are rising or falling shows how much your industry is using AI search
• Goal-setting becomes easier: It's easier to set quantitative targets like "grow SOV from 5% to 15%"

Originally a marketing metric, redefined for the AI era

SOV was originally a metric used in mass marketing such as TV advertising.

• Original meaning: "How much your ad stood out within all TV advertising"
• Redefined for GEO: "Among the sources cited when an AI answers, how often is your company referenced"

How to read SOV (example in GEO Meter)

In GEO Meter's Pro plan, you can observe SOV per Topic:

By splitting it this way per Topic, you can see at a glance where you are winning vs. losing.