What is Share of Voice on Amazon, and How Can You Track It for Your Brand?

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Succeeding on Amazon in 2024 isn’t easy. 

Just listing your products and hoping for the best won’t work anymore. 

You need to understand not only your own but also your competitors’ presence in the category to perform well in this evolving market.

Share of Voice (SOV) is a valuable metric to assess how prominently your brand and your competitors are visible in your category.

In this blog post, we will explain what Share of Voice is, how to check it, and, most importantly, how to leverage it to fine-tune your advertising strategy.

What is Share of Voice (SOV)?

Share of Voice (SOV) refers to the proportion of your brand’s product visibility in comparison to all the products displayed on the same Amazon search result page. It acts as an indicator to assess the extent of a brand’s presence for a specific keyword.

According to Amazon, 70% of Amazon sales happen on the first page of the SERP, so it’s essential to be prominently visible on Amazon’s first page of search results for the most important search terms in your category. If your products don’t appear on the first page, you’re invisible to the majority of shoppers.

This is where Share of Voice comes in, helping you make informed decisions and strategies to achieve your goals and gain a significant competitive advantage in your category.

How is Amazon Share of Voice calculated?

Amazon’s Share of Voice is calculated by dividing the total number of products that appear for a placement on the Amazon search result page by the total number of products that appear from a brand for which we are trying to calculate SOV.

For instance, if there are a total of 4 products displayed on top of the search results for specific keywords, having one product from your brand appear in those results would result in a Top of Search (ToS) SOV of 25%, while having two products would yield a ToS SOV of 50%.

How to track share of voice on Amazon?

Tracking share of voice manually for one to two keywords is possible, but it has limitations when you want to track it at scale and derive actionable insights.

This is where an automated SOV tracking tool like Adbrew comes into the picture.

Adbrew can automatically monitor your product’s ranking for different keywords across various placements at an hourly granularity.

What’s more? You’ll have a visually appealing trend graph to understand how your and your competitors’ brand share of voice is changing over time, allowing you to calibrate your advertising strategy accordingly.

For example, in the attached screenshot below, it shows the share of voice for the search term “protein bar” on Sponsored Brands Ad placement from Sep 15 to Sep 25.

Share of voice on Amazon

Daily vs Hourly Share of Voice Tracking

Here are some of the most common reason why you would prefer hourly SOV tracking over daily SOV tracking:

  1. Granularity: Hourly SOV provides a finer level of detail by breaking down data into smaller time intervals. This granularity allows for a more precise analysis of fluctuations in brand visibility. Daily SOV, on the other hand, may not capture short-term spikes or drops in performance that can occur within a day.

  2. Trend Identification: Hourly SOV helps in spotting trends and patterns that may not be evident in daily data. For example, you can pinpoint specific hours when your competitors start outranking you on an ad placement. This allows for timely adjustments to stay competitive.

  3. Budget Allocation: By knowing when your brand has the most visibility and when it starts losing visibility, you can strategically allocate the budget to optimize visibility throughout the day.

What is a good Share of Voice percentage?

What constitutes a ‘good Share of Voice percentage’ is a subjective matter, and there are several factors to consider. One such factor is the competitiveness of the category. In a highly competitive category with numerous brands vying for attention, having 2-3 ASINs ranked from your brand on the first page of Amazon SERP would be considered good.

Conversely, in a less competitive category where only a handful of brands are in competition, you would need at least 5-10 products ranked in the organic and sponsored search results to achieve a substantial enough Share of Voice among your competitors.

Ways to increase your share of Voice on Amazon

1. Increase ad budget:

As your campaign exhausts its budget, your sponsored share of voice starts to decline because your products are no longer displayed in the search results. This is why increasing the ad budget will ensure that your ads remain visible throughout the day, maximizing your potential share of voice.

2. Optimize Bids

Optimizing your bids in Amazon advertising involves strategically adjusting the amount you’re willing to pay for each click. By increasing bids for high-performing keywords, you can improve your ad placement, click-through rates, and ultimately your Share of Voice (SOV).

3. Leverage SOV Based Automation

Adbrew offers SOV automation capabilities that allow you to set up automation to automatically increase or decrease your bid when your ads are appearing or not appearing on a certain placement of Amazon SERPs. 

For example, if you are trying to achieve at least a 25% share of voice on top of search results, automation will automatically increase the bids for your selected keywords when you have less than a 25% share of voice in the top-of-search results.

Ready to get started with Adbrew?

Adbrew provides cutting-edge automation, expertly curated strategies, and data-driven insights for brands to thrive on Amazon.

What is Share of Shelf & How Is It Different from Share of Voice?

Share of Shelf (SOS)

Share of Shelf is the percentage of your brand’s visibility on Amazon’s first page through both organic and paid traffic. It considers how well your products rank in organic search results, alongside your sponsored ad placements. For example, if 2 out of 20 listings on the first page are from your brand, your SOS is 10%.

Share of Voice (SOV)

Share of Voice refers to the percentage of your brand’s market share on Amazon’s first page solely from paid traffic. It highlights how much of the first-page ad space your sponsored campaigns occupy when customers search for specific keywords.

Key Difference

  • SOS includes both organic rankings and sponsored listings, offering a comprehensive view of your overall visibility.
  • SOV focuses only on sponsored ads, emphasizing the effectiveness of your paid campaigns.

Why It Matters

  • A high SOS reflects strong organic performance and paid ad presence, indicating robust visibility.
  • A high SOV indicates dominance in paid advertising, but low SOS may reveal weak organic performance. Balancing both metrics ensures a sustainable presence on Amazon’s first page.

Conclusion

In summary, “Share of voice” can be a valuable metric to monitor when assessing your brand’s visibility in Amazon search results. When you track it on hourly level using a platform like Adbrew, it can uncover interesting insights about your category and competition. You can then utilize these insights in your advertising strategy to maximize your brand’s presence on Amazon.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can SOV and SOS be tracked without automation tools?

Yes, but manual tracking is time-consuming and less efficient for larger datasets. Automation tools like Adbrew simplify this process with detailed reports.

Is a high Share of Voice necessary for every keyword?

Not always. Focus on high-performing or high-conversion keywords where visibility directly impacts sales and brand awareness.

How does SOV impact long-term brand growth?

Consistently high SOV enhances brand recognition, drives sales, and builds trust, fostering sustainable long-term growth on Amazon.

Are there risks to increasing SOV aggressively?

Yes, overbidding or overspending without ROI analysis can lead to reduced profitability. Balance SOV efforts with performance metrics.

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