Share of Voice (SOV)

Share of Voice (SOV) is a marketing metric that measures your brand’s visibility in comparison to competitors within a specific channel, market, or keyword set. In the context of Apple Ads and App Store Optimization (ASO), it refers to the percentage of times your app’s ad or listing is shown to users relative to the total opportunities available.

In simpler terms: if there are 100 ad impressions for a keyword, and your app appears 40 times, your share of voice for that keyword is 40%.

Why does Share of Voice matter?

SOV provides a competitive benchmark that helps app marketers understand how much visibility they control in the marketplace. Unlike organic rank or keyword popularity, which measure individual positions or demand, SOV captures relative dominance.

Key reasons it matters:

• Competitive insight: See whether you’re gaining or losing ground against competitors.

• Budget allocation: Helps identify where to spend more or less in Apple Ads campaigns.

• Performance measurement: Tracks the effectiveness of optimizations over time.

• Growth opportunities: Low SOV for high-value keywords signals untapped potential.

How is Share of Voice calculated?

SOV is usually expressed as a percentage:

SOV = (Your Impressions ÷ Total Impressions for the Market or Keyword) × 100

For example:

• If your app receives 5,000 impressions out of a total 25,000 impressions for a keyword, your share of voice is 20%.

• If a competitor dominates with 60%, you know your visibility is significantly lower for that keyword.

In mobile marketing, SOV can be calculated across:

• Keywords: Your share of impressions for individual search terms.

• Categories: How visible your app is compared to others in the same app store category.

• Markets: Your visibility across countries or storefronts.

Improving Share of Voice

Boosting your share of voice requires a mix of ASO optimization and paid campaign strategy.

1. Optimize metadata: Ensure your app title, subtitle, and description include relevant, high-popularity keywords.

2. Invest in Apple Ads: Increase bids and budgets on priority keywords to capture more impression share.

3. Run ad variations: Test multiple ad creatives to maximize tap-through rate (TTR).

4. Protect brand terms: Maintain dominance over your own branded keywords to prevent competitors from stealing traffic.

5. Expand keyword coverage: Add mid- and long-tail keywords where competition is lower but user intent is strong.

6. Leverage automation: Use automation rules to adjust bids dynamically and protect impression share.

Example in practice

A language learning app competes heavily for the keyword “Spanish lessons.” The total impressions for this keyword are 100,000 per month. If the app’s campaigns generate 30,000 impressions, its share of voice is 30%. By optimizing metadata for related terms like “learn Spanish free” and boosting Apple Ads bids, the app increases its SOV to 45%, surpassing a key competitor.

Key takeaway

Share of Voice goes beyond rankings — it reveals market presence. Monitoring SOV helps app marketers understand how visible their app really is compared to competitors. By balancing organic optimization with paid strategies, brands can secure a larger slice of the visibility pie and drive consistent growth.