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Share of voice (SoV) is the percentage of total brand mentions in a category that go to a specific brand. It normalizes mention rate for competitive context — a 15% mention rate could be category-leading in a crowded vertical or trailing in a smaller one. Share of voice answers the question: how much of the AI conversation about your category do you own?

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Why it matters

Mention rate alone cannot tell you whether your visibility is good or bad relative to competitors. Share of voice provides that competitive framing. In the Cited Index March 2026 edition, the median brand captures just 1.67% of its category’s AI conversation. Even the 90th percentile brand owns only 7.40% — AI visibility is distributed across many brands, not concentrated in a few leaders.

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How Cited uses it

Share of voice is computed within-category as each brand’s mentions divided by total category mentions. It is reported in dashboards alongside mention rate and tracked over time to show competitive positioning changes. See Share of voice for benchmarks and detailed analysis.