Share of voice comes from marketing and advertising, where it describes a brand’s share of the total attention in a market. In GEO, you use it for AI answers: of all the answers to a fixed set of questions, how many include your business, and how does that compare with other providers in the same answers? The figure only means something within the set you chose.
How do you calculate it?
The simplest form:
share of voice = answers in which your business is named
/ all recorded answers in the setYou can also count all brand mentions together: your mentions divided by the total number of mentions of all providers in those answers. Pick one method and stick to it.
Why does it matter?
A single AI mention says little. Over a longer period, share of voice shows whether you come up more or less often than other providers for the same questions.
Common mistake
Comparing measurements that are not comparable. If you change the questions, the platform or the settings, you are measuring something else. A small set of questions also produces chance spikes easily. Record every prompt, the platform and the time of measurement.