For a single point in time:
To track it over time, repeat the calculation for each time point (e.g., month or week).
Say you're comparing three sneaker brands over the last 12 months (example data below):
Month | Nike | Adidas | New Balance |
Jan | 1.2M | 600K | 200K |
In January: Nike’s Share of Search = 60%, because 1.2M / (1.2M + 600K + 200K) = 60%.
Do this for each month, and you get a Share of Search over time.
The easiest way to track Share of Search over time is with Glimpse. Glimpse adds actual search volume numbers to Google Trends and lets you export time series data. You can input any brand list, normalize for seasonality, and track long-term shifts. It also highlights fast-growing competitors you might be missing entirely.
You can technically calculate Share of Search using Google Trends - but it’s more manual. Since Google Trends shows relative interest (0–100), you’ll need to:
Add all brands to a comparison
Choose one as the benchmark (it gets scaled to 100)
Download the data
Normalize the values
Convert to share percentages
Or, use Glimpse and save a few hours.
Watch out for ambiguous names: Searches for “Target”, for example, include both searches about the retailer and about shooting / aiming. Use exclusions if needed.
Choose keywords carefully: Use the actual brand name (e.g. "Apple"); don’t mix in product lines (e.g. “iPhone”) unless that's what you want to measure.
Compare within the same category: Comparing “Nike” to “Apple” won’t tell you much. Pick competitors that consumers might realistically substitute.
Normalize for seasonality: Some categories spike during holidays, others in summer. Look at YoY comparisons or apply seasonal smoothing.
Use time series (multiple datapoints over time), not point-in-time snapshots (single datapoints): A one-off number doesn’t mean much. Trends over time are what matter most.
Branded search ≠ brand equity: Searches for a brand reflect awareness and intent, but not necessarily favorability.
Intent vs. penetration: A high Share of Search might signal future growth - or just lots of curiosity. Interpret in context.
Non-Google channels matter too: People also search on TikTok, Amazon, Reddit. Share of Google Search is just one (albeit big) piece of the puzzle.
Low-volume brands can be noisy: Sampling in Google Trends can skew results for smaller brands. Use multi-month averages or a tool like Glimpse to smooth it out.