When it comes to local SEO, rankings alone don't tell the full story. A business might show up for a keyword in some searches but disappear in others, leaving owners and marketers wondering how visible they really are in their local market.
That's where SoLV (Share of Local Voice) comes in.
SoLV is a powerful local SEO metric that reveals how often your business appears in Google's local 3-Pack, the top three Google Business Profile listings that dominate local search results. Unlike traditional keyword rankings, SoLV shows you true local visibility across different searches and locations, giving you a clearer picture of how well you're competing.
What Is SoLV in Local SEO?
In the world of local SEO, SoLV stands for Share of Local Voice. In a nutshell, the SoLV score tells you how many times a business listing appears in the local map pack.
More specifically, SoLV is how many times the listing appears in the top three Google Business Profile listing results (known as the Google 3-Pack) when you search for a certain term on Google within a specific geographic area.
Why Your SoLV Score Matters
The higher a business's SoLV score is, the more local visibility it has for a given keyword within a given search radius.
By analyzing your SoLV score for different keywords within different scan radiuses, you can gain a better understanding of where you're ranking well for certain keywords within specific target market areas, and where you have room for improvement.
Looking at the SoLV score of competitors can also help you identify competitors and opportunities to outrank them.
While there are other local ranking scores and factors that you should be looking at as well when doing local SEO, SoLV is one of the most easy to understand and is a great place to start when conducting any type of local SEO audit or review.
Search Engine Land puts it well, "Share of Local Voice is an invaluable metric that can help estimate the true possibilities for improvement for any local keyword."
SoLV vs. Other Local SEO Metrics
When you're measuring local SEO success, there are a lot of numbers to keep track of: rankings, impressions, reviews, clicks, and more. So where does SoLV fit in?
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Keyword Rankings show how your website or GBP ranks for specific terms, but not how often you're actually appearing in front of customers.
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Citation Accuracy tracks whether your business information is consistent across directories, but doesn't measure real visibility.
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Engagement Metrics like clicks, calls, and direction requests from Google Business Profile show user interest, but only after you're already being seen.
SoLV is unique because it measures true visibility:Â how often you're showing up in the top three local results (the Google 3-Pack) across a target area. In other words, SoLV fills the gap between ranking positions and customer actions, showing you how often your business is actually in the spotlight.
Who Should Track SoLV?
SoLV is valuable for almost anyone running or marketing a local business, but it's especially useful for:
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Local Business Owners who want a simple way to measure visibility without getting lost in technical SEO metrics.
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Multi-Location Businesses that need to compare performance across different branches and cities.
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Marketing Agencies that need a clear, client-friendly metric to justify SEO strategies and budgets.
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Enterprise Brands with high competition in local markets, where even small improvements in local visibility can translate into major revenue gains.
If you want to understand how visible you are in your market (and where your biggest opportunities lie) tracking SoLV should be a key part of your SEO toolkit.
How To Use SoLV Score To Optimize Local Search Rankings
The real power of using SoLV score to optimize a Google Business Profile and improve local search rankings lies in its ability to help you identify true opportunities for growth.
This is particularly useful for local SEO professionals, who often struggle to explain to their clients why one SEO strategy is better than another.
For example, let's say that you're working with a local plumber, and the client insists on trying to improve their local search ranking for the most obvious, most competitive keyword: "plumber."
While having a high SoLV score for such a broad, competitive keyword is great, the reality is that all the other plumbers in town are also trying to rank high in "plumber" searches.
This means it's likely going to be very difficult to significantly improve the client's SoLV score for this keyword, let alone start outranking big plumbing competitors who are already at the top of the 3-Pack for this search.
Of course, clients who have minimal understanding of SEO themselves may continue to insist on trying to show up at the top of search results for extremely competitive keywords, so it's up to the SEO professional to justify why a different strategy is probably going to work better. This is where showing the SoLV score comes in handy.
By running a Map Scan for the client and a few of their top competitors for the keyword "plumber" and comparing the SoLV scores and Scan Grid results, you can better demonstrate how competitive the keyword is and show the client that there really isn't that much of an opportunity for improving the client's ranking for "plumber."
Sure, you might be able to minimally improve the client's SoLV score for "plumber," but your efforts (and their budget) would probably be better spent elsewhere, where there are more easily attainable opportunities to outrank competitors.
You can find these opportunities by running Map Scans for less competitive, long-tail and geo-specific keywords (search terms like "plumber near me," "emergency plumber," and "plumbing repair," to give a few examples).
Once you've identified a few keywords where the business's SoLV score is low, it's useful to check Competitor Reports for the same keywords to identify the strongest opportunities for optimizations.
You can then show the client these results and explain to them how making small optimizations for these types of keywords can boost their search rankings for more specific search terms and actually translate into more traffic and calls than chasing after the top position for the most competitive keywords out there.
How To Improve Your SoLV Score
The best part about SoLV is that it doesn't just measure visibility. It also points you directly to opportunities for growth. If your score is low for a certain keyword or location, here are some of the most effective ways to improve it:
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Optimize Your Google Business Profile (GBP): Add high-quality images, fill out categories and services, keep your hours updated, and post regular updates.
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Earn More Reviews: Reviews are a direct ranking factor in local SEO. Encourage satisfied customers to leave positive, detailed reviews and respond to them quickly.
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Target Long-Tail & Geo-Specific Keywords: Instead of only chasing broad, competitive terms, optimize for phrases like "emergency plumber near me" or "car dealership in [City]."
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Build Local Citations & Backlinks: Get listed in relevant directories and earn mentions from local news sites, community blogs, and event pages.
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Monitor Competitors: Use SoLV comparisons to see where competitors are outranking you and adjust your strategy accordingly.
Improving your SoLV score isn't about chasing vanity metrics. It's about being more visible where it matters most: right when a local customer is ready to take action.
Understanding SoLV: Common Questions About the Local Search Score
What does SoLV mean in local SEO?
SoLV stands for Share of Local Voice. It measures how often your business appears in Google's local 3-Pack for specific keywords within a given geographic area, showing your true local visibility.
How is SoLV different from traditional keyword rankings?
Traditional keyword rankings tell you your position in search results, but SoLV shows how often you appear in the highly visible top three local listings (the ones most users actually click).
Why is SoLV important for local businesses?
A higher SoLV score means more visibility in local searches, which can lead to more calls, website visits, and foot traffic. It also helps identify where competitors are outperforming you.
What is a good SoLV score?
There's no universal "perfect" score. Generally, the closer your SoLV is to 100% for your target keywords, the stronger your local visibility. Scores should be evaluated relative to competitors and the competitiveness of each keyword.
How can I improve my SoLV score?
Key strategies include optimizing your Google Business Profile, earning more reviews, targeting geo-specific and long-tail keywords, building local citations and backlinks, and monitoring competitor performance.
Who should track SoLV?
Local business owners, multi-location businesses, marketing agencies, and enterprise brands in competitive local markets can all benefit from tracking SoLV to measure visibility and uncover growth opportunities.
Can SoLV help me choose which keywords to target?
Yes. By analyzing your SoLV scores for different keywords, you can focus on opportunities where your business has low visibility but high potential, rather than wasting resources on highly competitive keywords with little chance of improvement.
How often should I monitor my SoLV score?
It's best to track SoLV regularly, such as bi-weekly or monthly, to see how optimizations, reviews, and marketing efforts impact your local visibility over time.
Does SoLV measure AI visibility?
No. SoLV only tracks your visibility in Google's traditional local search results (the Google Business Profile 3-Pack). For AI-driven visibility tracking, Local Falcon offers a separate metric called SAIV (Share of AI Visibility), which measures how often your business appears in AI-generated local search summaries.
Wrapping Up
The Share of Local Voice score is a crucial metric in local SEO. It reveals how often a business appears in the top three Google Business Profile listings for specific keywords in a defined area. Understanding and leveraging the SoLV score is essential for optimizing local search rankings.
Your SoLV score matters because it's a true indicator of your local visibility, with higher scores meaning more visibility for specific keywords in your target area. By comparing your SoLV score to that of competitors, you can easily spot opportunities to outperform them.
The true power of the SoLV score lies in its ability to guide your SEO strategy. For local SEO professionals, it can help steer clients away from overly competitive keywords and toward more achievable ones, like long-tail or geo-specific terms.
By focusing on improving SoLV scores for these keywords, you can boost search rankings and ultimately drive more business and support enterprise growth. Learning how to harness the SoLV score is one of the major keys to success for any local SEO campaign!
