What is a good share of search? Benchmarks from nine Indian markets
Everyone who starts tracking share of search asks the same question within a week: is our number good? The honest answer is that it depends on three things, and all three can be measured.
There is no universal good share of search. In the nine Indian categories we track, the leading brand's share of branded search ranges from 37.0% (PhonePe, UPI apps) to 91.4% (Nykaa, beauty e-commerce). A good share of search is one above your share of the market and rising, measured against the brands your buyers actually compare you with.
Why there is no single good number
Share of search is a share of a set you define. The same brand can hold 30% against five competitors and 60% against two, without a single search changing. So a number on its own says very little. It starts to mean something when it is read against three things: how many brands share the set, what your share of the market is, and which way it is moving.
The Colleviate Share of Search Index makes the first of those concrete, because it measures nine Indian categories the same way. These are the benchmarks it gives, as averages of the three months to September 2026.
| Category | Brands | Leader, share | Lead over second | Even split | Concentration (HHI) | Changes of lead since Nov 2021 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Beauty e-commerce | 2 | Nykaa, 91.4% | 82.8 pts | 50% | 8,428 | 0 |
| Paints | 5 | Asian Paints, 72.1% | 61.1 pts | 20% | 5,434 | 0 |
| Electric two-wheelers | 4 | Ather, 62.2% | 47.5 pts | 25% | 4,357 | 13 |
| Quick commerce | 4 | Blinkit, 56.4% | 28.4 pts | 25% | 4,103 | 5 |
| Airlines | 4 | IndiGo, 55.6% | 17.8 pts | 25% | 4,542 | 2 |
| Food delivery | 2 | Swiggy, 50.9% | 1.8 pts | 50% | 5,002 | 9 |
| Mobile networks | 4 | Jio, 44.4% | 9.5 pts | 25% | 3,406 | 7 |
| Stockbroking | 4 | Groww, 40.1% | 9.9 pts | 25% | 3,043 | 7 |
| UPI apps | 4 | PhonePe, 37.0% | 1.4 pts | 25% | 3,133 | 5 |
The even split is what each brand would hold if search were shared equally across the set. Concentration is the Herfindahl-Hirschman index, the sum of the squared shares: 10,000 means one brand has all the search, and an even split across four brands gives 2,500.
What the benchmarks show
- A leader's share varies widely. The leading brand's share runs from 37.0% in UPI apps to 91.4% in beauty e-commerce. A leader under 40% is not necessarily weak; it depends on how many brands share the set and how close the next one is.
- So does concentration. Search is most concentrated in beauty e-commerce (HHI 8,428) and least in stockbroking (HHI 3,043). Two categories can have leaders with similar shares and very different races behind them.
- Close races change hands. In the 4 categories where the leader is less than ten points ahead (food delivery, UPI apps, stockbroking and mobile networks), the lead has changed hands 7.0 times on average since November 2021; in the other 5, 4.0 times. A narrow lead deserves a monthly look.
The three comparisons that make a share of search good
Against an even split. With four brands in the set, an even split is 25%. A brand above its even split is taking more than its share of the category's attention; one below it is taking less. That is the fairest first benchmark for a challenger, because it ignores the leader entirely.
Against your market share. This is the comparison that matters most. Les Binet's work for the IPA found that share of search tends to move before share of market, so a share of search above your market share suggests growth to come, and one below it is an early warning. The gap is the search equivalent of what planners call excess share of voice, and we explain how the two measures differ in share of search vs share of voice.
Against last year. Direction beats level. Compare a three-month average with the same three months a year earlier, so seasonal swings cancel out. A smaller share that is rising is better news than a larger one that is slipping, and a single month means little: one news story can move a share several points for a few weeks.
How to set your own benchmark
- Define the set as your buyers see it: the brands they actually consider, not the ones you think of as rivals.
- Build the monthly series in one Google Trends request, as set out in how to measure share of search.
- Work out the even split for the set, and note who is above it.
- Put your share of search next to your best estimate of market share. If the two disagree, find out why before reporting either.
- Report a three-month average against a year ago, with the competitive set alongside, every month.
For categories outside the index, or a set the index does not cover, the same read is the first page of every growth audit we run.
Sources
- Binet presents fast, cheap, predictive Share of Search metric, IPA, 2020
- Colleviate Share of Search Index, India, Colleviate, October 2026
Questions we get asked
What is a good share of search?
One above your market share and rising, measured against the brands your buyers actually compare you with. There is no universal number, because a share of search depends on how many brands share the set.
What share of search does a market leader usually have?
In the nine Indian categories in the Colleviate Share of Search Index, leaders hold between 37.0% and 91.4% of branded search. Where the leader is less than ten points ahead, the lead changes hands far more often.
Should share of search match market share?
Not exactly. Share of search tends to move before market share, so the gap between them is informative: a share of search above market share suggests growth to come, and one below it is an early warning.
Get your benchmark read
We build your share of search against the brands your buyers compare you with, set it against your market share, and report the direction every month. It is the first page of every growth audit we run.
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