Mobile applications are an essential part of our daily lives in the digital age. Businesses are investing in mobile applications to reach out to their customers as smartphones and mobile devices become more popular. With millions of apps available in app stores, getting your app noticed can be difficult, this is where Apple Search Ads enter the picture. In this blog, we’ll look at Apple Search Ads, how they work, and how you can use them to promote your mobile app.
About Apple Search Ads?
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Apple Search Ads is a powerful tool for promoting your App Store mobile application. It’s an ad platform that lets app developers target users based on their search queries. When a user searches for a specific keyword on the App Store, Apple Search Ads will show relevant ads at the top of the search results. Users will find it easier to discover and download new apps as a result of this. Nowadays, more than 70% of visitors to the Apple Store are using ads to find an app. The conversion rate for the app is around half of the visitors of app stores who download the app.
Behaviors of App Store Clients
However, Apple Search ads may be familiar to Google or Bing search advertisers. It’s important to note that although Apple search ads may feel familiar to clients, behavior is very distinct on this platform. Our experts at AoneApps believe that our strategy, which we follow, is very much near our best practices for standard drives. However, there is a vast difference between how users interact with the App Store Search and how users interact with a classic search engine.
Creative Sets
There are, however, differences between how users interact with the App Search Store and how users interact with a traditional search engine. You are unable to upload images or text as a promoter, as you intend to do on other channels. Apple has released Creative Sets as a way to handle creative customization for your ads. Advertisers can use Creative Sets, which are ad versions you can generate based on keyword grouping or audiences and include specific screenshots and app samples pulled from the product page, to compete with the first three default screenshots appearing in the App Store.
There are only ten different “Creative Sets” for App Store ad group promoters to choose from. The number of screenshots available for your app also influences the selection of Creative Sets; if you only have 2 or 3 available screenshots from which to choose, you won’t have as many to test with creative sets. Paid marketers must collaborate closely with whoever manages the organic listing within the App Store to identify the copy that will highlight the product’s main features in a concise manner. Fortunately, only one ad will appear in the results, giving you a better chance of seizing the opportunity even with non-branded searches.
Tracking & Limited Ad Tracking
With Apple Search Ads, the downloads can only be measured, so you need to work with a third-party Mobile Measurement Partner for the app’s events. In your iOS phone settings, users are allowed to opt for “Limit Ad Tracking” by Apple, which precisely limits the tracking of the ad. Users of LAT represent around 20% of the entire app store. For users who have Limited Ad Tracking, promoters cannot access quality events to MMP. If you have set your performance goals and decided on budgets, we recommend only targeting users with the Limited Ad Tracking set to understand the actual performance.
Tips to Optimize Your Apple Search Ads
1. Create Segments for your Campaign types
To get better control of your performance, you need to create segments for your campaigns that can help you to scale and adjust as per the needs of your marketing goals. Few strategic pointers to break out your campaigns:
- Branded products or Non-branded products.
- Type of Users.
- Same categories or themes.
- In an exact campaign match.
- Visibility on Search and Broad Match.
- Top-performing keywords.
2. For precise keyword match Bid high
You have to adjust your bid based on performance for your campaigns, like increasing your offers for the exact keywords match. Indication of your keywords is that the user is looking for your precise keywords, which means the search is intended to be matched more precisely. Higher bids for exact match campaigns are more effective, moving annoyingly, once you consider that Apple only displays one ad per search query.
3. Grabbing the Benefit of Negative Keywords
There are specific keywords that are not helping your app performance. Once you know this, please include them in your list of negative keywords for your search match campaigns.
4. Apply Discovery Campaigns to discover new keywords
Use Discovery campaigns to check what keywords would be relevant for you to add to your precise match campaigns. Once you include it in your campaigns, match negative to the search match campaign. During the broad or search match campaigns, you must ensure that the Search Match toggle is ON or colored green.
5. Trail of various creative sets
Apple does not allow customized ad content. However, they let the creation of “sets” of promotional purpose screenshots of your app’s current screenshots. Once you have a basic with your default settings, you can create inventive, creative sets to analyze what will be the best.
Ways to Start with Apple Search Ads
1. Understand and Set your goal
Primarily it is needed to understand what you are exactly trying to achieve.
Identify whether you want to approach new users, users who have already visited, or all users. These are all essential points to consider while adjusting your campaigns.
2. Get your App ready for ASA
Don’t neglect to secure your app, and any other third-party tracking should be appropriately configured before the launch of your paid campaigns.
- Check whether you are tracing in-app activity with a third-party partner.
- Analyze if there are any in-app conversion events above the installs.
- Have you designed a signup page for the new users to understand the app?
3. Determine which is the best suited for you: Basic or Advanced
For beginners, it is necessary to grasp the availability of two packages to app marketers: Basic and Advanced
Apple Search Ads Basic:
- The budget should be below 10,000$
- Make Payment only for your installs at the cost you selected.
- The rest will be taken care of by Apple’s automation and machine learning.
Apple Search Ads Advanced:
- Monthly budgets must be more than $10,000.
- You can focus on keywords, audiences, and regions.
- Manage your bids.
You can set your objectives, and Apple makes the decisions on your behalf, which is under the Basic Package. The process is very similar to Smart Campaigns, where minimum effort and expertise are required. The Advanced Package includes more experienced marketers with the resources to offer more management and flexibility similar to accurate search PPC campaigns. Another significant change to look out for is when people search for your brand terms, you will find more videos and ads of banners instead of your text ad. Default Apple will be your app listing page’s most attractive ad option.
Conclusion
Apple Search Ads is an effective tool for app developers and business owners to promote their apps and increase visibility in the App Store. To get the most out of Apple Search Ads, it is essential to have a solid ASO strategy in place, including optimizing keywords, creating compelling app descriptions, and encouraging positive ratings and reviews. With the right approach, Apple Search Ads can help boost app downloads and drive business growth.
