• Search Engine Land
  • Sections
    • SEO
    • SEM
    • Local
    • Retail
    • Google
    • Bing
    • Social
    • Resources
    • More
    • Home
  • Follow Us
    • Follow
  • Search Engine Land
  • SEO
  • SEM
  • Local
  • Retail
  • Google
  • Bing
  • Social
  • Resources
  • Live
  • More
  • Events
    • Follow
  • SUBSCRIBE

Search Engine Land

Search Engine Land
  • SEO
  • SEM
  • Local
  • Retail
  • Google
  • Bing
  • Social
  • Resources
  • More
  • Newsletters
  • Home
Mobile

For Google, Apps Are First-Class Citizens, So Take Advantage!

Contributor Ian Sefferman discusses how you can help users to discover and re-engage with your app via Google search.

Ian Sefferman on May 7, 2015 at 10:04 am
  • More
mobile-apps-collage-ss-1920

In March 2015, I presented at SMX West on a panel about app store optimization and deep linking, alongside Justin Briggs and Mariya Moeva from Google. We covered some of the great work each of the major search engines, startups, and app marketers are doing to make the content within apps more accessible to the world — a worthy goal, to which any app marketer can attest.

What struck me the most were Mariya’s words, which made it clear that Google believes apps are first-class citizens. No longer is it “web pages first, apps second.” No longer will web pages be considered the primary way to access content available on the web.

To me, this is a recognition by Google that the experience of native apps, in many cases, exceeds the experience of a web page on a mobile device. Thus, the question is no longer, “Mobile web or app?” but rather, “How do I do both mobile web and app optimization appropriately and effectively?”

Thus far, Google App Indexing has been the best answer to this question. For those unaware, Google App Indexing essentially allows app content to be indexed just like website content, thus allowing app content to appear in mobile search results. Deep linking to your app is what makes this possible.

It used to be that App Indexing would only surface app content for users who already had your app installed. Recently, however, Google took a huge stride forward by making it available for apps that a user doesn’t already have installed. This will, perhaps almost overnight, make Google web search an effective means to discover apps.

Google App Indexing

Here’s Google’s illustration of how app indexing can help a searcher find an app.

 

But let’s take a step back first. At the end of the day, just like on the web, there are really four quadrants of ways to get users using your app. On one side is how much the user’s engagement would cost, from “organic” to “paid.” On the other side is how “new” this user is to an app, from “discovery” to “re-engagement.” So, roughly speaking, there are four ways to attract users to use an app: organic discovery; organic re-engagement; paid discovery; and paid re-engagement.

There are plenty of ways to do paid discovery (e.g. Twitter App Install ads, AdWords for apps, etc.) and there are plenty of ways to do paid re-engagement, too (e.g. Twitter, Flurry, etc).

But for the holy grail — organic — there are far fewer ways to do attract users. For organic discovery, it’s thus far been all about app store optimization (ASO). For organic re-engagement, the only real option was Google App Indexing for Android.

Now, though, we can add the latest additions to Google App Indexing for organic discovery. And, in particular, we can add deep links to the equation along with the billions of Android-based mobile searches Google handles. Google has said that they “are starting to use App Indexing as a ranking signal for all users on Android, regardless of whether they have your app installed or not.”

In other words, implementing App Indexing could give you a boost in visibility for mobile searches on Android. Net-net, why wouldn’t you do it? More searches, more visibility, more relevant results… it’s all things dreams are made of!

Implementing Google App Indexing is actually somewhat trivial. The key is to recognize how App Indexing maps a web page to a piece of content within an app. This happens on both the web page as well as from the app itself.

From The Web

On  your web pages, you need to add a simple rel=”alternate” tag like so:


<link rel=”alternative” href=”android-app://your_app_package_name/your_app_schema/example/deep/link” />

And that’s it. The href refers directly to the deep link in your app. Now Google can crawl your website, understand the content on each page, and understand that this content is mapped to a particular piece of content within your app as well. Think of it as a proxy-crawl for your app.

From The App

On your app, it’s all about making sure that the deep link of “schema://deep/link” works so that users can go to the right piece of content upon installation and open of the app.

In Android, this is done by providing what are called “intents” to the AndroidManifest.xml file, a configuration file for every Android app. You’ll want to make sure these match what you’ve done on the web exactly, so make sure your Android development team and your web team work together closely!

That’s it! Now Google can start promoting your app as a first-class citizen to its Android users.

Learn More

If you’re interested in learning more about Google App Indexing, deep linking, and app marketing in general, check out our session at SMX Advanced in Seattle this June.


Opinions expressed in this article are those of the guest author and not necessarily Search Engine Land. Staff authors are listed here.



About The Author

Ian Sefferman
Ian Sefferman is CEO and co-founder at MobileDevHQ, the leading App Store Optimization and app marketing startup, based in Seattle. Ian has a passion for helping app marketers understand and improve their performance in the app store.

Related Topics

All Things SEO ColumnChannel: MobileGoogleGoogle: AndroidGoogle: App IndexingGoogle: MobileGoogle: Search ConsoleGoogle: SEOMobile Marketing: App Indexing & SearchSEO - Search Engine OptimizationSEO: Mobile Search

We're listening.

Have something to say about this article? Share it with us on Facebook, Twitter or our LinkedIn Group.

Get the daily newsletter search marketers rely on.
See terms.

ATTEND OUR EVENTS

Lorem ipsum doler this is promo text about SMX events.

February 23, 2021: SMX Report

April 13, 2021: SMX Create

May 18-19, 2021: SMX London

June 8-9, 2021: SMX Paris

June 15-16, 2021: SMX Advanced

August 17, 2021: SMX Convert

November 9-10, 2021: SMX Next

October 2021: SMX Advanced Europe

December 17, 2021: SMX Code

Available On-Demand: SMX

×


Learn More About Our SMX Events

Discover actionable tactics that can help you overcome crucial marketing challenges. Our next conference will be held:

MarTech 2021: March 16-17

MarTech 2021: Sept. 14-15

MarTech 2020: Watch On-Demand

×

Attend MarTech - Click Here


Learn More About Our MarTech Events

White Papers

  • The State of Local Marketing Report 2020-2021
  • Quality CRM Data: The Key to Delivering Great Customer Experiences
  • How the Microsoft Search Network Can Maximize Your Search Campaigns
  • The Marketer’s Playbook for Customer Acquisition
  • How To Optimize SEO With UGC
See More Whitepapers

Webinars

  • How to Avoid the Digital Transformation Trap
  • How to Build a Marketing System of Record
  • Meet BIMI: The brand-boosting email security marketers must have for 2021
See More Webinars

Research Reports

  • Local Marketing Solutions for Multi-Location Businesses
  • Enterprise Digital Asset Management Platforms
  • Identity Resolution Platforms
  • Customer Data Platforms
  • B2B Marketing Automation Platforms
  • Call Analytics Platforms
See More Research

h
Receive daily search news and analysis.
Search Engine Land
Download the Search Engine Land App on iTunes Download the Search Engine Land App on Google Play

Channels

  • SEO
  • SEM
  • Local
  • Retail
  • Google
  • Bing
  • Social

Our Events

  • SMX
  • MarTech

Resources

  • White Papers
  • Research
  • Webinars
  • Search Marketing Expo
  • MarTech Conference

About

  • About Us
  • Contact
  • Privacy
  • Marketing Opportunities
  • Staff
  • Connect With Us

Follow Us

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • LinkedIn
  • Newsletters
  • Instagram
  • RSS
  • Youtube
  • iOS App
  • Google Play

© 2021 Third Door Media, Inc. All rights reserved.

Your privacy means the world to us. We share your personal information only when you give us explicit permission to do so, and confirm we have your permission each time. Learn more by viewing our privacy policy.Ok