Google expands ways to reach new and returning app users and update in-app event tracking

As the app market continues to grow, standing out in the app store is getting harder. New features announced by Google today aim to help app developers reach new users, understand data and insights to improve performance, and keep people coming back to the apps they love.

App campaigns coming to desktop in June. Many developers and app marketers reach new audiences with app campaigns in Search, YouTube, Play, Discover. Starting in June, Google is expanding the reach of App campaigns on Android to users in the desktop versions of Google.com and the Google Display Network. 

No additional action is required to opt-in if you’re already running App campaigns on Android. “Desktop traffic and performance for your app ads will automatically show under ‘Computers’ in your campaign reports,” wrote David Mitby, Director, Product Management.

Event tracking creation in Analytics with no code updates. Once you’ve reached new users with expanded App campaigns, it’s critical to understand how to improve engagement and other in-app metrics with performance insights. Before now, any changes to event tracking required a code and app update. Google now offers “event creation and modification directly from the Analytics interface so you can configure the right in-app events based on your marketing objectives — without requiring any code updates,” said Mitby. This means you can change event tracking without the help of a developer

Deep link validator helps improve deep linking implementation. Deep linking can help app developers and marketers surface the most relevant pages to their users. “Deep linking brings users into specific places in your app to make it easier for them to find what they’re looking for, whether it’s buying a new product, booking a trip or jumping back into their favorite game,” wrote Mitby in the announcement. Deep-linked experiences improve ad performance, according to Google’s own data, by potentially doubling conversion rates. However, feedback indicated that deep linking often required multiple internal teams, shared KPIs, and update prioritization. In response, Google announced the deep link validator and impact calculator at Google I/O this week. “Marketers can use these tools in Google Ads to see which types of deep links they have, how to fix ones that aren’t working and estimate the ROI opportunity of implementing deep links.”

Along with easier implementation of deep linking initiatives, Google announced data-driven attribution (DDA) for deep linked campaigns to help surface which ad interactions and channels drive the most conversions — helping marketer improve their campaigns further.

Why we care. It can sometimes feel like the app market is saturated and driving improvements is only incremental. Plus, there are often competing interests between app developers and the advertisers working to promote those apps. These initiatives help drive more awareness of your apps, improve the performance of app campaigns, and keep existing users engaged within the app — while helping developers and marketers each focus on their own priorities.