Boosting Your Mobile App Marketing Campaign with Apple Search Ads

App Search Ads is one such tool you shouldn’t miss out on. It sits between App Store Optimization and online advertising, and you can see how it works and the immense value it brings to your mobile app marketing campaign by reading further.

How Do Apple Search Ads Work?

The App Store has space allotted for ads, and advertisers are allowed to bid on them to gain traffic. Now, what makes Search Ads special is that they don’t function like conventional ads. They’re not like pop-ups or standard text ads you see as you scroll. Rather, they put your app in the top spot of a search result of a given keyword.

Such an advantage practically guarantees that you will be acquiring the most traffic for that keyword, for as long as the advertisement is active. It shouldn’t be difficult to discern how these types of ads will be able to boost your app’s visibility and growth in the long run, given such a perk. Take note that the platform operates on a CPT (cost-per-tap) model, so your funds will only be deducted once a user taps on your app’s ad.

What Are the Factors You Need to Pay Attention to When Setting Up Search Ads?

If you’re already familiar with any kind of online advertisement, it won’t take long for you to familiarize yourself with Apple Search Ads. You can set demographic parameters like location, age, and gender or simply target new users or those who have downloaded other apps you have developed before.

We mentioned keywords before. You definitely have to be mindful of the ones you will be bidding on, especially if you have a limited budget. Misspellings actually count and plural and singular variations are often considered as independent of each other. You can either use broad-match or exact-match keywords, in short, and you have to keep them as relevant to your app as much as possible.

Google UAC VS. Apple Search Ads

These two mobile advertising platforms are undeniably connected in the same way that the Play Store and the App Store will always be in mobile app development as a whole. That said, do Android developers have an edge over pure iOS developers when it comes to the app advertising options at their ready disposal post-development (and vice versa)? Let’s find out by comparing the two.

• Only UAC is compatible with both Android and iOS apps.
• Apple search ads campaigns can be done on keyword-level bidding, although, UAC has machine learning capability.
• Search ads can’t use video and HTML5 ads.
• Search ads are the only ones that allow you to target new downloads in your campaigns. You can choose to target people who have not downloaded your app yet, after all, when setting the ‘Customer Type’.
• Device reporting can be done in both.

As you can see, even though Google UAC has more options and media (Youtube, Gmail, etc.) associated with it, they are not enough to completely overshadow Apple Search Ads, which has many convenient advantages for the advertiser. Keyword-level bidding alone pretty much guarantees highly targeted traffic for any app marketer.

More Tips to Optimally Use Apple Search Ads

As long as you know how to use Search Ads to the fullest, you should be able to reach your target every time you launch your campaign. Oftentimes, all it takes is keeping in mind the best practices that have worked for the majority of advertisers. For one, we’re going to outright say that you should conduct Search Match campaigns more often than Broad Match because it has proven to be the best performing option.

Essentially, if you want to truly optimize your campaign, you have to be consistently aware of its performance and responsive to hurdles that you encounter along the way.

• Anticipate the Keywords That Your Target Will Be Using

Since ASA is keyword-based, you can use that to your advantage by coming up with keywords that you think your audience will have a high chance of using when trying to find an app to use. Most of the time, this needs a deeper dive into keyword research and finding the specific keywords that will lead to better conversion rates. Taking the time to do this will only minimize your competition as well.

• Always Be Mindful of the Search Query Length of Your Audience

App Store searches are generally shorter compared to queries done on search engines. In fact, most campaigns have proven that exceeding more than 3 words in your target key phrases often yields fewer impressions even if Search Match is chosen.

However, that does not necessarily mean that longer keywords will immediately underperform. Exact Match groups with long keywords actually prove to get the best tap-through and conversion rates on plenty of occasions. This asserts the need to know which keywords will provide the sweet spot for both relevance and the specific keywords that the searcher uses.

• Always Pay Attention to Your Data over Time

Much like most mobile app ads campaign management, Apple Search Ads should be data-driven. Accept that starting out will still be a trial-and-error phase for you, which might lead to automatic losses. But as long as you keep your data and other vital metrics accounted for, you’ll soon be able to make the most out of your campaigns.

Conclusion

Apple Search Ads are evidently more than just about acquiring new users for your mobile app. Yes, that’s just one of the benefits your app can get, but in the end, it also points toward keeping your app ahead of the competition. It’s also a very useful tool for you to attain a loyal customer base, assuming you have all the confidence in the world that your app will outperform every other competitor in your chosen niche.