Briefing

Apple Search Ads (ASA) help apps become visible in the iOS app store, to the right users at the right time. It is the only form of advertising in the Apple App Store, giving apps extra exposure through paid advertising.

If not already using them, it’s an opportunity to enter an ad space that competitors may currently be absent from – or, if yet to explore, it’s a space where competitors are already bidding on your search terms, without resistance from you!

How should you use Apple Search Ads?

ASA is relatively new to advertising, so it’s recommended to proceed with a manual bidding strategy.

Keywords should be exact match and their search volume can be measured via the ‘keyword recommendation tab’. 

Alternatively, ASA can show ads to users searching for similar apps, with search match. 

There are a variety of audience options. As well as demographic, location, device options, ASA also offers customer type selection. This allows detailed user targeting of the following customer types; all users, new users, users of my other apps and returning apps. This is an excellent opportunity to tailor bids.

Creating Apple Search Ads

Next up is your ad. 

A default ad is created by ASA, but it is recommended to create a custom product page (CPP).

CPPs allows extra versions of a product page to be created, which can be tailored to different campaigns, ad groups and keywords. We have seen an uptake in performance when using CPPs.

There are four different ad placements; today tab, search tab ads, search result ads and product pages (while browsing).

The most used ad placement is Search Result Ads, which match your ad with a user’s search term, based on a keyword list.

Getting started with Apple Search Ads

If you currently have an iOS app, and are not utilising ASA, you could be missing out!

Conduct your own research into ASA to find out whether it can be included in your advertising strategy and speak to us if you have any questions.