When utilizing Search Ads, developers and marketers should keep certain best practices in mind. This provides more actionable content and feedback for the developers which can be used to shape the app’s ASO. As such, IMVU’s Search Ads campaign not only helped identify valuable keywords to target, but also improved its ranking and performance for them.Īdditionally, using Search Match and Broad Match can help app developers identify relevant keywords they may not have considered before. This helps improve the app’s rankings for those keywords in organic searches. By tracking key performance indicators for the targeted keywords, we determined which terms provided the best results, as well as what new keywords were worth exploring, and could focus on those.Īs Apple indexes top ranking apps by their click-through rate (CTR) on a keyword-by-keyword basis, Search Ads helps build a positive CTR for the terms it targets. The results of that campaign helped us understand the app’s performance for certain keywords and demographics, which was essential for determining IMVU’s ASO strategy. However, this also works the other way around – an app’s success in Search Ads for certain keywords can help shape its ASO strategy.ĭuring the optimization process, IMVU test its keywords live using a Search Ads campaign. Utilizing the targeted keywords consistently and properly in an app’s metadata and description helps build relevancy for the terms, which in turn improves its Search Ads performance. While an app’s relevance to selected keywords impacts whether or not it can successfully bid on them, building relevancy to high-volume keywords is an important aspect of ASO. Search Ads are also a key part of App Store Optimization.
#SEARCH APPSTORE DOWNLOAD#
IMVU utilized Search Ads to increase its visibility and installs for important keywords like “social networking” and “virtual games.” Users searching for those terms would see IMVU at the top of the search results, which encouraged them to view the app and download it. Both the relevance and bidding amount factor into whether or not Apple puts an app into the auction for a specific keyword. While developers can bid on multiple keywords, including variants such as misspellings and plural/singular versions (Broad Match) or specific terms only (Exact Match), they must be relevant to the app. Additionally, as it’s priced at a cost per tap (CPT) model, you only pay when a user taps on the ad. Search Ads can be set to defined demographics, such as gender, age and location, as well as target groups like new customers or users who have downloaded other apps from the developer. Not only does this provide increased visibility, but also targeted advertisements directed at users who are already searching for similar apps. Rather than a pop-up ad or commercial, the advertisement works simply by placing the app at the top of the search results for the bid upon keywords within the App Store.
What are Search Ads?Īpple Search Ads is a tool that lets advertisers bid on ad space in the App Store. How did Search Ads help IMVU succeed? Let’s take a look at Search Ads, ASO and their impact on IMVU. Apple Search Ads is a vital component of an app’s marketing and ASO strategy, as well as a key factor of IMVU’s success in the App Store. While this may go without saying, it’s the reason why proper mobile app marketing and App Store Optimization (ASO) are key to an app’s success. No matter how good an app may be, it won’t succeed if users can’t find it and download it.
Lomit is a seasoned growth marketing executive with expertise in building and scaling up customer acquisition, retention and monetization channels at early and mid-stage consumer tech startups. Lomit Patel heads up the Growth team at IMVU which is responsible for driving user acquisition, retention and monetization across all platforms (iOS, Android, and Web).