We are living in the golden age of digitization. Almost all businesses run on a hybrid model. Having a digital business is just as important. The reach of smartphones and the internet is expanding day by day. This means that the target audience is shifting its presence to the online medium. Hence, we see a change in digital marketing too. Today, every business requires an efficient mobile application to have a commanding online presence.
Moreover, apps are the best way to customize the user experience and connect with a wide audience base. Additionally, there is a rise in the SaaS industry, which is completely dependent on online mediums. However, app development is just a part of the process. Even if you develop an efficient app that is bug-free and has been passed through rigorous pipeline testing, it is not guaranteed that the app will be popular.
To popularize an app, strategic ad campaigns are required. While ESPs and social media are popular host platforms within the ad publisher community, app stores are an equally important part of the process. Apple ad service allows a publisher to display their published app on organic search bases.
Generating app traffic through cannibalization is an efficient way to convert the views into installations. However, if you want your ad to be displayed in organic search keywords, you will need to optimize your app homepage. In this article, we will talk about Apple Search Ads optimization.
Table of Contents
Campaign structure should be in accordance with Apple Search Adsguidelines
Most host platforms release guidelines after analyzing tons of marketing data. These guidelines aim to teach publishers and raise awareness regarding search crawlers. Therefore, as a digital marketer, you must keep yourself updated with the host platform guidelines.
For Apple Search Ads (ASA), Apple has released a structural guideline. These guidelines will optimize your campaign structure and ensure a better reach. The guidelines are segregated according to the use-case scenario. So, there are guidelines for all sorts of campaigns such as branded, generic, discovery, and probing.
Brand campaigns aim to protect brand keywords to prevent traffic cannibalization. Here, efficient use of keywords will ensure complete brand protection by eliminating the chances of search ads during organic searches. Similarly, competitor campaigns are the ones in which publishers try to use their competitor’s keywords by using the right bids. Now, generic campaigns are the ones in which non-genres are captured using app features or other overlapping properties.
Discovery campaigns are the ones where you start from scratch and want your app to be discovered by users. In this case, Apple suggests using broad search keywords. Lastly, when designing a store ad campaign, take note of the country where you are publishing, including the keyword trends.
The keyword pool is important
Keywords are the most important part of search ad optimization. Therefore, it is best to create a pool of competitor, generic, and brand keywords and make a segregated list of them. You can deploy the services of a keywords analytics platform to get a list of trending and high-ranking keywords.
Managing the keyword pool is a dynamic task, which means you will have to keep updating the list in accordance with the search trends. Use the keyword analytics tool to map the performance of every tool. Allocate a budget for broad search keywords to improve the visibility of the campaign. Some sophisticated analytics platforms allow you to pause certain keywords with a low tap rate. This will help in managing the volume of the home page.
Negative keywords can be useful
Negative keywords are the ones that do not trigger ad campaigns upon clicking. Most publishers ignore the relevance of negative keywords, which is not a good practice. Negative keywords can be of great utility in broad search campaigns.
While designing the Apple Search Ads campaignss, put the exact app keywords in the negative search box. If you ignore negative keywords, the exact keywords will be parsed through a search ad campaign, which will create a negative image.
Bid optimization is important
Just like Google, Apple Search Ads also conducts auctions for open ad spaces on websites, blogs, search results, etc. The bids are selected on the basis of keywords used. Therefore, campaign managers should keep an eye out for the high-performing keywords in their genre as well as the broad search category.
Consequently, high-performing keywords should be used frequently, and the use of low-performing keywords should be decreased. It is best to automate this process because auctions open and close frequently. You can use the campaign analytics platform to customize the frequency of keywords.
Budget allocation and daily cap are important
Digital marketing can be expensive. However, with an efficient strategy, you can easily get a good ROI on your expenses. Many campaign managers adopt a traditional approach when managing the daily cap in accordance with the budget. As a result, they set a low daily cap limit of keywords. Hence, many times relevant keywords do not parse through the setting.
Conclusion
Apple Search Ad optimization is crucial to ensure better visibility of your campaigns. However, optimization is not a child’s play. There are professionals who handle these tasks regularly and understand the technology well. Hence, it is best to hire a platform that will optimize the campaign for you and ensure a good ROI.
