Transcript
[ Music ]
>> Hello and welcome.
I'm Lindsay Verity,
and I'll be joined
by my colleagues Casey
Fictum and Eric Hall.
We're here to introduce
a new way
to help people discover
your apps in the App Store.
If you've developed an app for
iOS, you know how much time,
effort and passion goes into
creating the playful, useful,
and wonderful apps
that people love.
Just like this year's
Apple Design Award winners.
You also know that putting
effort into putting awareness
and discoverability
of your app is just
as crucial to its success.
And that's what we're here
to talk to you about today.
But before we do that,
let's review all the ways a user
can currently discover your app
in the App Store.
There's featured app collections
curated by our editors
that showcase the best apps
based on themes, interests,
and seasonal or cultural events.
Categories where
users can browse
and explore apps
on a deeper level.
Top Charts, which list the
App Store's bestselling
or most downloaded apps and
games organized by paid,
free, and top-grossing.
And whilst editorial
features are an amazing way
to get a quick burst of
awareness in download activity
by users with over a
million and a half apps
in the U.S. App Store, the most
sustained source of downloads
for your app as if it shows up
for relevant search results.
Now the best way to
improve discoverability
and the likelihood a user
will tap on your listing
in App Store Search, is
to optimize the metadata
in App Store Search, is
to optimize the metadata
for your product page.
And show your app name,
imagery, description,
and keywords are highly
relevant and appealing.
This should be the prime
focus of your efforts
to support your app's
discoverability and downloads.
Last week, we announced Search
Ads, a powerful new way for you
to control the visibility
of your app
in App Store search results.
Search Ads can help develop
and drive new downloads
and increase usage
for your apps.
Almost two-thirds of all
app downloads come directly
from searches on the App Store.
The App Store is the place where
people can proactively look
for an app to download,
so there's no better place
to invest in the
promotion of your app.
When a user searches
in the App Store,
When a user searches
in the App Store,
a single sponsored ad
may appear at the top
of the search results.
The sponsored listing will
have a blue background
and ad icon next to
the developer name.
The app may be in one of
the formats you see here,
optimized to what
we learn works best
for that search query and user.
Because user experience
is so important to us,
relevance is the main factor
determining whether your ad will
be showed for search query.
If your app is not relevant to
what the user is looking for,
it will not appear in
the ad spot regardless
of how much you may
be willing to pay.
Let me give you an example.
You have a pizza delivery app
and you bid on gaming searches
because you think those
hard-core gamers will get too
engrossed to actually
go out for pizza.
Well, your app most likely will
not make it into the auction
for those searches because
it is not a gaming app.
Now relevance will be determined
in some parts from the content
of your App Store metadata.
So as I mentioned earlier,
investing your time
in thoughtfully crafting
your app title, description,
and metadata with the most
relevant keywords will not only
improve your organic presence,
it will also improve
your relevance
for sponsored ads as well.
We also take users'
response to specific ads
as a signal for its relevance.
If users don't respond to an ad,
we'll stop showing it to them.
Pricing is a Cost Per Tap model.
So you only pay when a
user engages with your ad,
and you decide the maximum
amount you're willing
to pay for a tap.
The actual cost of
that tap is a result
of a Second Price Auction,
meaning the price
you pay is based
on what your nearest
competitor is willing to pay
to show their ad up
to your maximum bid.
This means you'll never pay more
than you're willing to spend
or more than you need to.
And whether your ad will
be shown is the combination
of your app's relevance to the
search query and the amount
of your bid comparative
to others bidding
on that same query.
And as I said earlier, apps
that aren't relevant won't
be entered into the auction.
With App Store Search being the
single most important source
of app downloads, our goal
in designing Search Ads was
to give all developers
the opportunity
to reach more customers through
greater control of your presence
in relevant search results.
Whether you have a
large budget or small,
have marketing expertise
or none at all.
I now invite Casey
to tell you more
about the features
we've designed
into the product
to do just that.
>> We've worked hard to make
Search Ad the great product
for all developers.
But we really thought a lot
about how to make the experience
But we really thought a lot
about how to make the experience
for smaller developers
as efficient
and as simple as possible.
So that way you can get back
to doing what you love to do,
which is creating great apps.
Search Ads was designed
to be smart and flexible
so that you can get
your ads up and running
in a matter of minutes.
And there are only a
few things that you need
to tell us before you can
get a campaign to go live.
And that is, your
app, your budget,
and your payment information.
And that's it.
So let's talk about
how this works.
You tell us the app that
you want to promote,
and Search Ads will
automatically create an ad
for you using the
metadata and imagery
that you've already provided
in your App Store listing.
So there's actually nothing for
you to do here except make sure
that your App Store information
is the best representation
of your app.
Now because we know so much
about your app and a genre,
we can then take that ad and
match it to relevant queries
that are coming through
in the app store.
We do this with our default
on search match feature,
and we absolutely
love this feature.
We really think that
you will too.
Next you'll define your budget.
Your budget can include
a daily spend cap.
You'll also tell us the maximum
amount that you're willing
to pay for a tap on your ad.
Eric will talk about how to best
set your Max Cost per Tap later
on in the presentation.
Finally, you add your
payment information.
We support all of the currencies
that you see listed here
and except all major
credit cards.
And that's it.
Your ad is now eligible
to be up and running
in App Store Search results.
That's pretty simple.
Now we realize there are some of
you with more time or experience
when it comes to
search marketing,
and you may want more
control over your campaigns.
Now whether that be choosing
the particular keywords
that you want your ad to show
against, setting individual bits
for those keywords, or
just telling us more
about a particular
audience that you're trying
to reach with your ad.
Well, you can do all that.
Let's talk about keywords first.
Now because we know so much
about your app in a genre,
we can provide a list of
keyword recommendations to you
so that you don't have to think
about all of the possibilities.
Furthermore, you can add
keyword ideas of your own,
and we'll give you a list of
keywords related to that input.
For all of our keywords,
we offer what we call a relative
search term popularity index.
And this just give
you a good idea
of how important a particular
keyword may be for your app
but also the relative
volume that it could drive.
We have two match
types for keywords.
There's Broad match, which
will match you to that keyword
as well as its relative variance
like synonyms and phrases
that include that keyword.
And then there's Exact
match which will target
that specific phrase as
well as its close variance
like common misspellings
and plurals.
If you want to learn
more about match types,
you should come talk to us
in our lab session tomorrow
morning, and we'll tell you all
about how these work
in our product.
Now you can keep
things simple here.
And you could set a default bid
across all of your keywords,
or you can apply individual
bids at the keyword level
and that would be if you
want to further optimize
that keyword based on
things like its popularity
or just how important that
keyword is for your app.
There are also additional
targeting options available
to you if appropriate
for your app and goals.
Now our default setting is
to not show your ad to users
that have already
downloaded your app.
That way your budget can focus
on acquiring new downloads.
However, if your campaign
goals are different,
you can target existing users as
well as users of your other app.
If you want to further refine
your audience, we do allow you
to target by things like gender,
age, and device location.
So a very simple way to use
this feature would be let's say
that you have an app that
only services certain cities.
Well, you could target
by device location
and that way you wouldn't
be wasting budget in cities
that your app doesn't service.
Or perhaps there's an
age and gender group
that you know is your
most valuable customer.
Let's say males, ages 18 to 34.
Well, you could create
a discreet ad group
that would allow you to closely
manage the exposure and bids,
then, for that audience.
Now we obviously want you
to understand your return
on investment in Search Ads.
But we want that to be a very
clean and easy process for you.
So we designed an
intuitive campaign management
and reporting UI that will allow
you to get a quick overview
of what's happening,
as well as easily drill
down into the details
and management if needed.
Now the best place to
get a high-level overview
of performance is
on the campaign overview
page, which you see here.
And this is where we've trended
your most important metrics
in one very easy to digest page.
From here, you could hop
into the Keywords tab.
From here, you could hop
into the Keywords tab.
And you'll see we've
made it easy for you
to optimize those keywords
because we've placed
their key metrics
in the exact same place
that you manage them.
If you have bulk sets of
new keywords or negatives,
which would be the keywords
you don't want your ad
to show against, you can upload
those here via spreadsheet
as well.
Then there's the
Search Terms tab.
And this is a very powerful tab.
You could learn the actual
user search terms that have led
to an impression, tap,
or download for your ad.
So all the search queries
that your ad's been
matched to are shown here.
So anything from that Search
Match feature that I talked
about earlier will be
shown in this list.
And you'd also see search
queries that resulted
from your own Broad
match keywords.
So really it's just a great
place to discover new keywords.
Now these management screens
are ideal for taking actions
with performance
context and view.
But we've also built a
powerful reporting section
that allows you to parse
your campaigns, ad groups
and keywords by things
like demo,
location, device, and more.
You can download all of
this data to spreadsheets,
and we also offer
APIs for reporting,
campaign creation,
and management.
Once you've acquired a customer,
we offer a robust
attribution API
to give you advance insights,
including the ability
to understand the keywords
that are delivering the most
valuable customers to you.
That way you can
use that information
to optimize your bidding
strategies accordingly.
And now I'd like to invite Eric
to show you just how
effortless it is to create
and optimize a Search
Ads campaign
in our simple, yet powerful UI.
>> I'm going to share
with you how to set up
and manage a successful search
campaign in the App Store.
First, I search for my app
that I want to promote.
My app is LightRight, a new
camera app that specializes
in unique filters that aren't
available anywhere else.
Search Ads has found my app
and pulled in all my metadata,
Search Ads has found my app
and pulled in all my metadata,
which it will use to make my
campaign setup quick and easy.
Straight away I can see it has
automatically created my ad
for me, and I can
see a sample here.
The first thing I need
to do is name my campaign
and put in my budget.
My budget is $3,000.
I also have the option to
set a maximum daily spend.
I want to pace out my budget
to last for the quarter,
so I'll set it to $50.
Now I need to create
an ad group.
So I can organize my
bids and any keywords
or audience targeting
I want to add.
I'm going to call mine
LightRight Launch Group.
Because Search Ads knows
my app is a universal app,
it has defaulted my ads
to show for searches
on both the iPad and the iPhone.
I have the option to
choose just iPhone or iPad,
I have the option to
choose just iPhone or iPad,
but I want to reach as
many people as possible,
so I'll leave it as is.
If appropriate, I can also
schedule my ad to start
and stop on specific dates.
The default setting is to
start today with no end date.
I can also choose to have my
ad show only on certain days
of the week or times of the day.
But for my LightRight App, I'd
like to be on the same schedule
as the App Store, 24/7.
Importantly, I need to set my
default max Cost Per Tap bid.
To work out how I should
set that for my campaign,
I take what I know an average
customer is worth to me
and decide how much
I can afford to spend
on acquiring each new customer.
I can afford to spend
about $2.50 per customer.
Given that searchers in the
App Store are high-intent
Given that searchers in the
App Store are high-intent
downloaders, I'm going to assume
on average that 40 percent
of the people who tap on my ad
will actually download my app.
Doing the math, that means I
can afford to pay 40 percent
of $2.50 per tap or $1.
So I'll set my starting
default max CPT bid to $1.
I have the option to
set a target cost per
acquisition goal.
Search Ads will use this
as a guide to work towards,
but it's not a guarantee.
If I set it too low, I
could be forgoing taps
that may lead to downloads.
For now, I'm not
going to set one
until I have some
learnings from my campaign.
Now I'm moving into defining
how my ads will get seen.
Search Match is on by default,
and I'm going to leave it
Search Match is on by default,
and I'm going to leave it
on because as Casey mentioned,
Search Match will
automatically match my ad
to relevant user searches.
If I want to keep things simple,
I can just rely on Search Match
to do all of the work for me.
Because as I have time and
some previous experience
with search campaigns, I'm going
to see what keywords are
being recommended to me.
All of these look good, so I'm
going to go ahead and add them.
I can also see that some
of the recommendations
such as picture editor
look very popular.
I'll want to keep a
close eye on that one.
I also have a few keywords that
I'd like to add to my list.
As Casey mentioned,
when I use brackets,
then it's considered an
exact match and the rest
of the words are broad match.
So LightRight is an exact
match and color change
in light conditions
are broad match.
I have the option to
change the bids if I want.
I have the option to
change the bids if I want.
But I plan to leave
them as-is for now.
Advanced targeting
offers me several options
to refine the audience
for my ad if appropriate
for my particular app.
The first default setting is
to show my ad only to users
who have not downloaded my app.
Other options, such as
reengaging my existing users are
also open to me.
But in my case, LightRight is a
new app, and I'm really focused
on acquiring new users.
So I'll go with the
default setting.
If appropriate, I could
also target my ads to show
to a specific gender or age.
For example, if your app is
a young women's fashion app,
then you may target female
ages between 18 and 34.
But for my LightRight
app all ages
and genders would be excited
to use my low-light filters,
so I'll skip the
demographic targeting.
Device location can be a
useful targeting option
if your app only serves a
specific geographical area.
For example, a food delivery
app that only serves the area
around San Francisco might
want to use this feature.
Now that I've set up my initial
campaign, let's fast forward
into the future and
see my campaign trends.
My average cost per tap at
86 cents is below my $1 max.
And my average cost per
acquisition is $2.34,
below my $2.50 target.
My average conversion rate
is on track at 40 percent.
At a high level, these
metrics look good.
But I notice my impressions,
taps,
and conversions have flattened
and are starting
to trend downward.
Given that my CPT and CPA
are below my expected values,
there may be opportunity for
me to win more impressions.
Let's drill down into
the search term view
to see what's happening.
To get there, I click
on the Keyword tab
To get there, I click
on the Keyword tab
and then on Search Term.
The Search Term view is where I
can discover the actual search
terms that match to my ad
along with my key metrics
and their performance.
I can see here that
Search Match is matching me
to some really relevant terms
that are increasing
traffic to my app.
Color edit search term is
driving a lot of downloads
from my app at a
very efficient CPA.
I want to see if I can
get more impressions
if I raise my max CPT bid.
So I'm going to add it
as a broad match keyword.
I'm going to up my
max bid to $1.25.
Color search term,
on the other hand,
is driving very few
downloads and has a high CPA.
It's a broad match to
my color change keyword.
It's a broad match to
my color change keyword.
So I'm going to add it as a
negative exact match keyword
as people searching color are
not finding it too relevant
to my app.
Let's add color as a
negative campaign keyword.
To learn and manage
the performance
of the keywords I specifically
targeted, I need to hop
over to the Manage Keyword tab.
I see that app for lighting
has a low conversion rate
and the CPA at $5.17 is a
lot higher than my goal.
I'm going to pause the app
for lighting keyword for now.
I like the picture
editor keyword,
as that is performing
really well.
So I'm going to use
the Add Keywords tool
to get recommendations for
more keywords like this one.
to get recommendations for
more keywords like this one.
So let's type in picture editor.
The photo editor
keyword is popular.
That should drive relevant
traffic to my LightRight app.
I'll add it to my
manage keywords.
And it will show up at
the top of the table.
The reporting view is a great
way to discover insights
about your campaigns
with various dimensions.
In my case, we're looking
at the distribution
of device class and impressions.
It seems that 80 percent
of users are searching
for my app from an iPhone.
Therefore, I should consider
creating an ad group specific
for iPhone so that I can
further refine my bids
to get more impressions
from iPhone users.
Now I'm driving users to my
app and generating downloads.
That's great.
But knowing the true value
of these downloads will help
me understand the full return
on my campaign investment.
Because Search Ads, the App
Store, and the code I've used
to develop my app are all
part of the same ecosystem.
It's easy to know which of
my downloads were generated
by Search Ads.
The Search Ads attribution
API will not only attribute
downloads to my campaign, but
I can also attribute a download
to a specific bidded keyword
and the download date.
It's a turnkey solution that
makes it simple for me to create
and track meaningful
clusters of users
and their value to me over time.
This information will help
me determine which keywords
and other targeting parameters
work the best for my app.
And I can use those insights
to optimize my campaign
accordingly.
The best part about the
attribution API is how easy it
is to instrument.
You just need the ad -- the I
Ad framework to your project
and then add these lines of
code to your application.
Here's the response object
from the attribution API
Here's the response object
from the attribution API
that contains campaign
hierarchy, details,
download date, and click date.
While the API allows
you to easily analyze
and segment your users, rest
assured that Apple does not sell
or transmit any personal
identifiable information
to any third parties.
We accomplish this by enabling
the information request
and response on device
verifying the developer, user,
customer relationship
and allowing the user
to prevent information look
up by turning limited
ad tracking to on.
Now that you're armed with these
helpful tips, you'll be ready
to set up and manage your
first search campaign.
>> Thank you, Eric.
You're going to love
this new way for users
to discover your amazing apps.
What could be better than the
opportunity for your app to show
up at the top of relevant
searches in the store
that millions of users are
proactively visiting every day?
And connecting those users
directly to download in one tap.
And connecting those users
directly to download in one tap.
Setting up your Search Ad
campaign can be done in minutes.
We create the ads for you.
We match it to relevant
searches in the App Store,
and there's an intuitive
campaign management
and reporting UI
that enables you
to quickly view your results.
You're in control of how
much you want to spend.
And you have the option to
manage your own keywords,
refine your targeting, and
use our robust attribution API
for advanced insights.
We've talked about a
lot of things today.
But there are a few things
we've mentioned that you can do
to get prepared for Search Ads.
Firstly, optimize
your app metadata
and ensure it is
a highly relevant
and accurate reflection
of your content.
Understand the value
of your customers
and how much you can
spend to acquire new ones.
and how much you can
spend to acquire new ones.
This will help you determine
your maximum Cost Per Tap bid.
And lastly, implement
the attribution API code
in your app.
You'll love the rich
data it can provide.
To learn more, you can
visit SearchAds.apple.com
and here you will also find
information about opting-in
for our [inaudible] commenced.
Thank you so much for listening
to us and have a great evening.