Apple sells ads on the App Store, what does this mean?

How are Apple App Store’s default search ads made? How are they different from Google and Baidu? With more and more applications, how can various apps stand out? What impact will the new AppStore strategy have on APP manufacturers and promoters? This article will explore these issues in the future.

Before discussing this issue, let’s first introduce some professional terms about website optimization.

| What are the optimization solutions for PC and APP?

1. Internet website (PC side) optimization

SEO : Search Engine Optimization , that is, search engine optimization. It mainly refers to free optimization of PC websites for search engines such as Baidu, Sogou, Soso, and Google, mainly involving the following aspects:

• Keywords: Keywords are divided into brand words, common words, associative words, homophonic words, etc., mainly covering website navigation, content pages, titles, etc.
• Website architecture: Generally, tree-like website structure + website navigation will be more popular with spiders
• Update frequency: Regular update frequency will affect the inclusion of the website
• Content originality: Original articles or slightly innovative articles are more likely to be crawled
• External links: Choosing websites with high authority to link to or posting articles with links can increase the authority of the website and make it easier to search for relevant results.

SEM : Search Engine Marketing, is to use the opportunity of users to retrieve information based on the way users use search engines to deliver marketing information to target users as much as possible. It can also be simplified as network marketing, usually referring to bidding advertising . Currently, Baidu is doing well in bidding advertising in the market. There are several things to pay attention to when doing SEM:

• Keywords: Most brand keywords are expensive. Within a limited budget, you need to set keywords based on general, brand or long-tail keywords.
• Optimization strategy: Create user profiles based on product concentration time, region, and other content, and perform targeted operations within the bidding system
• Media strategy: Depending on the product, you can choose to search for your own media resources within the referral, set different bidding standards for external alliance resources, and optimize according to the attributes of the media.

2. Mobile Internet (APP)

ASO : App Store Optimization is the process of improving your app’s ranking in various app electronic market rankings and search results . Similar to SEO optimization for mobile apps, ASO involves Android and IOS systems, and the optimization content includes the following points:

• Application name: divided into title and subtitle, totaling 255 bytes, usually 25 bytes
• Keyword: An APP can have 100 characters, including punctuation marks. Suggestion: The phrases should be as smooth as possible to enhance association. Keywords have 100 characters. Commas or spaces are a signal to Apple that a word can be accurately separated and the weight of the word can be increased. Without commas or spaces, Apple will separate the words itself and most words can be separated.
• Description: The maximum description is 4,000 characters (can be changed at any time, can be achieved within 1.5 hours). The description is well-organized and highly relevant to the APP product itself. Multiple word coverage will increase the weight.
• Comments: The comment title and comment content should also cover keywords, for example: The comment title is reliable financial management; the comment content is a high-yield financial management tool; it is trustworthy and I will recommend it to my friends for financial management next time.

ASM : Appstore default search ads, launched by Apple on June 8, 2016, currently available in beta in the United States

| App Store default search ads, what is the difference between them and Google and Baidu?

Apple's default search is similar to Baidu's bidding and Google's under certain conditions. The main differences are in several key points:

• Special location - search box above keywords

As shown in the picture, Apple’s search box is here:

This is what it looks like on Google Play:

(Image source: App Store search ads are coming. What impact will it have on developers and users?)

Baidu is like this:

• Uniqueness - only one ad is displayed

In fact, as you can see from the picture above, the search ads provided by AppStore are unique, and in this process the display of all other applications is blocked. The search ads of Baidu and Google are as above, which is also the biggest difference of AppStore ads.

• Privacy - No relevant advertisements are provided to minors under 13 years old

Apple has always attached great importance to privacy, and currently only Apple has such a regulation of "not providing advertisements to minors under the age of 13". In Apple's privacy, there is a related setting channel, the screenshot is as follows:

Of course, this cannot accurately identify whether the subject is a minor under the age of 13. In addition to the above privacy settings, Apple will collect relevant data and have corresponding character portraits. For example, what kind of applications and games you often play, and voice recognition.

Apple proposed this concept largely based on user habits.

It’s worth mentioning that even if you turn on Limit Ad Tracking, you will still receive the same number of ads, but these ads will not be pushed based on your data.

• Conversion controllability - you can control the CPA price per customer

The so-called CPA stands for Cost Per Action, which means the cost per action. CPA is calculated based on activation or registration. Currently, Baidu adopts the CPD pricing model, and CPD is based on the download step. There will be some loss when converting to CPA.

| The APP Store has undergone many adjustments. What can the emergence of advertising searches bring?

1. In addition to adding ad searches, the APP Store has also undergone several adjustments

On May 24, 2014, the ranking list was adjusted from TOP200 to only TOP150. On June 13, a new function of "browsing by category" was launched. Except for game products, there are fewer and fewer APP products on the overall list, and small and medium-sized manufacturers began to pay attention to changes in the category list.

On November 19, 2014, the prices of many games on the App Store were reduced, and the 1 and 3 yuan prices will be permanently retained; game manufacturers are more likely to choose paid charts for promotion;

On November 24, 2014, the iOS 8.0 version added a "search" icon, which displayed 10 popular searches. The proportion of search keyword optimization among users increased, resulting in a hot search list and ASOS optimization.

On November 1, 2015, the ASO keyword coverage increased from 300 to more than 2,000, with new associated words, related words, homophonic words, English words and other related content. ASO basic optimization is increasingly valued by manufacturers.

On November 4, 2015, Apple added the "Shopping" category list and the Lifestyle list to slim down the list, which was also Apple's early preparation for Apple Pay;

On June 8, 2016, default search ads were added.

2. What impact does the emergence of new advertising forms have on APP manufacturers and promotion companies?

For APP manufacturers , the following models will change:

• Bidding model: Similar to Baidu, 360 and other Android markets , strengthen operational capabilities and optimize for ASM.
• Integration mode: According to different products, choose the corresponding type of media for delivery.

In fact, every system has one, but in the past most of them were operated by agents. Now manufacturers are required to operate them themselves, so they need to understand media strategies and a lot of information to do things well. In general, it requires higher professionalism from manufacturers.

• Ranking manipulation mode: For small and medium-sized CPs with limited budgets, they will choose to manipulate the rankings or optimize keywords below the TOP2 to reduce costs.

In fact, the people in the Apple Store are of course aware of the situation of ranking manipulation, but domestic developers are too smart. Apple keeps changing the algorithm, but it can always be cracked and the manipulation starts again. Regarding the method of manipulating the rankings, the column article "Apple is starting to get anxious: Why should the App Store do bidding ranking? 》 has a detailed introduction, so I will not go into details here.

Due to the emergence of search ads, small and medium-sized APP manufacturers with limited budgets will choose to brush the rankings more (of course, the brushing will be more real)

• Personnel model: The requirements for personnel involved in promotion are higher. They need to understand technology, operations and marketing, and allocate the promotion budget more reasonably.

For promotion companies , the operating model has also changed -

• Agent model: similar to Baidu, 360 and other Android markets, focusing on operation optimization services
• List model: Based on existing business, small and medium-sized CPs conduct various promotions
• ASO optimizes the business tiering model: It requires higher professionalism of service personnel and provides more precise promotion plans for manufacturers

3. After the default search ad space is opened, what resources will the AppStore open up?

From the above content, we can understand that after AppStore sells advertisements, it will open two bidding resources: ranking bidding and recommendation bidding.

In fact, the App Store should have implemented bidding rankings a long time ago. Just look at the terrible situation of ranking manipulation. But from another perspective, life will be even more difficult for those manufacturers who have no money.

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