2.10 - App indexing

1 - Findings and impacts

App indexing was introduced in 2013 for Android apps and in May 2015 for iOS apps.

The 'App Indexing' principle means that you tell Google that your pages have an "app format" equivalent.

Advantages:

• If you do not rank well in the Android or Apple store, app indexing gives you a chance to win over more users via the organic search!
• Increased use of your app by users can strengthen both your brand and the customer loyalty to your company. This is partly because there is no option to navigate back to the Google search from the app. Thus, if your app provides your users with all the important content, you profit directly from the app indexing since users are more likely to take your offer.

App indexing does not affect the ranking of your website on the search result pages. However, it impacts the way your website is displayed and therefore has an impact on the CTR. The display of that button in the snippet catches the attention of the user.

• If the application is not installed, a button will display at the top of the search results to encourage app downloads. The user can be redirected to Google Play or the Apple Store
• If the application is installed, it will open right away

These direct links - found in the content of your application - are called "deep links". These deep links are referred to “intent filters” by Google in-app indexing.

2 - Recommendations

A) Summary of the procedure for an Android application

To index your content on Google page results, link to each URL on the website the equivalent page of the app via the AndroidManifest.xml file. Google will use this equivalence to push the right correspondance in its results pages.

The website-app association is also important via the 'Digital Asset Links' interface and the search console for which we will need a read-only access at seo@acquisit.io

Find the summary of all the technical details on the Google tutorial here

Tips for Android apps: If you have programmed an Android app, you can use the Google Search Console to check for any app indexing errors. This requires that you first register the app in the Search Console just like with a regular website.

For those who offer Android apps, it is recommended to track app performance using Google Analytics. This provides deep insights of your system. All necessary information can be found here.

B) Summary of the procedure for an IOS application

For IOS 9 and above, App Indexing relies on the HTTP protocol that allows to establish the correspondances between the website URLs and the interfaces of the app. You will need to use the UIApplicationDelegate

Similarly to Android, an association must be made between the domain of the website and the application. In order to do that, the apple.developper.associated-domains must list it. To test the display of app-indexing in Google Search, use the Preview Search Result on IOS/ the search result on IOS

Find all technical details on the Google tutorial HERE

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