It’s not a surprise that SaaS companies, PPC firms, and app developers are all hopping on the Apple Search Ads (ASA) bandwagon. Access is something that Apple Search Ads (ASAs)can provide for you that Google, Bing, Facebook, and other PPC networks cannot.

We have a few suggestions for making the Apple Search Ads effective, since it is just another PPC network. All of them are good recommendations — some of them are modified from our past PPC experience and some are unique to ASAs.

1. Utilize Creative Testing

In order to test the effectiveness of various visual assets in their sponsored advertisements, Apple introduced a unique testing method dubbed “Creative Sets” for Search Ads Advanced in June 2018. You can test pictures and videos in an ad group using Creative Sets, and you can track changes in conversion over time.

The function is currently in its early stages, so it has certain restrictions. For instance, you may only upload three app previews and up to 10 screenshots, and each of them must first have Apple’s approval before being used. This is a good stand-in until Apple lets in-house marketers or agencies create and track their own scientific A/B ad experiments.

2. Test the Potential of Your Keywords

In ASA Advanced campaigns, you can set your ad groups to use either exact match or broad match keywords. This gives you some control over how your keywords correspond to user searches and can aid in the ongoing improvement of your campaigns. Use both keyword choices first to get good coverage and set a performance benchmark if you don’t know how well your advertising will do.

3. Keep to Your Lane

The relevance of each ad placement is taken into account by the Apple Search Ads algorithm. This necessitates that, as an advertiser, your communications be consistent throughout the conversion procedure. Consistent wording and content will make the transition between your app ad and the download page more fluid, increasing the likelihood that the user will convert.

4. Review and Improve Current App Information

Apple Search Ads build their ads using your already-existing photos and metadata. Examine the details of your app on Apple Store Connect before launching your campaign. Your responsibility is to ensure that everything is in order. To guarantee that the most accurate version of your information appears in your advertisement, you ought to have accurate content and metadata, engaging videos and/or screenshots, and links that work.

5. Boost Your Successive Campaigns

Campaigns for Apple Search Ads are restricted by nation. However, if your advertising is successful, you can still broaden your audience. With Search Ads Advanced, it’s easy to duplicate your top performers and use them in additional App Store locations.

ASA lets you copy settings like keywords, ad groups, demographic information, and more from one country’s storefront to another using the Duplication feature. Also carried over during the duplicating process are your current bid amounts, which may need to be changed for the new campaign.

6. Make Ad Groups Based On User Intent

It’s important to divide your PPC marketing groups in Google so that you can improve performance through tracking, and the ASA platform isn’t an exception. Create ad groups based on the potential user’s searches for your app rather than placing all of your targeted keywords in one group. You can segment even further when you’ve seen how these ad groupings are performing. To encourage downloads and improve your conversion rate, you can create ad groups in Apple Search Ads based on specific top-performing keywords.

Endnote

App developers have a new opportunity thanks to Apple Search Ads, but they also face a new difficulty. The opportunity is to reach a larger and more targeted App Store audience than you could possibly do naturally. You have the same opportunity as everyone else, which poses a challenge. However, you can reach a larger audience if you combine effective PPC techniques with the Apple Search Ads structure.

6 Best Practices and Recommendations for Apple Search Ads was originally published in BetaPage on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.