Firebase App Indexing Insights - SMX Advanced 2016

#SMX #22A @DavidiwanowFirebase App Indexing

What you need to know about Firebase App-

Indexing

#SMX #22A @Davidiwanow

• Involved in search since 2007• Focused on• App-Indexing• App-Store Optimisation• App Download Campaigns• Responsive Design• Technical SEO

• SEO Product Manager since July 2013

Who is this guy?

Joining BlueGlass London as Director of Strategy

Who is this guy?

#SMX #22A @DavidiwanowWhat’s New in App-Indexing?

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(SWAP IN YOUR OWN AS NEEDED)

Photo Credit: CadaverTeeth Photo Credit: Wendell

Google App-Indexing becomes Firebase App-Indexing

• Introduction• Technical implementation• Meta tags/API/XML Sitemap

• Common Pitfalls• Errors to expect• Results achieved with App-Indexing• Increased app activity• App-installs• Increased visibility

• Mini Case Study• What’s next?

App-Indexing topics covered in my session

#SMX #22A @DavidiwanowIntroduction to why App-Indexing

Photo Credit: Alan Levine

Often you can easily be confused when looking for the official app.

It is not a bad thing to have multiple apps but often the distinction isn’t clear.

Current Play Store search experience could be better

Sometimes it’s just too much effort to work out which app you would need to do something simple.

Current Play Store search experience could be better

But which is the best app for your task you would usually do on the website?

Sometimes you want something specific

Google state that most users don’t use all the 36 apps that they have installed 75% of the time and 1/3 only gets used once.

Part of the issues is that apps get forgotten about

What is the process?1. Start on home screen2. Check alternative screens3. View all apps

You then have to search for that app

So now you go to the app store and search for the app.

Ok great we already have it installed so we click the result.

You still can’t find that app?

Now you are able to open that app you were looking for and you can get started doing what you wanted to do originally.

Great work you finally found the app

You can now search via Google to see if you already have the app installed and open from the SERPs.

App Indexing cuts out several steps in the process

#SMX #22A @DavidiwanowWhy I think it’s important

Photo Credit: Katie Sayer

App-Indexing has deep integration with Google SERPs

• About 48 hours for App-Indexing results to show for users after downloading your app

• Users that re-engage with your app they are less likely to uninstall

• Users that re-engage are less likely to use a competitor.

Process for users is fairly simple…

Do you have the

Open in App

Install App

Open Website

• For branded traffic then App-Indexing can be a lifeline

• Users don’t see aggregators or affiliates now

• CTR is not as high as I would hope depending on the query but it’s great for branding

You can get these types of branded results

There are three main benefits to App-Indexing

• Branding• Personalisation• Ranking Improvement

Which result would capture your attention?

You can think of App-Indexing as personalised results on steroids!

Remember that App-Indexing can influence ranking

#SMX #22A @DavidiwanowApp Indexing Technical Implementation Guide

Photo Credit: Will Scullin

Pros:• Check pages trying to index• Done easily without app updatesCons:• 2 week delay in crawling and

showing in SERPs• Competitors can see what pages

you are trying to index• Custom scheme URLs are

supported but are discouraged

Meta Tags

Pros:• Linked to user actions within

your app (engagement)• Competitors can’t see what

pages you are App indexing at scale

• App shows in auto suggest• Ready to use Now on TapCons:• Support from your mobile

developers to update your app

App-Indexing API

Pros:• All your URLs are in one

place you want Google to crawl

Cons:• You might have to rebuild

your websites XML Sitemap logic

• Sitemaps are prone to breaking

• Your sitemaps just grew bigger

Add Deep Links to your XML Sitemap

• Google Suggests you want to do at least 2 out of 3 to get the most impact from App-Indexing.

• My personal preference is using Meta Tags and supported by App-Indexing API

• Diagnosing errors with API is tougher and if you screw up something you need to release an app update.

Which option should you do?

My perception on impact

Meta Tags XML Sitemap API

#SMX #22A @DavidiwanowCommon Pitfalls of App-Indexing

Photo Credit: James Marvin PhelpsPhoto Credit: Keith

• Not all apps were built to support Deep Linking but that will change over time

• App may not have previously needed 404 error pages

• It may surface a lot more edge cases previously ignored by devs

App Indexing will create 404 pages in your app

• Your app probably doesn’t have a lot of pages your desktop site has

• App load time is now much more of an issue as load time wasn’t measured

• How would you deal with universal links?

Consider what is the user experience?

Photo Credit: Catherine

#SMX #22A @DavidiwanowWhat crawl tools or crawl errors you can expect?

Photo Credit: James Marvin PhelpsPhoto Credit: Kevin Baird

Custom search console for App Indexing that allows you to fetch deep links. Two options for testing the links:1) Google Play APK2) Upload your APK

Fetch as Google to Test your App Indexing

• As per desktop fetch as Google you can drill into your URL to see a more detailed report.

• You can see here is a successful crawl resulted in the page rendering correctly.

• Please make sure you actually check how Google views your app page.

• Items such as popups for Googlebot creates crawling issues.

• Googlebot is getting smarter but don’t make it too hard for them!

• You can exclude specific pages from the App-Indexing or app notifications from showing in App search results

• Create a noindex.xml file and reference the noindex.xml in your app’s AndroidManifest.xml file

Control Indexing (advanced Android only option)

• Number of App-Indexing pages indexed is continuing to grow.

• Pages with errors as that will hold your App-Indexing performance back.

• Be aware the error reporting in the crawl dashboard is not the most accurate or current.

Crawl Status Reports can help you understand traction

• Number of App Indexed Pages does have an impact on your App-Indexing performance

• The number of pages with errors has a negative impact on your App-Indexing performance

Crawl Status Reports can help you understand failures

Search Analytics can help you understand impact

Source: Google Search Console (excluding Tablets)

• Package not found – Google couldn’t find your APK in Google Play Store

• Url unsupported – failed to launch the application• Content mismatch – text doesn’t have to be identical but

topic should be the same and user should be able to accomplish same task as on web

• Overused URLs – You screwed up and mapped all the URLs to one page

• Back button violation – requires that a user be able to click back to SERPs

• Removed from index – pages in your app that don’t meet standards

Major App Crawl Errors

#SMX #22A @DavidiwanowResults achieved with App-Indexing

Photo Credit: James Marvin PhelpsPhoto Credit: maf04

App-Indexing via API has some benefits

Remind users they have your app installed

App-Indexing helps with branding a bit

Having trouble ranking for locations?

Having trouble ranking for head terms?

Prompt users to open your app to answer their query

If users already have your app they have a seamless experience into your app.

This can be important if you haven’t yet built a responsive website or your responsive website experience is lacking features your app already has.

Process when they have your app installed

Blue Arrow Icon Credit: designed by Freepik.com

• Shown if you are doing app indexing but the user doesn’t yet have the app installed

• You can only track clicks on button and not installs

• Clicking currently shifts you away to the Play store but it seems Google is testing keeping them in the SERPs

Bonus feature App-Indexing Install Widget

Blue Arrow Icon Credit: designed by Freepik.com

#SMX #22A @DavidiwanowResults observed with App-Indexing

Photo Credit: James Marvin PhelpsPhoto Credit: maf04

Not as many searches end with a click on install button

• A larger app install base means potentially more people may see App-Indexing results

• Can be supported by• App download campaigns• ASO campaigns• App-Indexing traffic can also

be influenced by• Competitors• AdWords

Remember App-Indexing doesn’t live in a silo

• Typically the Install Button link has the highest visibility

• App-Indexing results don’t always show higher than other organic results

• App-Indexing results don’t always show to all users

App-Indexing organic visibility can be volatile

#SMX #22A @DavidiwanowCase Study

Photo Credit: James Marvin PhelpsPhoto Credit: PutnamEco

• Good App-Indexing results can show an average +1.01 to +1.52 higher position in SERPs

• Great App-Indexing results can show an average +2.51 to +3.88 higher position in SERPs

What does App-Indexing results look like?

Comparing individual keywords results not as significant

Average Position for Top 15 App Terms

Source: Google Search Console

It was something of a myth floating around that iOS users don’t know what App-Indexing is and would never click the app result.

The number is lower but the average position it’s shown is also slightly lower.

Do iOS users even know what to do with App-Indexing?

Almost all the times your app install button will be showing will be on brand terms.

Low amount of impressions but it’s interesting just how many competitors you show with and what competitors and what CTR you can get on install button.

When does install app button appear?

App Install Button Clicks

The first four app phrases perform fairly closely.

The strength of your brand impact both the search volume but also the CTR of the following terms• Brand download• Brand install

How does CTR change on brand terms for install button?

Brand Brand App Brand App Download

App Brand Brand Download

Brand Install

Brand 1 Brand 2

I found that your data quality is heavily affected if you don’t use the country filter.

This makes analysis for global apps more time consuming but the output is far more accurate.

When doing analysis make sure you use the country filter

#SMX #22A @DavidiwanowA Global View on App-Indexing Visibility

Photo Credit: James Marvin PhelpsPhoto Credit: RV1864

You have to setup mobile search engines for each OS and tablet & mobile.

You can then define your app and the benchmark apps (competitors) that you want to monitor.

SearchMetrics has an App visibility report you can setup

It’s now possible to gain a bit more insight on how your app is performing compared to your competitors.

The setup of what keywords and competitors to track is still a bit clunky but with more data I’m sure this will improve with the addition of suggested keywords/competitors to include.

SearchMetrics are surfacing some insights at scale

#SMX #22A @DavidiwanowWhat’s next?

Photo Credit: James Marvin PhelpsPhoto Credit: Paul Carmona

• Google App-Indexing for iOS9+ requires implementation of Universal Links

• Previously it only showed for logged-in Chrome users now it will show for logged-in Safari users

• Going forward iOS App-Indexing doesn’t require meta tagging just requires app-to-site association

• Google App-Indexing will drop support for older iOS7-8

Google App-Indexing for iOS supports iOS9+

App Only SERPs are coming to a device near you

• Search results could be influenced by other users with similar apps.

• Search results could be influenced by users with similar devices

• Competitors might be shown less if users more engaged within your app

• Desktop experience could be influenced by your mobile app usage

App-Indexing will expand as adoption increases

Around mid-June 2016 Google Play will start rolling out across• Acer Chromebook R11 / C738T• Asus Chromebook Flip• Google Chromebook Pixel (2015)With more Chromebooks supported later in 2016

Play Store & Android Apps coming to Chromebooks

Google is making it possible for you to soon enjoy App-Indexing benefits without actually downloading the whole application.

Instant Apps will benefit App-Indexing

• Progressive Web Apps• Offline features• Offline storage• Add web app to home screen• Access your phone’s camera• Push notifications• Supported by Chrome & Firefox• Requires HTTPs• Google could show them in Play App

Progressive Web Apps blur line between Native & Apps

#SMX #22A @DavidiwanowLEARN MORE: UPCOMING @SMX EVENTS

THANK YOU! SEE YOU AT THE NEXT #SMX

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