Deep Linking and Deep App Discovery

Chris Maddern@chrismaddern

DeepLink Kit

1. What are deep links?2. Why do we care about them?3. How have we gotten to where we are?4. What does the ecosystem look like right now?5. What should we all do?

What are deep links?

In the context of the mobile apps, deep linking consists of using a uniform resource identifier (URI) that links to a

specific location within a mobile app (i.e. exampleApp://location/123456), rather than simply

launching the app (i.e. exampleApp://).

A deep link allows us to open an app to a product, page, profile or article rather

than just at the home screen.

fb://profile/1234

amazon://product/1234

twitter://user/4567

Why do we care about them?

You wouldn’t expect Google to link tothe home page of a search result

We want our users to always use thebest property we have available for them.

SPENT ON APPS SPENT ON WEB

USER TIME SPENT

2xTravel apps

3xRetail apps

Activation rate of new users

A little history

AGE 1 AGE 2

AGE 3

Deep Linking Age I

icarcheck://?skip_iap=true

Deep Linking Age II

Deep Linking Age II

Deep Linking Age II

Standards

Deep Linking Age II

x30

Deep Linking Age III

Welcome. It’s literally happening around us.

III: Content is canonical

http://www.yoursite.com/item/1234

yoursite://item/1234

III: Standards are still used for indexing

http://www.yoursite.com/item/1234

III: But discovery is moving everywhere

III: But discovery is moving everywhere

Where do we stand?

- Expresses links as http:// links- Indexes and makes searchable those links- Supports most main standards- Surfaces content through Spotlight Search

- Expresses links as http:// links- Indexes and makes searchable those links- Supports most main standards- Surfaces content through Google & Now

FINALLY - ONE SET OF THINGS WE CAN DO!

- Expresses links as http:// links- Indexes and makes searchable those links- Supports most main standards- Surfaces content through Spotlight Search

- Expresses links as http:// links- Indexes and makes searchable those links- Supports most main standards- Surfaces content through Google & Now

Where do we stand?

4 things that we see people succeeding with

- Shifting their thinking to their app having ‘millions of home pages’ vs. 1

- Support HTTP-style deep links into those pages

- Adding Standards-driven meta tags to their web pages for indexing

- Exploring app-to-app discovery, vs. web to app.

Questions!

Chris Maddern@chrismaddern