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App Indexing and SEO: How has it Affected Developers?

December 19, 2016 No Comments

Featured article by Lalit Sharma, SEO Expert

app-indexing

In October 2013 the world saw Google indexing applications for the first time. This was published for a limited set of publishers for the next eight months and then expanded for public use in June 2014. Google had set up the search indexing in such a way that even if a person/user did not have a particular app, related searches would automatically recommend him to install it. After almost a year, in May 2015, iOS support was integrated to Chrome and finally in October 2015 Google announced app indexing extensions for Safari.

We have all known for a while now – SEO is a living being that breathes, moves and evolves with time. SEO trends change with season and so do the strategies. The only thing constant with SEO is change. With almost 500 changes in its log, Google algorithms has been making sure that SEO stays fresh and the SEO experts stay on their toes 24/7.

What is app indexing?

App indexing is quite new compared to other aspects of Google SEO and content indexing. Apps could not be properly indexed before 2014 due to limitations of the Google spiders. The Spiders had limited abilities to read JavaScript coding that is extensively used in building the native apps and website app APIs.

What are the challenges posed by app indexing?

With the advent of app indexing, two new problems arose for the app developers –

1. Since Google search engine spiders were not optimized earlier for JavaScript code perusal, most apps were not optimized for crawling and indexing

2. App stores had honed it in the subconscious of every individual to look inside Google Playstore for app discovery, and had steered people away from Google listings automatically for app searches

It is not new for app landing pages to show up in Google listings. As we said before, the trend has been slowly growing stronger since October 2013. But now, internal app screens and actual apps are also being listed. Google is slowly working with Google Play and iTunes to list apps relevant to searches. Most of the apps listed are ranked on the basis of their header contents and meta data, just like other website contents.

As a result, the app rankings fall into two broad categories –

1. App Packs

2. App Deep Links

What are App Packs?

App Packs are very similar to app search results that most SEOs are familiar with. Depending on the device you are using, you will be presented with a preferred list of apps that link to the actual apps in Google Play or iTunes. This is heavily reliant on app title, meta description, reviews and ratings. Very obviously, the ranks of these apps depend upon much more than just data, the apps need guaranteed SEO services for overtaking their competitors as soon as possible. As you have already experienced with App Packs, the listings vary greatly from all store app ratings.

What are the Deep Links?

These are usually active links to the internal pages of apps. Google has started displaying Deep Links only recently and that too in quite a variety of ways. While some of the Deep Link URLs are hardly distinguishable from other website links, others have active “install” buttons and app icons that make them stand out in the Google listings.

The most common trend for now is the “open on domain.com” button that comes with the Deep Links that allows all users to choose from app link and web links without additional dialogs or pop-up screens. However, for those who have been using mini browsers and iOS mobile browsers, this can be quite alienating. Since these functionalities are mostly restricted to desktop browsers it is likely that you will find these concepts of Deep Links and App Packs quite outlandish. Google supports indexing of iOS apps inside Chrome apps and not in the mobile versions of Safari yet. It will only be completely supported in iOS9, but even that is only a speculation.

What are the effects of app indexing on SEO?

There are currently three major benefits that can be reaped from the App Indexing process –

1. Specific search results –

While there may be thousands of apps in iTunes and Google Play, the crawling of JavaScript allows spiders to find exactly what you are looking for. Google has more information to access and more ways to list the accessible apps. For many apps, it is quite challenging since they were not developed for robot-audience, however, we are hoping that they will catch up with time.

2. Improved user experience –

Google app indexing may be still evolving but the process increases the overall experience of the users. Better streamlining of the searches coupled with an immersive user experience ensures that the overall user experience improved with the evolution of app indexing.

3. User engagement is increased –

Now apps are being introduced to every man who can use Google search. Newer apps are being recommended everyday for a multitude of purposes that may be related to the search terms. This was unthinkable even 3 years ago. The newer methods of app indexing makes sure that all correctly tagged apps are visible and easy to download. This automatically means, users are more likely to interact with the apps and use them in the future.

Google App Indexing is going to bring about the era of native apps. Hence it automatically becomes a very important tool that SEO experts and webmasters cannot ignore. App indexing is just one piece of the jigsaw puzzle that builds the entire SEO picture. Overall, there is a strong migration from websites to native apps and that is undeniable.

Author bio: Lalit Sharma offers guaranteed SEO services for all apps that are now looking for higher ranks with search engines. He has his own SEO firm and he leads a team of experimental app marketers who like to explore new avenues to make sure their clients’ apps rank high in the Google SRLs.

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