APP indexing and SEO (Android and IOS) - SEO SEO agency, Web copywriting, backlinking

We regularly discuss among colleagues at the doyouseo the fact that Google will one day have to use an API to browse application content, in order to reference and value it correctly in the SERP of “mobile” results.

The classic – current – method of indexing is not very efficient since it is strongly based on hypertext links (knowing that Apps, unlike web pages, do not use hypertext links to link their content).

Google has therefore released a press release announcing the possibility of referencing app content using an API called Mobile App Indexing API. It is a little different from what the APP developers had imagined and above all, it seems that it marks a first step whose implications are likely to shake up natural referencing once again.

The official press release from google (personal translation):

You’ve invested time and effort into making your app a great experience, and we want to help users find them. App Indexing has already helped many people to engage with your Android App once installed – we now have 30 billion links within Indexed Apps. Now, people searching on Google will also be able to find your app without having heard of it.

If you (your APPS programmer ) have set up App Indexing, and your App is relevant to the search performed on Google from Android and iOS devices, Internet users will be able to see the “install” button of your App in the search results. Tapping this button will take them directly to the Google Play store where they can install it and then use it.

With the addition of these installation links, we start using App Indexing as a positioning indicator for all Android or iOS users, regardless of whether they have already installed the app.

We hope that Search will now help you acquire new users and encourage the use of your App among existing users. To get started, please visit AppIndexing and to learn more about the different ways you can integrate with Google Search, please visit DeveloperSearch.

Between them, the programmers imagined …

Since 2012, fellow developers have imagined that Google would make a request for access to a brand’s API content in the same way that mobile apps use them to embed content within the Apps from a web server.

In fact, Google’s Mobile App Indexing API works differently, and this implies that developers must adapt since they are the ones who have to notify Google of the content in the App and the URL that directly correlates between this content and the website that presents it.

Armed with this information, Google has the option of sending users to a web page or to the App to read the information.

The developers involved? Why and how?

The App Indexing API provides developers with an option to notify Google of deep links in their native mobile apps and allows the Google App to drive re-engagement using Google Search query completions, providing quick and easy access to app pages.

Deep links reported using the App Indexing API are also used by Google to index App content and will be displayed in Google Search results.”

The first thing developers need to do is enable deep linking for their App from the Developers Console.
The next step is to link the App to the website and make sure it’s set up to work with Google Play.

To make it work

Developers must also set up actions called “determined filters” that notify Google that a user is viewing a section of the content.

Mention the title of the content
Indicate if there is a page on the website that has the same content.

When a user views some of the content in the App, Google is notified and indexes it.

When a user searches for an application, Google will offer them the option to view the content on the App rather than a web page that talks about it.

If the user clicks this option, the App will open, directing the user directly to the designated program relevant to the query.

To my knowledge, apart from the title and location of the content, the App does not actually send any other information to Google. As a result, the engine is not really able to really analyze the content at the time of search; it only tracks the URL pair of the informative page of the site/Application.

In this sense, the new API only has an indexing role and does not seem to be related to the natural search algorithm.

In other words

Google has difficulty estimating whether the content of the App deserves to be better positioned than a competitor’s web page, it bases itself on the ranking of the dedicated web page to decide if its relevance deserves the application to be offered for results instead of the page of the site that highlights it… And offer a “better user experience”

This initiates profound changes in mobile search results

Obviously, there is no reason why APPs should not appear in the mobile SERP in the same way as the software in Google Search.

But let’s consider that they will compete with organic results web pages, in terms of positioning and traffic. The brands and their APP developer will have to optimize the content of their application AND their presentation/promotion page.

Other factors to consider now:

We understood that if Google is able to guide a user to the content within the App, it is because its positioning is mainly based on the web version of the content.

Factors such as the number of downloads or the time spent on the Application could also be taken into consideration, as these criteria can help applications without a dedicated/paired page to position themselves despite everything… but this is only a supposition that will be kept for the future.

Google Search is able to index links, user behavior, social activity, page structure, site contents, and a ton of other factors in order to position the web portal that deserves the first position in the SERP.
When it comes to Apps, many of these settings don’t exist yet.

Even if the new APP indexing is a step forward, the SEO of mobile applications is less about the optimization of the App itself than about the optimization of the web version of the content and the presence of the link to the App.

What this portends for SEO in the future

In the near future, it’s not hard to imagine that Google will allow developers to present all content as well as metadata through The Indexing API.

This will allow the positioning of App data independently of the website and it seems obvious that this will have to come to this, as applications constitute a world in their own right, many of which are not supported by a functional Web portal.

The “movement” also addresses one of the big hurdles developers face when the client has only a limited marketing budget: “How can people find our App”?

Let’s be objective, in this matter neither the Apple App Store nor Google Play are brilliant. By linking apps to their existing web content, Google is getting a head start in favor of the Google Play Store.

It should also be remembered that before Google, companies were reluctant to jump into the Web for these same reasons.

A new era for SEO

We are entitled to think that the App Indexing API will change the subject of conversations aboutApp referencing and its evolution and will bring other levers than the simple optimization of the title and description of App Store applications.

Now we can talk about content optimization within the App itself.

When Google starts analyzing app-specific ranking factors, mobile SEO will be disrupted, and new metrics, tools, and reports will need to be considered.

In many ways, this API opens the doors to a new generation of referrals for mobile SEO, developers, and SEO consultants: get ready! (and get ahead of the game by discovering the API today)

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