Just 20% of iOS apps and 30% of Android Apps are able to support Google’s new app indexing, meaning brands are missing out on significant amounts of search traffic, according to new research.
The research, from Searchmetrics, indicates that many brands are failing to let content from their apps show up in Google’s organic search results.
Google can now display content from Android and iOS mobile apps within its organic search results (alongside traditional web results), but most brands are failing to take advantage of this opportunity and missing out on potential app downloads as well as traffic and engagement coming to their apps via search.
In its study of the 100 most visible websites in Google US searches, Searchmetrics found that 84% offer an Android App, however only 30% of these had implemented support for Google’s App Indexing (also known as deep linking) facility which lets Google index and show relevant pages from their apps in its mobile search results.
Of the 88% of sites in the Searchmetrics analysis that offer an iOS app, even fewer – just 19% – were found to be supporting deep linking.
Direct jump from search to app
Once an app owner has enabled Google app indexing, a phone or tablet user who has installed that app can be shown pages from it (alongside traditional web results) if Google considers the app content relevant to the search query.
For example, if the user is searching for information about a specific product, then app indexing lets Google display a link to the product landing page from the app instead of the landing page on the company website. This lets phone or tablet users jump directly from the search results to their apps, providing an important engagement opportunity for app marketers.
App owners who have enabled deep linking for their app can also potentially attract new installs through search. For instance, if a searcher has not installed an app, it could still feature in Google’s search results as a suggested app they should consider installing via the Google play store if it is felt to have content relevant to their query.
“Many companies have invested heavily in apps, yet on average 20% of the apps a person installs on their device are only ever opened once,” said Marcus Tober, CTO and founder of Searchmetrics. “App indexing is a fantastic opportunity to maximize the investment in your app – by helping to drive more traffic and interaction and potentially even conversions. On top of this, if your app supports app indexing, Google has indicated that it could potentially appear more prominently in searches.”
“Despite all these benefits, our data indicates that probably fewer than a third of app owners are making use of app indexing – even though Google has provided full instructions on how to get your app to enable it. Anyone that offers an app, should get on to this quickly while there is still a competitive advantage.”
Industry sectors- clothing on top
The Searchmetrics analysis also looked at which industry sectors were most likely to allow deep linking to their mobile apps, revealing that online apparel retailers come top.
Among apparel retail sites that offer an iOS app, 32% have enabled app indexing, while for Android apps this is 31%. Over and above this, most companies in this sector were found to offer some type of app, with just 5% of apparel sites not offering an iOS app and 9% not offering an Android app.
A full management report including the findings of the 2016 Searchmetrics US App Indexing Analysis together with advice and assistance for those looking to implement App Indexing, can be downloaded here (registration required).
Google App Indexing has been available on iOS since May 2015, requiring iOS 9, while it has been offered on Android since October 2014.
Methodology
To determine the list of top 100 most visible sites that appear in Google US searches, Searchmetrics used its SEO Visibility score – a metric the company has developed to measure and track online search performance of websites. Searchmetrics tracks the organic search results of millions of keywords which it uses to calculate the ‘SEO Visibility’ score. The SEO visibility score for a web domain is based on:
· The number of times a domain appears in the search engine results pages (SERPs) across the keyword set
· Its prominence within those SERPs (a higher ranking equates to a higher visibility score)
· The competitiveness of the keyword (higher search volumes equate to a higher visibility score)
While SEO Visibility can relate to a website’s real traffic, it is important to remember that traffic can come from many different places online. SEO Visibility is only an indicator of visibility that comes from a website’s organic search channel.
About the Searchmetrics US App Indexing Analysis 2016
In order to test which domains in the top 100 most visible sites have implemented app indexing / app deep linking, Searchmetrics followed these steps:
1. First the company checked which domains actually offer an Android or iOS app.
2. After this, the source code of the homepage and two of the best performing subpages where checked (it is possible that not all pages of a domain have adopted app indexing). These top pages were considered representative.
3. In the source code check, the domains were examined for the most common variations of implementing app deep linking – i.e. for the corresponding code in the
. As there are other ways of building in the code, this analysis cannot claim to offer a complete picture.