How To Make Your Android App More Indexable on Google Search?

Google announced App Indexing in 2013 to increase the efficiency of search results for users. It works exactly the same as it does for websites– allows Googlebot to crawl and index content within Android apps and display it in search results. Although, Google has given this feature to facilitate users and make the search more efficient and close. But, this can be a big opportunity for marketers and publishers to increase exposure of their app through the content within it. At Google’s I/O developer’s Conference held in 2014, the search giant company announced that app indexing was expanding from a select group of apps to all Android apps.

Now, by using Google’s App Indexing API, developers and marketers can now allow Google to crawl and index deep links within their apps, which in turn, will display the app content in mobile search results and hence more their apps will get more exposure. Apart from launching Google App Indexing, it has also given the opportunity to connect Android app and website through the Google Play Console and Webmaster Tools, to help users in getting the exact content.

How App Indexing Works?

As we discussed, App Indexing employs deep links to crawl and index content from apps and display that in Google search results. For example, let’s say you search for the movie Fast & Furious 6 on Google’s search app. And, if you have already installed the IMDB app on your Android device, then in search results you will get the link of the movie content on the IMDB app instead of IMDB website.

And, if the app is already on your Android device then you can search for apps within Google Play store rather than searching on Google search. Let’s take a look on a screenshot of Google search results for the keywords “social networking apps” on an Android device:

Why App Indexing is Important?

 Increases User Engagement

 The Google’s app marketplace is flooded with many apps that are    fighting for downloads with their competitor apps – and after getting downloaded, for user engagement. According to Localytics – about 1 out of 4 downloaded apps is only opened once. Why? – Because, play Store even after getting so popular and widely accepted, most of the Android users still do a Google search for searching anything instead of opening a specific app. By leveraging App Indexing, marketers and publishers can make their app content more indexable and easily accessible, which in turn, will improve their engagement rate and bring their users back in Google search.

Strengthens the Importance of App Store Optimization

In an effort to bring web and mobile together, Google has taken its first step by introducing App Indexing. It shows that how important it is to properly optimize the app title and description, because now through App Indexing, a right content (that includes title and description) can improve the chances of app visibility on the play store. And, by right optimization of your app’s title and description, you can make your app more discoverable on Google Play Store search as well as Google search. By leveraging Google’s App Indexing your app can gain extra visibility and can deliver a significant smash in downloads.

So, now to optimize your app’s presence add App Indexing in your to-do-list of app marketing and help your app gain more visibility and downloads. You can find more information on making your app indexable on the Google Developer’s portal.