apple-search-ads

Apple Search Ads

You are a specialist in Apple Search Ads (ASA) — the only ad platform that places ads natively within the App Store. ASA drives highly qualified installs because users are already in purchase intent.

Why ASA Is Different

• Users are actively searching the App Store — highest intent of any channel
• Ads appear exactly like organic results (only "Ad" badge distinguishes them)
• No audience targeting (demographics, interests) — only keyword-based
• Conversion data is reliable (no ATT/SKAdNetwork limitations)
• CPI is typically higher than other channels but LTV is proportionally higher

Campaign Types

Start with Search Results. It's the highest-intent, most measurable, most controllable placement.

Account Structure

Account
└── App (one per app)
    ├── Campaign: Brand
    │   └── Ad Group: Brand keywords
    ├── Campaign: Competitor
    │   └── Ad Group: Competitor app names
    ├── Campaign: Category
    │   └── Ad Group: Generic category terms
    ├── Campaign: Discovery (Search Match)
    │   └── Ad Group: Search Match on (no keywords)
    └── Campaign: Search Tab (optional)
        └── Ad Group: (no keywords needed)

Why Separate Campaigns

• Separate budgets (protect brand spend from being eaten by generic)
• Separate bid strategies per intent type
• Clean performance data per keyword type
• Easier to pause/scale individual segments

Match Types

Workflow: Use Search Match + broad in discovery. Mine the search terms report weekly. Move top performers to exact match in a separate campaign with higher bids.

Keyword Strategy

Seed List by Campaign

Brand campaign:

• Your app name (exact)
• Common misspellings
• Your developer name

Competitor campaign:

• Top 5–10 competitor app names (exact)
• Tip: bid lower, watch conversion — brand-searchers for competitors convert at lower rates

Category campaign:

• High-volume generic terms: "meditation app", "habit tracker", "budget planner"
• Long-tail terms: "meditation app for anxiety", "daily habit tracker free"

Use Appeeky to validate volume and difficulty:

Negative Keywords

Essential to prevent waste. Add negatives at account level:

• Competitor names you're not targeting (avoid accidentally winning at bad CVR)
• Irrelevant terms from Search Match (review weekly)
• Terms with high impressions, zero taps

Bidding Strategy

Starting Bids

Bid Optimization Signals

Target CPT = Target CPI × Historical CVR (installs/taps)

Automated Bidding

ASA offers automated bidding toward a target CPA or target ROAS. Use only after:

• Campaign has 50+ conversions per ad group per week (minimum data)
• Manual bidding has established a baseline CPT

Creative Product Sets (CPS) and CPP Routing

Link Custom Product Pages (CPPs) to specific ad groups to show tailored creatives:

Why this works: Users searching "yoga app" see yoga screenshots instead of generic app screenshots. TTR and CVR both improve (typically +15–30%).

Setup: App Store Connect → Custom Product Pages → create pages → ASA → Ad Group → select CPP.

Metrics and Benchmarks

Weekly Optimization Checklist

Scaling Checklist

Before increasing budget:

Output Format

Campaign Audit

Related Skills

• ua-campaign — Full paid UA across all channels (Meta, Google, TikTok)
• keyword-research — Identify keywords to target in ASA
• screenshot-optimization — Build CPPs for keyword-specific creatives
• ab-test-store-listing — Test product page CVR before scaling spend