Searching App Store for an App's Exact Name Now Returns Two Ads, the App, and an Ad for the App
Apple says the results are "highly relevant," in that the ads are also apps.
CUPERTINO, Calif. — Users searching the App Store for an app by its exact, complete, correctly spelled name are now shown two full-screen advertisements, then the app, then an advertisement for the app, a result Apple described Tuesday as "the most relevant search experience we have ever built."
"If you type the name of an app, it means you are interested in apps," said a company spokesperson. "We are simply showing you more of them. Some of them are not the one you typed. That is discovery."
An analysis of 1,400 searches by the mobile research firm Appreciate found that the app a user actually searched for appeared in the first visible position 22 percent of the time, and in the second or third position most of the rest, after an ad for a competitor, an ad for a mobile game about merging vegetables, or both.
"I make a to-do list app called Tallyho," said independent developer Keziah Morrow-Lindahl. "When you search 'Tallyho,' you see a meditation app, then a to-do list app that is not mine, then mine, sandwiched, like a hostage. I have started buying search ads on my own name so that I can appear next to myself."
Morrow-Lindahl said the ads cost her $1.40 per install, which is 40 cents more than she charges for the app.
Users reported the new placements were most noticeable because they cannot be dismissed. The company said a way to hide them is available for users willing to search for it, and that the search results for "hide ads" begin with an ad.
At press time, a user had searched the App Store for "App Store" and been shown an advertisement for Google Play.