To improve the app’s visibility on Google Play and increase organic traffic, we launched an experiment using an SEO technique: link building. We began placing backlinks to the app’s page on other sites to test two hypotheses:
1. Does buying backlinks affect Google Play rankings for relevant search queries (using the backlink URLs as anchor text)?
2. Will appearing in the top positions of the App Pack increase organic traffic and indirectly improve rankings?
The App Pack is a special block that displays a list of mobile apps relevant to the user’s query.
For the test, we selected an AI-powered mobile app for visualizing home renovations and interior design. The target region for promoting the app is the United States.
When selecting search queries for promotion, we focused on:
Over the course of three iterations, we placed 22 links.
In the 1st iteration, we selected queries with average search volume, low promotion difficulty, and consistent App Pack visibility in search results.
During the 2nd iteration, we repurchased links for four queries selected during the first iteration to ensure continued growth in App Pack rankings. We also added three new queries with average search volume, low promotion difficulty, and consistent App Pack visibility in search results.
During the 3rd iteration, we focused on making the backlink profile look more natural to avoid search engine filters. To do this, we made the anchor text more natural by creating long-tail queries.
To promote the project, we prepared articles that were published on relevant websites with a high or medium Domain Rank (a measure of a site’s authority based on the quality of its backlinks, according to Ahrefs.com) and fairly high monthly traffic.
To build a healthy backlink profile, we also posted links to the app’s page on Reddit, Quora, and niche forums over the course of three iterations. These links are nofollow. Although they do not pass “search weight” and have little impact on search rankings, they drive traffic and are essential for building a healthy SEO profile.
The graph below shows the app’s ranking trends in Google’s App Pack search results for key queries (placements in the first and second iterations) throughout the entire period of link placement.
For the “ai home” query, the ranking trend is more significant than for other main queries.
As a result of the link placement, we achieved an increase in App Pack rankings for six search queries. No increase was observed for only two queries:
At the same time, there was no improvement in rankings for queries for which no links were placed.
Below are the results of the third iteration of link placement, in which we made the anchor text more natural:
The increase in rankings after this link-building campaign was much smaller than when we purchased links with direct query matches in the anchor text. Therefore, indirect matches—while necessary for building a natural backlink profile—do not lead to effective ranking growth in the App Pack.
Updates to Google’s search ranking algorithms, which occurred after the second and third iterations of link placement, led to a drop in rankings in the App Pack; however, in both cases, the drop was temporary.
Below is the ranking trend for queries promoted through backlink placement:
The app’s rankings remain relatively stable. The volatility is largely due to updates to Google Play’s algorithms, which make it impossible to determine the exact impact of backlink placement on rankings.
The graphs below show the trends for some search queries on Google Play and in App Pack.
ai home design
interior ai
app decorator
There is no clear correlation between search rankings on Google Play and App Pack rankings, indicating that there is little direct mutual influence between Google web search rankings and Google Play rankings. However, an increase in App Pack rankings—especially in the top 3, which are displayed without expanding the list—can lead to an increase in app installs, which will positively impact the ranking on Google Play.
1. Placing backlinks leads to an increase in an app’s ranking in the App Pack, and the direct inclusion of search queries in the link anchor text has a significantly greater impact on App Pack rankings.
2. Rankings in the App Pack are sensitive to Google algorithm updates, so it’s important to maintain a natural backlink profile to avoid triggering the search engine’s filters.
3. A large number of nofollow links, as well as dofollow links with indirect inclusion of search queries, have a significantly smaller impact on App Pack rankings.
4. It is impossible to precisely determine the impact of backlink placement on improving rankings in Google Play search, as numerous algorithms within Google Play have a greater influence on rankings.
5. An app’s ranking in the App Pack and on Google Play do not directly influence each other, but a rise in the App Pack can lead to an increase in app installs, which will positively impact its ranking on Google Play.
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