We’ve decided to check if app store impressions are doubled if you open the app page from search results.
It’s all clear if you only view the app in App Store search results. But what if you find the app in the App Store and then open its page, will there be one impression or two?
This is actually important as it impacts organic traffic directly. In other words, it affects tracking the conversion rate from impressions to app installs with Apple Search Ads campaigns on (remember our ASA case study: ASA Helps You Promote Apps).
The thing is that Apple Search Ads reports on the total number of impressions with no breakdown by unique page views:
Where as the App Store Connect doesn’t separate impressions in search from search ads:
First, we decided to refer to official sources to figure it out: official Apple and tech support.
Here’s what it says about the number of impressions and what it includes
App Store Connect Help on Impressions:
App Store Impressions. See how many times your app’s icon has been viewed on the App Store, including in search results, Featured, Top Charts, and your App Store product page.
This extract lacks a detailed description: the app page can be viewed in more ways (e.g., from Facebook), so they couldn’t but mention the App Store product page.
Put simply, the impressions are doubled. To make it all clear, we referred to Apple Support and were in for a surprise:
With App Store Impressions, you can calculate how often users click through to download your app from seeing it anywhere on the App Store. In this case, it would be one if the user searched a keyword then selected and downloaded your app. According to tech support, the impressions aren’t doubled. So I decided to trust no one and check that by myself.
(Here’s a little bit more about the Apple guideline:)
I took an app with a small number of impressions in Ukraine and asked the Netpeak Agency employees in Ukraine to find the app in the App Store and then open it.
If the hypothesis is correct, the impressions will be doubled in a day.
As it turned out, I was right.
A total number of impressions:
An average number of impressions per day:
A total number of product page views:
An average number of product page views per day:
The total number of impressions is doubled if you find and then open the app in the App Store search.
To learn more about other different features, join our Telegram chat Apple Search Ads.
Tips, life hacks, more interesting information — subscribe to our facebook and read new experiments first!
