Apps 101: Deep Linking, App Indexing, and Why They Matter

Glad you enjoyed it, Hemanth!

Jason- that was a really good article; thanks for sharing! It’s prescient of Branch to be offering a service of making clients’ apps integrate with all of the indexing giants. The problem that the author outlines, however, reminds me of the “Basket of Remotes” problem posed by the nascent Internet of Things (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_of_Things#A_Basket_of_Remotes); without some standard protocols, we’ll never get the “Enterprise computer” so vaunted by Page and Brin; instead, we’ll get Captain Picard having to download updates for the phasers because they’re no longer compatible with the shields. (Sorry for the ultra-nerdy metaphor!)

Very concise article. Restructuring your app for deep linking is a pain for devs, but is absolutely necessary. It’s better to do it now than wait till people are actually discovering apps with Google App Indexing! And Apple has a plan for Spotlight search discoverability. Configuring your app is the first step.

Here’s a satirical post on the future of deep linking on mobile: http://goo.gl/KrPG6L — worth a read!

Deep links are an important part of the app indexing. Thanks! John,for a valuable post.

Harekrishna – thanks for the feedback, and good luck with your prospects.

Oasis- thank you, and good luck to you, too.

Aaidan- I hadn’t heard about golem apps prior to your comment, so thanks for exposing me to a new technology!

Carl- I know that working with such large properties can be a very tricky (and laborious) process, but I sincerely hope that you see increased visibility and engagement as a result of your efforts.

Good article. We are working our way through some of these technical challenges here at Disney. It is not a very easy process, especially on iOS.

We have recently started building golem apps and can positively pay attention of the points you have got mentioned.

Thank you John for the valuable information! We will start to build apps to increase our brand awareness. Wish you luck!

Thanks! John,for a valuable post.before you build a new app check website that really repeat traffic on your site to the right prospects.if your site necessary then change on app.

Kevin- thanks for the feedback. Glad I could help!

Cathy- glad to shed some light on the topic. Before you spend money on an app, make sure that your service warrants it. Spend a little time on a cost/benefits analysis and make sure that your business relies heavily enough on repeat traffic that an app would make sense. Of course, if your website doesn’t necessarily translate to an app, you could always develop an app that performs a useful function that is related to your business. It’s all about offering value to your users. Good luck!

Thanks! John. You have explained very well in a short blog.

Thanks for this very enlightening article John!I am one of those who are yet to jump into the Mobile app bandwagon. Till now, happy with building websites but it seems can not afford to ignore mobile apps for long. Since, as you mentioned, Google has started indexing apps also, this will give a further impetus and motivation to app creators.

Peter and Website Designing Company- glad to help!

Alexander- Google Now on Tap hasn’t been released to the public yet; it sounds like it should be released around September this year, with the latest Android update. (Now called “Google M”.) So I can’t say for certain how that is going to behave.
However, in order for deep links to work, the user would need to have the app installed. Currently, Google is actually returning recommendations for some apps that aren’t installed; for example, I searched for a restaurant in my area, and Google showed me the link to the restaurant’s page on Yelp.com, but it also offered a link to install Yelp. (I don’t have Yelp on my phone.)
However, that’s Yelp. Google pulls a lot of data from Yelp. It’s hard to believe that, for smaller companies or more specific niches, Google is going to extend the same courtesy. So it’s most likely that the user will in fact have to have the app installed in order to see those deep links showing up in their search results pages.
Hope this helps!

Hi John,

Thanks for sharing this great article. App Indexing or API is an important factor nowadays for the search engines. Everything is now based on the apps and so Google and other search engines don’t wont to lack behind in this as well. Deep links are an important part of the app indexing and it will surely be given more importance in the near future as its the time of apps now. We are also working on certain apps that get found in google as any mobile user search for the particular content. That is what app indexing and deep linking is.

Once again thanks for sharing such informative post. Cheers!

Thanks John. We have recently started building android apps and will definitely take care of the points you have mentioned. Thanks a lot for keeping us posted on new Google trends.