Apple App Store Curiosity

If you search for “monzo” on Apple App Store the search results return the Starling App first THEN the Monzo App! IMG_BF1A600107A4-1

When you place an advert on the App Store, you can choose certain keywords to target so that when users search for those specific words, they’ll see the app. Looks like that’s what’s happening here.

The advert isn’t part of the organic search results, it’s a paid placement.

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Slightly naughty, I suppose :stuck_out_tongue:

Are you allowed to target registered trademarks in advertising…?

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It’s the same with a lot of other apps, the Google app store and web searches. All to do with web analytics and key words. So if you search for a specific antivirus you may get others. Just did a search and mine came up with Yolt (which I use). You can limit and reset your advertising preferences by going to settings > privacy and scrolling down to the bottom. Doesn’t seem to make much difference and why I have to have ads on a device I’ve paid for is rather irksome.

Yep! It’s actually a classic. A big thing is doing this with Google Adwords.

Classic business trick when purchasing App Store adds. Means you see something else and go for that instead.

Searching Monzo on Google Play also brings Starling as an advert but I like the way Play Store ads are below the top Search result.

Screenshot_20180608-174702

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There’s gotta be a way to troll Starling this way, maybe build a totally crap app and have it pop up under their app

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To be fair its not just keywords, you can do it by category, so their ad could come up for any banking app.

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Apple really messed up search adverts when they introduced them recently.

Most of the ads are like this example - hijacking a search for a specific word to show a competitor.

If you search directly for an app name, there should be no way a competitor with an alternate name can get ahead. Ads should be allowed for generic terms only.

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I just switched from Android to ios. On the play store it shows you the app you want and related apps whereas Apple show promoted products first then your app which I’m not keen on. I mean the device is £800 not a Kindle which can be part paid for with ads. I also don’t like that on Apple you can’t immediately see which are free and which are not.

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