Mobile App Install Campaigns: Using Google Ads to Grow Your App

As an advertiser, you need to drive traffic and conversions for your mobile app. You can achieve this by implementing effective app campaigns based on tried and true methods. The right campaign will allow you to connect with paying users or draw attention to your app to increase revenue.

App campaigns will streamline your workflow, making it easiest to promote your app across YouTube, Google Search, Google Play Store, Google Display Network, and Discover on Google Search.

This article will cover the basics of app campaigns and how to get started using best practices. That way, you can generate profitable mobile app install campaigns consistently.

Let’s get started:

What is a Google Ads App Campaign?

A Google Ads campaign is an automated way to market to your target audience using Google’s network (Search, Google Play, YouTube, Discover on Google Search, and the Google Display Network) of high-traffic websites and services. By taking advantage of Google’s traffic and robust analytics, you can test new ad ideas quickly and adapt them to drive more conversions.

How Do Google Ads App Campaigns Work?

For app campaigns, you don’t need to design individual ads. Instead, you can use your assets like ad copy and graphics from your app store listing and let Google do the job of resizing and optimizing them for that placement by designing a variety of ads across several formats and networks.

It’s best practice to provide Google with at least one of each of the following assets:

• Landscape image
• Portrait video
• Landscape video
• HTML5 Assets

You’ll need to let Google know what language and location you want to advertise your mobile app install campaigns in, as well as your starting bid and budget. And then, their advanced algorithm can go to work, creating various combinations of your ads to begin collecting data on what’s working and what’s not.

Google Ads will also automate targeting and bidding. You can select which priorities you have, such as in-app conversions, downloads, or target return on ad spend (tROAS).  For instance, if Google Ads sees that a certain headline performs better than others, it will note this information in a rich analytics platform like Google Analytics. That way, you can make more informed decisions about your ads going forward.

Where Can App Campaign Ads Be Showing?

Your mobile app install campaign will be eligible to appear across Google’s properties. This includes Google Search, Google Play, YouTube, the Google Display Network, AdMob, Discover on Google Search, our search partners, and many more publishers who host app ads. Here are some of the places where your ads can appear:

Google Search Network & Google Search Partner

Google matches your ad to search for terms that are relevant to your app or its category. Google Ads generates your keywords using several methods, including using Google Play search terms that have led people to your app.

Google Play

• Ads will appear on Google Play search results
• Ads may appear in sections “You might also like” and “Related to this app” in Google Play related apps area.
• It may appear in “Suggested for you” in the Google Play homepage section.

As when search term matches with ad relevancy, chances are to get ad to appear,  even user visited the someone else app detail page which is similar to yours, that user will be able to see your ad too.

YouTube

Google Ads can show your mobile app install campaigns on YouTube which matches relevant pages and content, where chances of clicked and app download chances are high.

Google Display Network

• Gmail
• Other apps
• Mobile websites of news sites, blogs, and other sites across the Internet

Discover on Google Search

Your ads can now appear on Discover on Google Search. This means you’ll be able to serve visually-rich ads to users according to the user’s relevant interests.

Your ad will also be shown in placements exclusive to app campaigns such as the app and home listing pages in the Google Play store. This allows you to show your ads to people already searching for a new app. This is only available for Android phones with English language setting only.

How to Setup a Google Ads App Campaign?

First, sign in to Google Ads. Then select Campaigns from the left-hand menu and click the “New campaign” option in the drop-down menu.

Select “App promotion as your goal” and click continue.

Now select the “App” campaign type and the device type (iOS or Android) and look up your app.

For instance, Android will look like this:

After you select Android, input your name, select “Continue.” Now you can select your app and continue from there.

Campaign Name

Your campaign name should be memorable and relevant, so you can easily remember the focus of each campaign in your account.

Locations

Where do you want your ads to display? By default, Google will set the reach of your campaigns to the entire United States. However, you may only want to advertise to a specific region. You can change the location option accordingly to your targeted area.

You can further improve the physical location with additional targeting options that may help you increase profits.

• People in, who show interest in, your targeted location:

Although Google recommended this “People in, who show interest in, your targeted location”.  But this will include all those people who are not actually living in your target location.

• People in, or regularly in your targeted locations.

For a better optimized campaign, you should go with the second selection “People in, or regularly in your targeted locations” this will sharply target the physically available audience.

• People who show interest in your targeted location.

you can choose to only advertise to people with interest in the area and not based on their actual location.

You can also exclude the location. You have the option to exclude based only on location or by interest and location.

Languages

Google determines a user’s language by their settings. Ensure that you manually choose the languages you want your ads displayed to avoid wasting money on markets you aren’t targeting.

Budget

If your daily budget is set to $10 with a billing cycle of 30 days, you will limit your ad spend to around $304 (30.4 multiplied by your budget). Some days you may be charged more than $10 and other days less, but it will even out over the monthly cycle. You can learn more about how to plan your budget for campaign.

Bidding

What do you want to focus on – Here you have two options to choose from. Defining your campaign’s focus helps Google Ads determine the right bid strategy so that your ads reach the right users to install your app.

Install volume – Google Ads will optimize your bids and targeting to help you get the greatest number of new users for your app. The bid you set should be the average amount you’d like to spend each time someone installs your app. As an advanced option in the new Google Ads experience, you can target users likely to install and perform a specific action. For this option, you will still bid for installs.

In-app actions – If your goal is to find more valuable users, and you have the key in-app action tracked as a conversion event, use this option. Google Ads will focus on people who are most likely to complete the specific in-app actions. Conversion tracking is required to enable campaigns that target in-app actions.

What kind of users do you want to target – Here you have two options to choose from.

All Users – Select “All users” to maintain the highest potential install volume.

Users Likely to Perform an In-App Action – You must have conversion tracking set up to analyze in-app actions. Then if you select this option then it will target only those who usually perform actions inside the app like purchases, form filling, etc.

Target Cost-Per-Install

If you have the checkbox “Checked” then you are running a campaign as Target Cost Per Install ( target CPI) focused on app installs, you need to set a bid. In this case, you have to provide the bid.

Upon installation of your app, one install will be recorded. Keep your CPI in mind when creating your budget. If you want to generate ten installs a day, and your CPI is $5, you need to plan to spend $50 per day at a minimum.

But if you leave the checkbox unchecked, then it will become a Maximize Conversion campaign. It will work within budget but will provide the highest install volume by automatically set the right bids for you. This type of campaign may not work well if you have a limited campaign budget.  If you have a limited budget then define your target cost per install by yourself.

*Note: Target ROAS for app campaign is in beta.

Start and End Date

You may have evergreen mobile app install campaigns that run indefinitely. Or you might have a limited-time promotion that you want to advertise for a certain period. Luckily, you can select the exact start and end date in that case, better to always provide an end date otherwise you run out of budget.

Setup Ad Group

Give a proper name to your ad group that makes it easy to know what you’re looking at from a glance.

Ad Assets

You can add your ad assets now, such as images, videos, and text as explaining below:

Headline

You can add up to 5 headlines. The character limit for each headline is 30.

Description

Make the most out of your descriptions by encouraging users to interact with your app.

Images

• Upload images as .jpg, .gif, or .png with a maximum size of 150KB
• For native ads, landscape images are the most valuable format
• For interstitial ads, portrait images are the most valuable format
• Other valuable formats include: 320×50 pixels, 320×480 pixels, and 300×250 pixels

Video

• Videos must be hosted on YouTube
• Orientation can be landscape, portrait, or square
• Notice: If you don’t have videos to add, Google Ads may make a video ad for you using assets from your app store listing

HTML5

• Upload HTML5 as .zip with a maximum size of 1MB and no more than 40 files
• To validate your HTML5 assets before uploading, run your .zip file through the HTML5 Validator tool
• HTML5 sizes currently accepted include:
• 480×320 (landscape interstitial, variable size)
• 320×480 (portrait interstitial, variable size)
• 300×250 (fixed size)
• 320×50 (fixed size)

Preview

You can preview your app assets on Display, search, YouTube, and Google Play:

Confirmation

Once you’re happy with your selected ad message, it’s time to review your campaign details before pressing the final ‘OK.’

Tips and Tricks to optimize Google Ads App Campaigns

Once your campaign is live, you can improve it in several ways. You can optimize your campaign from the perspective of installs, in-app actions, or in-app action value.

Focus on More Installs

You can focus on more users to install your app. The bid you can set is an average amount you would like to spend on every time user want to install. With this google, Ads will perform optimization on its own end to get you as many users as it can.

Drive In-App Actions

If you don’t want random users on your app and you want to be specific and intended users then you should go for those users who performed in-app actions.

Drive In-App Action Value

This approach is focused on users likely to generate a higher value long term. Google can help you determine which actions are associated with higher value users to target those in-app actions or channels that send profitable users to your app.

Additional Tips for Mobile App Install Campaigns

You can get creative with optimizing your mobile campaigns. No matter what your goals are, there are ways to improve conversions. Let’s look at some additional ways to approach your campaigns:

Changes in Performance

From the “All campaigns” page, you can see your change history. Identify which changes created positive changes and which ones reduced results.

Always Include Video Creative

You can boost your conversions by 25% with great video content. They might take a while to create, but videos are well worth the effort and cost.

Optimize Your Creative for Different Google App Campaign Ad Formats and Channels

Each business will find more success with a particular channel. You might find that your ads on YouTube perform better than those on Google Search Network, for instance. Be sure to adapt your creativity to focus on your most profitable channels. It is much easier to tweak an existing campaign than to create a successful one from scratch.

Allow Your Google App Campaigns to Run Before Adjusting Your Budget

Keep in mind that results from mobile app install campaigns don’t come overnight. You need to plan for the long term and give the ads time to work. Google will eventually collect enough data to allow you to make decisions based on significant factors. In the beginning, patience is key.

Run Ads in Countries that Match Your App’s Languages

Google will not automatically translate your ads. It would be best if you only run ads for areas where your app is fully available and localized.

Segment your Google App Campaign Effectively

Your audience will have differences among different users. You can see which segments of your target user base have qualities that correlate to higher installs, in-app actions, or other conversion goals.

You can segment your campaign by geo-location and language to ensure you’re speaking to the right audience in the most basic sense: those who can understand your ads and are located in countries where you do business.

You might run into instances where the two countries speak the same language. For instance, the USA and Canada both speak English. However, you might find that your ads perform better in one location over another due to cultural differences. Keeping geophysical locations in mind helps you identify easy wins in your campaigns without changing a word of your ad copy or any other creative assets.

Test Your Creatives Before Setting Them Live

Speaking of creatives (image, video, audio, and other formats included in add), your campaign performance sometimes comes down to the visuals you use. You might A/B test and find that one image is performing 10x better than other images. Or perhaps text-only ads are generating higher install rates.

Creatives matter when running mobile app install campaigns. Whether it’s a game, a professional app, or anything else, you need to create engaging visuals that represent what your app is all about.

Simplified Image Requirements for App Campaigns

Currently, app campaigns accept more than 30 different sizes and dimensions for image assets. However, soon Google will begin shifting from size-based to ratio-based image specifications. You will only need to upload images in three aspect ratios:

• 1:1 (Square): 200 x 200 (minimum), 1200 x 1200 (recommended)
• 91:1 (Landscape): 600 x 314 (minimum), 1200 x 628 (recommended)
• 4:5 (Portrait): 320 x 400 (minimum), 1200 x 1500 (recommended)
• Limits – Increasing the image file size limit from 150KB to 5MB so you can upload higher-quality assets.
• Formats – GIFs will no longer be accepted. The only accepted formats will be .jpg and .png.

Google will send alerts in your Google Ads account to notify you of ad groups that contain unsupported images and remind you to take action before the update.

Wrap Up

Increasing app installs or in-app events can be challenging. But if you don’t have proper data analytics and campaigns set up, it will be nearly impossible to improve your ads without getting lucky.

Let Google do the hard work of automation by giving it the right information upfront. Then, continually monitor your results. If you are always testing, you can figure out the right approach that delivers installs and other revenue goals at a profitable cost.

The beautiful part of advertising your Mobile App on Google’s network of platforms is that you end up with a sales funnel that only gets smarter over time. So review your campaign goals and use the guide above to create mobile app install campaigns that work for your specific business.