On October 5th, 2016 Apple released their first Search Ads product where advertisers pay per tap. A little more than a year later, on December 5th, 2017, Apple released a simpler Search Ads product known as Search Ads Basic where advertisers pay per install. The previous version of Search Ads was renamed to Search Ads Advanced. Search Ads Basic seems to be based on the Search Match technology of Search Ads Advanced which algoritmically uses the apps metadata, information on similar apps, and search data to automatically match for search terms.

Selecting a CPT bid amount for Apple Search Ads takes some calculation. If you have a paid up front or premium app then a simple way of calculating the CPT bid amount is to take the price of the app * 70% * Conversion Rate. We multiply the price of the app times 70% since Apple takes a 30% commission from the sale of apps. The Conversion Rate is the number of conversions (installs) divided by the number of taps on your ad.

One simple way to organize your Apple Search Ads campaigns is to create a separate campaign for each app and storefront. For example for the LightRight app you would have the following four campaigns: LightRight US LightRight GB LightRight AU LightRight NZ Then it is recommended to create four different Ad Groups as follows: Brand Competitor Non-brand Search Match You should put keywords related to your brand and app name into the “Brand” ad group.