The App Collective Episode 17
The anatomy of a search results page
Alright, everybody, strap in. We have quite the episode this week.
First of all, I'd like to extend a warm welcome to all our new subscribers. It's great to have you on board, especially those who joined us from the Liquid Weekly newsletter through my Lucky Orange pod episode. I hope you enjoy it here.
Second of all, if you've been here for a while, you know I've been hinting at some exciting things on the horizon. In this episode, I'm finally ready to spill some tea, with more to come over the next week. So, if you like tea, keep on reading!
Lastly, before we get into it, I want to thank everyone for the birthday wishes last Friday. I finally took a day off work. I did have a nice meeting with Keir Whitaker that morning, but who in their right mind would cancel that? Definitely not me. My birthday involved an Indian curry lunch where I made a mess of my dress, some shopping, a pedicure, lunch with my mom the next day, more shopping, and sushi. So basically, I ate a lot, shopped, and sweated my ___ off in this Florida heat.
Alright, enough of the distractions, let's get into it.
What's Inside
A Panel at Pre/ditions
Tim's Pod with Lucky Orange
Pick my brain sessions
Anatomy of a search results page
Pre/ditions
Mantle + Gadget are hosting an event the day before Shopify Editions at the Drake hotel called Pre/editions. Ya girl, along with her 'bandmates'—Tina Donati, Founder of Content Curve, and Tim Peckover, Head of Marketing at Smile.io—will be hosting a panel at the event on all things Shopify app marketing related, AKA Full Stack Growth for Shopify apps.
Our panel session will be at 11 am ET. If you still need to secure your ticket for this amazing event, there is still time. We hope to see you there.
Podcast
Speaking of Tim Peckover from Smile.io, he recently sat down with Sean McCarthy from Lucky Orange on the Lucky Orange Show to discuss The Art of Customer Loyalty Programs. This is a banger episode and you should all run over there to have a listen. The wealth of knowledge Tim shares is unbelievable. And of course, Sean is such an amazing host.
Disclaimer: It might seem like this is sponsored content, but I can assure you it is not. I just really respect these people and what they talk about, and I think you’d find value in the content too. I think there are still some merchants that read the newsletter so this is for you particularly.
Pick my Brain Sessions
So far, I have had a few app devs book a 30-minute pick my brain session with me to discuss anything Shopify app related that they want. These calls have been a ton of fun so far, and the feedback has been really positive. If you’ve joined me for a call, please drop a comment in this newsletter to let others know about your experience and what to expect if app devs booked a call with me. Who knows, I might turn these into monthly ‘office hours’ if enough of you want that.
Anatomy of a Search Results Page
In a future episode, we will discuss SEO on Google in greater depth, but I wanted to discuss dominating a search results page on Shopify and the impact that can have on installs.
As you all know, I run ads for Shopify apps of all sizes. Some of those apps see a lot of installs directly from the ads, whereas others see less installs from the ads but more installs overall. You might be asking yourself how this is possible. Well, that is what I want to talk about today.
As you can see in the above example, I chose a very popular app category with the keyword "reviews." 3 of the main reviews app players - Loox, Stamped.io, and Judge.me appear on the page in more than 1 place. The goal of this is to conquer page domination, otherwise known as a way to increase brand recognition/association for merchants looking to install the app.
So If you're an app like Stamped.io hovering at the bottom row on the far left of the first page, the ad saves them at the first ad position. Our eyes naturally gravitate to the left and they're at the very top and the very bottom of the left row.
Whereas Loox has it on lock with the top 2 rows right underneath each other. It actually doesn't get much better than that. They are likely paying less to be in the 2nd ad position, and I would be willing to bet their organic installs are well assisted by the ad placement.
And lastly, you have Judge.me in a similar boat as Stamped being on a top position on the far left but instead their placement is the #1 organic position for the reviews keyword. And instead of using ads to supplement their brand recognition, they have a second app for dropshipping reviews on AliExpress closer to the bottom of the page. Again, I would bet money on that second app listing feeding the first app with installs because of the brand reinforcement.
What have we learned? Well, firstly, these apps and a few more have this category on lock. It's crowded, and unless you can confidently build something miles better, maybe skip this category.
But back to the subject at hand, you want to ensure you are dominating the page with at least an ad and an organic listing to support more installs. You can always test this theory on your own. I'm curious what your learnings will be so please share in the future.
Alright, this was a long one and I’m tired. Are you tired? Are we done for the day? Drop a comment and like on this week’s episode and tell me your favorite color.
K. BYEEEEEE
Deb