Why deep linking is important: 10 Reasons in support of Mobile Apps

by eSparkBiz Pvt. Ltd. Web Designer, Web Developer, SEO

Many of you might wonder what Mobile deep-linking is? So I will start by answering this question. We will then dive deep within the amazing benefits of deep linking pertains to user’s journey with your marketing communication that drives the result.

Let’s get right into it!

The topic of deep-linking has been around for a while, but it’s been in the news after Apple’s release of ios9. At a high-level Deep linking is the ability to jump directly into a specific place in your application from somewhere outside of the application. For an example if your friend sends you a link to a local restaurant on Yelp application clicking the link on your phone would open the Yelp app would load the page with information about the restaurant. The Android platform has supported this type of link resolution for some time now.

What exactly is deep linking?

If you are an android user you might be familiar with the disambiguation dialogue that appears when you click on a link asking you if you want to open the content in the browser or in the app installed in your phone. With the new release of Android, App publishers can set up their connection between link and App with the new flag. This technology can manifest the web link and thus replaces the server and allows them to bypass systems dialogue which should make a much more seamless appearance. iOS 9 and consecutively iOS 10 provides the same experience with this newly identical Mobile apps deep link technology set up.

The good thing is both platforms use the same mobile web URLs which have been around for decades.

So if don’t have the App installed and if you click the link you won’t get an error. Instead, you will just be taken to the web pages expected. But what if as a developer you want these users to be able to download your app instead? Currently, Apple and Google have successfully streamlined the solution to Mobile apps deep link problem.

Apart from iOS and Android third parties like Branch: https://branch.io/ is also providing solution to Deep linking mobile app. Branch lets you configure all your Apps various destination links in one place. When users click on the Special Branch’s link their service detects what device you are using and whether you have or not the App installed and allows you to direct where you want to go. Meanwhile, if you don’t have the App installed, it would direct you to the store and then brings you to your desired content after installation. Fortunately, if you do have the App installed it directly let the user fly to their expected destination.

Another instance of Deep-linking is linking between Apps. For example, when reviewing movies in IMDB App you may find a Netflix button there. When tapped, would take you directly to the page URL within the Netflix App.

Several third-party deep linking mobile application Analytics tools have started flushing in the market that monitor acquired users by measuring activity performance

Deep-linking for Developers:

Using the intense system in Android and in ios10, developers can now expose the schema for third-party Apps to deep-link the users into their own app. developing and publishing the schema is great to get other people to use your App. As the lines blurs between the mobile app and the native App we expect to see more companies implementing solutions like this and eventually give their customers the best experience possible and give them the information they need quickly.

As you can see, there is a lot of benefits that you can get from Mobile deep linking as compared to the conventional surfing, where the user’s journey is much smoother.

Had this been 2010, you would have been laughing at me for writing a blog on Deep-Linking which is a part of a Digital Marketing technique. This is evident from the fact that Digital Marketing industry is worth $68 billion. When all other industries are stuck with a mere growth of 5 to 10 percent, the digital marketing industry is booming with 40% growth rate. Digital marketing has been successful in establishing a stronghold in the marketplace. Taking similar references, we have bifurcated the idea of Deep-link and its practices and how it beneficial for different segments of audiences and the marketers.

Deep-linking from the User Perspective:

Speaking of user’s journey I would like to talk about the benefits that you have for, from using Mobile apps deep link. Let’s just start with the smoother user journey. So your users get less frustrated amongst them all as their smoother journey is not going to get caught at any point.

With deep linking to app, you also send the right users to the Apps Store, that’s how you only send the users that do have the app installed. Your users are going to be a lot more engaged because they land on the content they were looking for. And for future-self, they are more likely to return because of the positive experience they have had in your App. All these can result in more download for your apps by channelizing the audiences.

Secondly, you get more visibility in the Search engine result pages with your app when you are using this technology. A little bit of background to this benefit is that Google has already started indexing not only apps but also in-app content on their SERP’s (Search engine result pages). Isn’t it amazing?

Isn’t it going to widen the doorway to the marketers with a lot of opportunities? With deep linking in android and iOS, your apps can now be found at the search engine by your users and when they click on your search results they are directed to the content and are more likely to be engaged with your App like never before. As I have already mentioned that new users can find your App in the SERPs but also old users can be re-engaged with your app.

So you get more visibility, more engagement, and you get more re-engagement.

If you are looking to Hire Dedicated Mobile App Developer then don’t hesitate to contact us. We have a dedicated team of highly skilled and experienced Android & iOS developers who will help you to develop a mobile App for your business, company or firm according to your requirements.

SEO Marketing and Deep Linking:

Deep linking to app is a very simple concept when it comes to SEO world that can really help you drive success with your Content Marketing. Deep linking best practices can significantly help you improve your website rankings in search engines with keywords that are important for your Business.

Deep-linking basically involves anchor-text, which is simply a text on the web page that is clickable. The only difference is your deep link is a keyword or a clickable phrase that is relevant to every edge of chances to rank for.

Mobile app deep linking example covers that, if you have a website that sells Electronic appliances and let’s say a page on the website you have optimized for is “Upcoming mobile phones”. Consecutively you can reference your previous blog somewhere between the texts of the next release of your new blog with “Best budget Mobile phones”. Linking back the referenced articles in a contextual way can help Google understand your web pages better.

Understanding your web-pages by Google means it considers your platform to be highly relevant for the audience. Thus Google prefers you over your competitors and relatively increases your web rankings.

Last but not least a great benefit of deep linking to app for the marketers is they can actually start marketing their in-app content instead of only marketing the App itself.

Now you can target your communication so much better saying hey! We have this awesome feature with an exclusive piece of content; you can have a look at. You can now get more click on your Adds as they now are targeted towards more legit customers. Sounds amazing! Right? Here are some tools that can get you through obvious monetary benefits.

Best deep linking tools for your iOS or Android?

Adding deep linking to your app can be a bit challenging. Fortunately we have incorporated; few ways tools to address this issue:

· Page on dev.branch.io

· Docs - App Links

· MobileDeepLinking.org

Safety-Tip:

In the event that you need to give the best user experience, ensure that they direct the users on that pages where there aren't any logins needed. Generally where a client needs to make a login for that page confirms it to be a poor experience.

Wrapping it up!

Deep-linking in Mobile Application Development Services is an incredible method to improve the user experience and their commitment towards it. Be that as it may, since the method guides the audiences to specific content, it puts them on a completely different way, in contrast to the perfect way. This infers you should be particularly cautious with the utilization of deep links.