If you’re an iOS user in the US, you may have noticed while searching Apple’s App Store, the appearance of advertisements for related apps.
As noted by idownloadblog, generic terms like ‘Calendar’ or ‘Weather’ now return results with ads at the top. They’re highlighted with an ‘Ad’ tag and feature a light blue background to set them apart from the regular search results. They also include a quick description.
The move will allow some developers to get a leg up over their competitors – as long as they have the cash to do so, but for users, it might have a positive effect as it’ll give premium and high quality apps the chance to feature over lesser apps that may happen to have picked the best keywords.
Search Ads are relatively subtle
Unlike other ad engines, such as Google’s search ads, Apple doesn’t use tracking data to tailor them. The ads themselves are also fairly non-intrusive, but it remains to be seen how well users respond to the move.
Currently Search Ads only appear to be live in the US, but it’s likely Apple will continue to roll them out in other regions over the coming weeks and months.
Have you seen any Search Ads? What do you think of them? Tweet us your thoughts @TapSmart.