Emre Bilgic
Apple Ads Client Partner at MobileAction, interviewed by Steve P Young of App Masters
Where to hear and read about Emre Bilgic1 episode or test
Emre Bilgic is an Apple Ads Client Partner at MobileAction who works with advertisers on Apple Search Ads and App Store optimization. The thing most worth learning from him is that paid and organic search feed each other, so build your ads from the keywords you already rank for and improve your product page to cut costs.
Basically bid less, spend less per user, still get better results if you're performing organically.
How Apple Search Ads Impacts App Store Optimization
Emre Bilgic: the story and the lessons
1Emre Bilgic on why paid and organic search belong together
Bilgic sees a strong link between ad results and organic rank. Steve Young's team runs many Apple Search Ads campaigns for clients and had not seen a big effect on keyword rankings before this talk. Bilgic still sees a strong correlation between the two.
At MobileAction he compares ad and organic results keyword by keyword for clients.
He treats relevance as the shared rule behind both channels. Apple scores a keyword's relevance to your app the same way in ads and in organic search. A relevant app should hold a decent organic rank and also perform in ads.
The algorithm is a black box, so his view rests on observed correlation, not a published rule.
He agrees intent makes Apple Search Ads a strong first paid channel. Searchers type a specific keyword, so you reach people already looking for your category. Apple says 65% of iOS downloads come directly from search.
Young recommends it to clients ready to start paid marketing, citing AppsFlyer and Adjust data that show better retention and subscription rates than Facebook or Google ads. Bilgic agrees that intent drives the stronger results.
2How Bilgic explains the loop between Apple Search Ads and organic rank
Since iOS 15, tap-through and conversion rates count for more. Rankings and download velocity were once the main signals. Apple now weighs tap-through and conversion rates more heavily when judging relevance.
iOS 15 also launched custom product pages, product page optimization, in-app events and cards. Custom product pages fit Apple Search Ads best. The signals are not formally ranked, though organic ranking and download velocity matter most.
Paid installs raise download velocity, and better rank lifts ads in return. Impressions, taps and installs from Apple Search Ads add to download velocity, which is one of the most important organic ranking factors. A better organic rank then brings more ad impressions.
With a bid unchanged at $3, clients whose organic rank rose got more ad impressions right away. Bilgic calls it a cycle of benefit between the two.
Mid-ranked keywords gain the most from strong conversion. Keywords ranking about 20 to 50 with good tap-through and conversion rates improved in both ads and organic. Organic rankings and downloads rose.
A keyword does not need a top ranking for this to work, and the rates can be checked inside Apple Search Ads.
He admits the direction of cause is still open. Rank may lift tap-through and conversion rates, or the rates may lift rank. On one client term, tap-through rose day by day while organic rank improved.
Conversion rate on that term was lower a few weeks earlier, then climbed with rank. That pattern was his first cue to dig deeper.
3The cases Bilgic uses to show the effect
A crypto finance app cut CPAs with custom product pages. After launching custom product pages in Apple Search Ads, the app's tap-through and conversion rates rose and its CPAs fell significantly. The number of keywords it ranked for jumped.
A MobileAction Apple Search Ads report marks when the custom product pages began, followed by the jump in ranked terms.
One client grew from 200 to 2,200 ranked keywords. Starting in mid-April, the client updated title, subtitle and keywords while running Apple Search Ads with custom product pages for the same terms. Within a few months it ranked for 2,200 keywords, up from 200.
Its ad costs fell every day over the same period.
A lower bid with an organic rank beat a higher bid without one. On a generic money-management term, one app bid less and still got far more impressions. A rival with no organic ranking bid about 50% more and struggled to spend.
The two are different companies, one bidding in pounds and one in US dollars. The ranked app's organic position kept improving even on a small bid.
4Bilgic's steps for building Apple Search Ads campaigns
Seed campaigns with keywords you already rank 1 to 50 for. Use an ASO tool to list every term your app ranks for organically between positions 1 and 50. These terms already have decent relevance, tap-through and conversion, so they tend to work in ads.
The list saves extra keyword and competitor research.
Start with the terms in your title, subtitle and keyword field. Terms in your metadata, including App Store Connect keywords, already signal relevance to Apple, so they make a fine first set.
An ASO tool goes further than metadata alone. Young asked whether keywords that work in ads should move into the title and subtitle, and Bilgic called it a really good point.
Widen the list with discovery, broad match and search match. Run discovery campaigns, broad match and search match ad groups to find the queries people use. Then search those terms to check your organic rank and merge the two lists.
Because Apple judges relevance the same way in both places, a relevant term should do well on both.
Track each keyword's tap-through and conversion against organic rank. Compare each keyword's ad trend with its organic ranking over the same date range to find what to scale.
Daily conversion data is noisy, so compare start and end dates and look at the trend.
Watch impression share to see who bids on your brand. Search ads intelligence shows impression share and which competitors bid on your keywords, including anyone trying to steal traffic on your branded terms.
MobileAction offers a free plan, and connecting your Apple Search Ads API gives one month of free access to its search ads tools.
How Apple Search Ads Impacts App Store Optimization
Apple Search Ads and App Store Optimization feed each other: better tap-through and conversion rates lift organic rankings, and organic rankings make search ads cheaper and more visible. Case studies show a crypto finance app cutting CPAs with custom product pages and a client growing from 200 to 2,200 ranked keywords.
Bilgic sees a strong link between ad results and organic rank. Steve Young's team runs many Apple Search Ads campaigns for clients and had not seen a big effect on keyword rankings before this talk. Bilgic still sees a strong correlation between the two.
At MobileAction he compares ad and organic results keyword by keyword for clients.
He treats relevance as the shared rule behind both channels. Apple scores a keyword's relevance to your app the same way in ads and in organic search. A relevant app should hold a decent organic rank and also perform in ads.
The algorithm is a black box, so his view rests on observed correlation, not a published rule.
He agrees intent makes Apple Search Ads a strong first paid channel. Searchers type a specific keyword, so you reach people already looking for your category. Apple says 65% of iOS downloads come directly from search.
Young recommends it to clients ready to start paid marketing, citing AppsFlyer and Adjust data that show better retention and subscription rates than Facebook or Google ads. Bilgic agrees that intent drives the stronger results.
Since iOS 15, tap-through and conversion rates count for more. Rankings and download velocity were once the main signals. Apple now weighs tap-through and conversion rates more heavily when judging relevance.
iOS 15 also launched custom product pages, product page optimization, in-app events and cards. Custom product pages fit Apple Search Ads best. The signals are not formally ranked, though organic ranking and download velocity matter most.
Paid installs raise download velocity, and better rank lifts ads in return. Impressions, taps and installs from Apple Search Ads add to download velocity, which is one of the most important organic ranking factors. A better organic rank then brings more ad impressions.
With a bid unchanged at $3, clients whose organic rank rose got more ad impressions right away. Bilgic calls it a cycle of benefit between the two.
Mid-ranked keywords gain the most from strong conversion. Keywords ranking about 20 to 50 with good tap-through and conversion rates improved in both ads and organic. Organic rankings and downloads rose.
A keyword does not need a top ranking for this to work, and the rates can be checked inside Apple Search Ads.
He admits the direction of cause is still open. Rank may lift tap-through and conversion rates, or the rates may lift rank. On one client term, tap-through rose day by day while organic rank improved.
Conversion rate on that term was lower a few weeks earlier, then climbed with rank. That pattern was his first cue to dig deeper.
A crypto finance app cut CPAs with custom product pages. After launching custom product pages in Apple Search Ads, the app's tap-through and conversion rates rose and its CPAs fell significantly. The number of keywords it ranked for jumped.
A MobileAction Apple Search Ads report marks when the custom product pages began, followed by the jump in ranked terms.
One client grew from 200 to 2,200 ranked keywords. Starting in mid-April, the client updated title, subtitle and keywords while running Apple Search Ads with custom product pages for the same terms. Within a few months it ranked for 2,200 keywords, up from 200.
Its ad costs fell every day over the same period.
A lower bid with an organic rank beat a higher bid without one. On a generic money-management term, one app bid less and still got far more impressions. A rival with no organic ranking bid about 50% more and struggled to spend.
The two are different companies, one bidding in pounds and one in US dollars. The ranked app's organic position kept improving even on a small bid.
Seed campaigns with keywords you already rank 1 to 50 for. Use an ASO tool to list every term your app ranks for organically between positions 1 and 50. These terms already have decent relevance, tap-through and conversion, so they tend to work in ads.
The list saves extra keyword and competitor research.
Start with the terms in your title, subtitle and keyword field. Terms in your metadata, including App Store Connect keywords, already signal relevance to Apple, so they make a fine first set.
An ASO tool goes further than metadata alone. Young asked whether keywords that work in ads should move into the title and subtitle, and Bilgic called it a really good point.
Widen the list with discovery, broad match and search match. Run discovery campaigns, broad match and search match ad groups to find the queries people use. Then search those terms to check your organic rank and merge the two lists.
Because Apple judges relevance the same way in both places, a relevant term should do well on both.
Track each keyword's tap-through and conversion against organic rank. Compare each keyword's ad trend with its organic ranking over the same date range to find what to scale.
Daily conversion data is noisy, so compare start and end dates and look at the trend.
Watch impression share to see who bids on your brand. Search ads intelligence shows impression share and which competitors bid on your keywords, including anyone trying to steal traffic on your branded terms.
MobileAction offers a free plan, and connecting your Apple Search Ads API gives one month of free access to its search ads tools.