You can use deep links in promotional content to send users to a specific place in your app, when they open your app from an event. If a user who has your app clicks on an event for which you added a deep link, they will be sent to the destination that you configured.
When creating a deep link for your promotional content, keep in mind the following best practices:
- Consistency: Deep link destination pages should help fulfill user expectations of promotional content by allowing users to advance in participating in an event, redeeming an offer, or learning more about new features or new content. Ensure that the deep link destination page is consistent with the promotional content event details including the name and description of your event, new content, new feature, or offer.
- Usability: Ensure that the deep link destination page is intuitive and user-friendly, and avoid linking to pages that contain confusing layouts or unclear navigation for how to engage with your event.
Add a deep link to a promotional content event
Complete the deep link section when creating an event and select Add deep link (recommended), as shown in the screenshot below.
Deep links are currently limited to events targeting everyone or potential users.
On submission, we check to ensure your deep link is in the app manifest and the URL is not broken. To understand more about deep links, see our developer guidance.
Frequently Asked Questions
What are the benefits of using deep links in promotional content?Deep links act like personalized shortcuts, guiding users to specific in-app content. They reduce friction in the journeys that you want your users to take, by getting them to the right place in one click.
Additionally, by embedding unique identifiers in deep links, developers can pinpoint the exact campaigns driving installs and engagement. This data empowers you to fine-tune your marketing, enhance the user experience, and ultimately boost your app's success.
No, deep links are optional.
The existence of a deep link doesn’t have any impact on how promotional content is shown on Google Play. It only affects the user experience if a user who already has your app installed chooses to click on the "Open" call to action on your event. If they do this, then they are taken to the place in your app that was referenced by the deep link, rather than to the "default" app landing page.
Deep links in promotional content will have no effect on users who do not already have your app. If a user who has not installed your app sees your promotional content on Google Play, they will be directed to install your app before they can open it. When they open the app after installing it, they will be directed to the default app landing page.
Play Console provides a separate set of tools that enable you to better understand the entire deep links configuration in your app. Deep links page in Play Console gives a snapshot of your deep link setup, flags any problems or misconfigurations, suggests which URLs to deep link next, and offers more sophisticated management tools to edit your deep links setup without a new app release.
Yes, you may use third party tracking to measure the impact of your deep link. Ensure you have configured the tracking URL correctly when submitting your promotional content.
If you make changes to existing deep links, it may affect your promotional content events in the following ways:
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No direct impact: If the deep link itself remains unchanged, making changes in the Deep Link page in Play Console should not directly affect the existing promo content. The associated deep link will continue to function as intended.
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Potential re-approval: However, if you modify the deep link structure or intent filters significantly, Google Play might require resubmission of the promo content with deep link URL to ensure it still complies with their guidelines and works correctly with the updated deep link.
The following constraints exists:
- You can only have one deep link per event. If you need to use different deep links for different regions, you'll need to create separate events.
- You can only use deep links for events that are targeted to everyone or potential users.
No, deep links currently only work when users open your app from a promotional content card. If they install or update your app through other means, the deep link won't be saved, and the app will open to its main activity.