Ads on the Today tabgive your app the opportunity to be among the first content users see when they visit the App Store. Whether your goal is to boost awareness of your app, promote a new feature, or drive seasonal downloads, Today tab ads help you get your app seen the moment users start their journey on the App Store. Get off to a great start with Today tab ads by putting the following suggestions into practice.
Get up to speed on custom product pages.
Custom product pages are the basis for Today tab ad creative. These custom pages are additional versions of your default App Store product page that can use different app previews, screenshots, and promotional text to highlight certain features or content. When you’re ready to create a Today tab ad, your first step is to set up a custom product page in App Store Connect using the Today tab ad creative guidelines.
You can set up your custom page anytime without submitting a new app version. All you need is Marketing role access to the App Store Connect account. Once the App Store approves your page, it’ll appear in your Apple Search Ads account as an option to select for your ad creative.
Let’s say you had a travel app called TripTrek and wanted to promote a new dining feature for foodies. You could set up a custom product page that showcased the new feature — and select that page when you created your Today tab ad in Apple Search Ads.
Follow Today tab ad guidelines carefully.
Before you create a Today tab campaign, make sure your custom product page is set up correctly for Today tab ad use. It must include at least four portrait or five landscape assets, use a language appropriate for the countries and regions where you want your ad to run, and stick to all Today tab ad creative guidelines.
To be approved for the Today tab, your ad creative will be reviewed against our guidelines — so following them closely is key. Your ad should show off what your app has to offer. Make sure to use screenshots of your app content and keep text short and focused on app capabilities.
If your Today tab ad is time-sensitive, be sure to create and submit it for review early. This will help ensure that you have time to get your creative approved before you want your ad to run.
Create an evergreen ad.
Set up a general Today tab ad that gives users an overview of what your app has to offer. You can run this ad version year round, and simply pause it if you want to change ad creative for a feature launch or seasonal promotion. When the promotional period ends, change your evergreen ad’s status back to Active to keep your app in front of potential customers.
For the travel app, TripTrek, you could use a general travel ad when you weren’t running ad creative during summer or holiday vacation periods.
Get users excited about new content.
High-impact ads on the front page of the App Store are a great way to announce feature releases. Show customers what’s new and improved by highlighting specific offerings in your screenshots, app previews, and text.
For example, if you were launching a new photo collections feature for the travel app, TripTrek, you could give users a peek at the interface in one of your screenshots.
Stand out during key seasons and holidays.
If you’re looking to drive downloads during a particular season, holiday, or event, update your ad creative to include images and text that are relevant to the occasion. To promote the TripTrek app, you might run ad creative with imagery of popular vacation destinations to increase downloads during the summer travel season.
Expand your impact.
When you run ads across all of our ad placements, you can reach even more people throughout their App Store journey. You’ll amplify your brand’s message and be able to connect with customers across more moments.
With a campaign set up for each ad placement, TripTrek would reach users when they first arrive to the App Store, when they search for something specific, and when they research apps to download.
