May 22, 2015 at 17:01New Features for Application Developers in Search Console
- Transfer
Hello everyone, and for those who read us in the Habr application , hello tripled! We already told you how to modify the AndroidManifest.xml file and add the necessary markup so that the application content is indexed and displayed in our search results. They talked about how this affected the results of mobile search.
However, before application developers envied the owners of the sites, because they had a new tool for analyzing search queries and the ability to find out how the site sees Googlebot. Now envy the end!
If you want to know exactly where and for what queries, the content of your application is shown in the search results(of course, if you have already implemented application indexing, and we managed to index your content), which pages are most popular and which ones have errors, then Search Console is what you need. We not only gave our service a new name , but also filled it with new features. Now, using Search Console reports, you can get detailed information about who, where and how sees the content of your applications in the search results.
Only verified application owners can get our statistics. To get started with applications in the Search Console, you need to complete just two simple steps:
If you do not have access to the application in this service - it does not matter, ask the owner to confirm the application in the Search Console and add you to your account .
To set up indexing of the application, you need to bind the site with which this application is connected in terms of content. It will also allow you to more accurately analyze the contents of the application and offer it to users who are really interested.
With the help of Search Analytics reports, you will find out what queries users find your application for, in which countries they live and what content is most in demand. The data in the report can be filtered by several categories , including queries, regions, clicks, impressions, CTR and line items.
Now you can match the content that you consider important to the one that receives the most clicks. If there are no differences, then you are doing everything right and users are viewing exactly what you are offering. If this is not the case, work on the navigation in the application and create the correct links to the materials in it.
Theoretically, everything should work out of the box: you download the application, it is analyzed by our platform, you get the result. However, if the search robot detects errors on the pages of the application, we will not be able to show links to content in the search results. To correct this misunderstanding, we created a “ scan error report ”, thanks to which you can quickly find and eliminate the source of the problem.
For fans of bleeding edge technology, we have created an alpha version of the “ View as Googlebot for Applications” tool so you can check the application URI and find out how Google processes it. It will also help to identify inconsistencies between the content in the application and on the site. In most cases, such errors occur due to Googlebot blocking access to certain resources (we recently talked about the possible problems of such blocking and solutions on our Habrablog pages) or because of pop-up windows with a request to log in or register. With the new tool, you can detect such problems and solve them.
Want to take advantage of an indexed Android app right now? Forward! Make changes to AndroidManifest.xml, add the markup needed to index the content, publish the updated .apk.
After these simple steps, you can add your Android application to the Search Console and get analysis results from Google.
Learn more about App Indexing , read on our developer site. And if you have any questions, ask them in our community , on the help forum for webmasters and, of course, here in the comments!
However, before application developers envied the owners of the sites, because they had a new tool for analyzing search queries and the ability to find out how the site sees Googlebot. Now envy the end!
If you want to know exactly where and for what queries, the content of your application is shown in the search results(of course, if you have already implemented application indexing, and we managed to index your content), which pages are most popular and which ones have errors, then Search Console is what you need. We not only gave our service a new name , but also filled it with new features. Now, using Search Console reports, you can get detailed information about who, where and how sees the content of your applications in the search results.
Add your application to the Search Console
Only verified application owners can get our statistics. To get started with applications in the Search Console, you need to complete just two simple steps:
- Sign in to your Google Play account with access to manage this application;
- Open the Search Console and enter the name of the application, for example: android-app://com.recipe_app/ .
If you do not have access to the application in this service - it does not matter, ask the owner to confirm the application in the Search Console and add you to your account .
Link your site with the application
To set up indexing of the application, you need to bind the site with which this application is connected in terms of content. It will also allow you to more accurately analyze the contents of the application and offer it to users who are really interested.
Track the position of content in search results
With the help of Search Analytics reports, you will find out what queries users find your application for, in which countries they live and what content is most in demand. The data in the report can be filtered by several categories , including queries, regions, clicks, impressions, CTR and line items.
Now you can match the content that you consider important to the one that receives the most clicks. If there are no differences, then you are doing everything right and users are viewing exactly what you are offering. If this is not the case, work on the navigation in the application and create the correct links to the materials in it.
Make sure Google processes your application correctly
Theoretically, everything should work out of the box: you download the application, it is analyzed by our platform, you get the result. However, if the search robot detects errors on the pages of the application, we will not be able to show links to content in the search results. To correct this misunderstanding, we created a “ scan error report ”, thanks to which you can quickly find and eliminate the source of the problem.
Learn how Google perceives your content.
For fans of bleeding edge technology, we have created an alpha version of the “ View as Googlebot for Applications” tool so you can check the application URI and find out how Google processes it. It will also help to identify inconsistencies between the content in the application and on the site. In most cases, such errors occur due to Googlebot blocking access to certain resources (we recently talked about the possible problems of such blocking and solutions on our Habrablog pages) or because of pop-up windows with a request to log in or register. With the new tool, you can detect such problems and solve them.
Want to take advantage of an indexed Android app right now? Forward! Make changes to AndroidManifest.xml, add the markup needed to index the content, publish the updated .apk.
After these simple steps, you can add your Android application to the Search Console and get analysis results from Google.
Learn more about App Indexing , read on our developer site. And if you have any questions, ask them in our community , on the help forum for webmasters and, of course, here in the comments!