How should Apple Search Ads campaigns be structured?
Collect search terms in Discovery, then split only the proven ones into Exact.
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Collect search terms in Discovery, then split only the proven ones into Exact.
Related resources
ASA is the only keyword ad surfaced in App Store search results. With ~70% of iOS users discovering apps through App Store search, ASA is a must-run channel for iOS marketing.
Run ASA as four separated campaign types (Search Match, Search Keywords, Discovery, Brand). Brand is a defensive campaign protecting your own name, Discovery mines new keywords, Search Keywords is manually optimized, Search Match is auto-matching — keeping them separate keeps each KPI clean.
| Campaign | Keywords | Search Match | Purpose | Suggested daily budget |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Brand | Your brand terms only | OFF | Defend brand keywords (block competitor intrusion) | $20–$50 |
| 2. Competitor | Competitor brand terms | OFF | Intercept competitor searchers | $50–$100 |
| 3. Generic | Category keywords | OFF | Manually optimized core keywords | $100–$500 |
| 4. Discovery | (none) | ON | Apple auto-matches → mine new keywords | $30–$100 |
Keywords that accumulate meaningful clicks in Discovery get promoted into the Generic campaign for direct bidding. Discovery is the mining channel; Generic is the operating channel.
Group keywords by intent at the ad-group level. Keywords in the same group share one CPI/CPA target.
| Ad Group | Example keywords | Match Type | Target CPI |
|---|---|---|---|
| Brand-Exact | myapp, myapp app | Exact | $0.50 |
| Brand-Broad | myapp download | Broad | $0.80 |
| Competitor | competitor1, competitor2 | Exact | $2.50 |
| Generic-High | shopping app, online mall | Exact | $3.00 |
| Generic-Mid | clothes shopping, fashion app | Broad | $2.00 |
| Generic-Long-tail | winter coat shopping, best puffer jackets | Broad | $1.50 |
1) Confirm the ASA Attribution API key is registered (Adjust → ASA Partner). 2) Verify the Brand keyword exactly matches your app name. 3) If your app ranks organic #1 for the search, Apple may auto-suppress the ad entirely.
Search Match is matching overly broad keywords. Extract clicked keywords from the Adjust keyword report → add them as Negative Keywords. Block all category-irrelevant broad terms (e.g. just "game").
On iOS 15+, you can show different screenshots/copy per keyword. CPP variants attach at the ASA ad-group level. A variant matching the keyword improves TTR by 30–50% on average.