Search Match (Apple Search Ads)
An automated Apple Search Ads targeting feature that pairs ads with search queries based on your app's metadata, category, and historical user behavior without explicit keyword bidding.
Search Match is commonly used in Discovery campaigns to harvest search queries that developers may have omitted from their keyword list.
Because Search Match relies on Apple's machine learning understanding of your app's metadata, a well-optimized organic title and subtitle directly improves the quality and relevance of Search Match ad impressions.
Keywords discovered through Search Match that deliver positive ROAS should be migrated into Exact Match ad groups and evaluated for organic metadata placement.
Frequently asked questions
- Should I keep Search Match enabled indefinitely?
- Yes, in a low-budget Discovery campaign with negative keywords applied for terms you already target as Exact Match. It serves as a continuous radar for emerging search terms.
Related terms
- Search MatchSearch Match is an Apple Search Ads feature that automatically matches your ad to relevant user searches based on your app's existing metadata, without you entering any keywords.
- Discovery CampaignA Discovery campaign is an Apple Search Ads campaign type built to surface new, unknown keywords by running Broad Match and Search Match against a wide audience rather than a fixed keyword list.
- Apple Search AdsApple Search Ads is Apple's paid advertising platform for the App Store, allowing developers to bid on keywords to display their app at the top of search results.
- App Store Optimization (ASO)App Store Optimization is the process of improving an app's visibility in App Store search results and its conversion rate from search impressions to installs.
- Keyword PopularityKeyword popularity is a 0–100 score measuring how often users search for a given term in the App Store, derived from Apple Search Ads demand signals.
- Keyword DifficultyKeyword difficulty is a 0–100 score estimating how hard it is to break into the top-ranking positions for a given App Store keyword, based on the strength of apps currently holding those positions.
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Put this into practice
Score App Store keywords by popularity and difficulty across 109 storefronts — the numbers behind search match (apple search ads).
Start keyword research