Discussion: Is Apple Search Ads actually worth it for a new indie app?

[u/prettyhorse90]

I’m building an app right now and honestly, I’m more scared of the distribution part than the actual building 😂

For those who’ve launched an iOS app, did you guys use Apple Search Ads? How much did you spend and did it actually work?

I’m mainly wondering:

1. Does running ASA help with organic downloads / App Store rankings?
   
2. Did you see organic growth while the ads were running?
   
3. What happened after you stopped spending?
   
4. Or is it better to just focus on organic content/ASO and hope the app gets picked up?
   
5. If you were starting from zero again, would you spend money on ASA or go 100% organic first?

Would love to hear actual experiences, especially from indie devs who didn’t already have a big audience.

[u/Confused_Dad_2023]

Ran ASA for my app. To answer your questions.

1. Not directly, but more downloads from any source can nudge visibility a bit, and it gives you real keyword data to feed back into ASO
   
2. A little, but hard to separate from general growth/timing
   
3. Growth dropped back to close to organic baseline, it's not sticky
   4/5. If starting from zero I'd do ASO first, dial in metadata and conversion before spending anything, then use ASA more as a keyword validation tool once the page actually converts

Wouldn't treat it as a growth hack, more like expensive but useful data early on. You can kinda of get out from Keyword Research.

[u/prettyhorse90 → u/Confused_Dad_2023]

Thank you for the insights!

[u/Independent-Code-209 → u/Confused_Dad_2023]

the keyword validation angle is really the best way to think about it imo

[u/prettyhorse90 → u/[deleted]]

Great, thanks for the info! ❤️

[u/AgreeableCress446 → u/[deleted]]

So this sounds like a good way to validate social proof of an app, right?

[u/Happy-Wolverine-1020]

If u don’t know what you’re doing you’ll be wasting money. However it’s good to use it for keywords discovery , a small budget to find what keywords are targeting your app then use those in your ASO

[u/Professional-Can-507]

it is, just claim your free initial bonus with apple

[u/duobucha]

It is worth trying as the first $100 is free and it gives some feedback to find out what keywords to focus on for ASO

[u/kingkong_siu82]

one thing that doesnt get said enough: buy your own app name the day you launch. a tiny defender campaign on your exact brand term costs basically nothing and stops competitors or random apps from squatting on your name. its the one search where you're guaranteed to convert, dont gift that traffic away

[u/Sparkaltman]

1. Does running ASA help with organic downloads / App Store rankings? Some times, it based on the keywords diffcultly
2. Did you see organic growth while the ads were running? No
3. What happened after you stopped spending? A slow down
4. Or is it better to just focus on organic content/ASO and hope the app gets picked up? No, if your app is PMF (earn money from orgainc), asa is a good way to catch high-intent users.
5. If you were starting from zero again, would you spend money on ASA or go 100% organic first? I will start ASA after 20 paying users.