More App Store Ad Spots
When a user searches on the App Store, your ad can appear at the top of their search results. And starting in 2026, we’ll be introducing more ads to increase opportunity in search results.
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Your ad will run in either the existing position — at the top of search results — or further down in search results. If you have a search results campaign running, your ad will be automatically eligible for all available positions, but you can’t select or bid for a particular one.
Me: I really hate the advert when you search on the App Store, I wish Apple would change that.
Apple: Wish granted!
I have a bad feeling about this.
App Store search is ineffective and primitive, and doesn’t reliably show high-quality, relevant results for queries.
How can it be improved?
More advanced search algorithms, like the last two decades? Nope!
AI-assisted relevance and ranking, like this decade? Nope!
When all you have is an insatiable desire for more “services revenue”, you can only see one solution…
Why should Apple just take 30% of the lifetime value of your customers in perpetuity when they can charge you 90% of that just to acquire them!
Do additional ad positions in App Store search mean that if someone searches for your app by name, Apple can bury your app even lower than its current (hopefully) #2 position in the results?
Previously:
- App Store Ads Gone Wild
- Gambling Ads on App Store Product Pages
- App Store Ads in Today and App Pages
- More App Store Search Ads
- How to Improve the App Store
- Experimenting With App Store Search Ads
Update (2026-01-23): Joe Rossignol:
In an email to developers this week, Apple indicated that it will begin showing additional ads in App Store search results starting Tuesday, March 3.
Previously:
5 Comments RSS · Twitter · Mastodon
Hear me out: if your sale comes from an App Store ad, you already paid Apple and they shouldn't get their 15/30 tax on it.
How would Apple like that?
Strange move. Making the App Store less effective so people rely on ai / web search more, seems counterintuitive.
"Hey that ad you wanted...we couldn't put it at the top of the search results like you were hoping for...but we'll take your fucking money anyway!"
It's bad enough that these ads exist at all but now they are whacking us from every direction
