One SEO professional asked John Mueller during the submitted question segment about app indexing.
Their question was: What’s the latest stand on App Indexing? Has the project shut down?
How can we get our app ranked on Google if app indexing is no longer working?
John answered that App Indexing was a very long time ago. He believes it was part of Google Search Console and some of the things that they talked about, where Google would be able to crawl and index parts of an app as it would appear, and try to show that in the search results.
John believes it has migrated – quite a long time ago, actually – over to Firebase App Indexing.
John double checked this this morning, when he saw this question, and Firebase has also migrated to yet another thing, but it has a bunch of links there for follow up – things that you can look into regarding that.
John would double check the official documentation there.
He recommends not to listen to him talk about App Indexing as much because, he says, he doesn’t really know the details around Android app indexing.
John also recommended that the one thing you can do, regardless of the type of app you build, is build a homepage for it. Since this is something that can be shown in search like anything else.
And for smartphone apps, they will also be on the Play Store or the App Store.
Usually they’re like landing pages that also exist, which are normal web pages, which can also appear in search.
And these things can appear when people search for something surrounding your app. Your own website can appear in search when people are searching around the app.
And of course, with your own site dedicated to the app, you can do all the things that John talks about when it comes to SEO for your own website.
This happens at approximately the 26:52 mark in the video.
John Mueller Hangout Transcript
John (Submitted Question) 26:52
Um, let’s see how we can do some short ones. What’s the latest stand on App Indexing? Is the product–project shut? How to get your app ranked on Google if App Indexing is no longer working?
John (Answer) 27:02
So App Indexing was a very long time ago, I think part of Search Console and some of the things that we talked about, where Google would be able to crawl and index parts of an app as as it would appear, and try to show that in the search results. And I think that has migrated a long time ago over to Firebase App Indexing. And I double checked this morning, when when I saw this question, and Firebase has also migrated to yet another thing, but it has a bunch of links there for kind of follow up things that you can look at with regards to that.
So I would double check the official documentation there. And not kind of like listen to me talk about App Indexing as much because I don’t really know the details around Android app indexing The the one thing that you can do with regards to any kind of an app, be it in a mobile phone, smartphone app, like these things, or desktop apps that you install, you can absolutely make a homepage for it. And that’s something that can be shown in search like anything else.
And for a lot of the kind of smartphone apps, there will also be a page on the Play Store or the App Store. I don’t know what they’re all called. But usually, they’re like landing pages that also exist, which are normal web pages, which can also appear in search. And these things can appear in search, when people search for something around your app. Your own website can appear in search when people are searching for something around the app.
And especially when it comes to your own website, you can do all the things that we talk about when it comes to SEO for your own website. So I would not like say, oh, App Indexing is no longer the same as it was 10 years ago, therefore, like I’m losing out, but rather that you have so many opportunities and different ways to be visible in search. You don’t need to rely on just one particular aspect.
