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Using App Store URLs Online

Posted by on 5/14/09 • Categorized as All Posts

To get the word out about your app you need lots of promotional content out there in app review sites, Twitter streams, blogs, emails, etc, and of course you’ll include links to your app in the app store. You have choices…

appstore_bigYou can get the traditional itunes link for any app by going to that app’s page in iTunes, right clicking on the app’s logo, and picking “Copy iTunes Store URL”. Easy, but that link is super ugly, and it doesn’t have any of your keywords in it to help with SEO. Not great then.

The nice URL is a redirect via itunes.com (which is an Apple owned domain). It’s easily composed “itunes.com/apps/” followed by the name of your app, skipping all spaces. You can capitalize to make it easier to read. Eg http://itunes.com/apps/SmartCaller It’s a shame that hyphenated versions don’t work, as I think they’d be better for SEO. Thanks to Noel of Flower Garden fame for cluing me into this.

Alternatively consider using a link shortening service like bit.ly. Bit.ly is especially wonderful because it provides traffic source tracking just like Google analytics. Spread your normal app store links around the web as much as you like, but you’ll never know where sales are coming from because that data lies hidden from view inside of Apple’s web server logs. Spread around a bit.ly version of your app’s url instead and bit.ly will record and report every click on your link – so you can learn which web sites are generating app store traffic for you. Eg http://bit.ly/ykiHk which jumps to my game Hit Tennis in the app store.

Lastly, do you really want to send people directly to the app store anyway? Let’s say someone reviews your app, they’ll include screen shots, lots of copy, and of course your demo video. On that review page, you probably want links direct to your app in the app store so people can get right to the purchase. But what if you’re spreading your links around on Twitter, in forums, places where you can’t post lots of promo content? From those places you should bring people to a product landing page on your own site. You have a lot more control over your own landing pages then you have over your app store pages. Your landing page can contain your demo videos, some hand picked glowing comments from user reviews, so you can really design those pages for a lot more impact than the app store pages. Further, you can have more than one landing page, each targeted for a different audience, and each with a URL designed for SEO. For tips on landing pages, check out http://flowtown.com/go/11-landing-page-tips.

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Mark Johnson
I'm an independent iPhone developer and iPhone Consultant in San Francisco. Maker of Smart Caller, Hit Tennis, and Duck You Undo!
Connect with Mark Johnson // app store // email // www // twitter

  • http://getheld.com Derek Neighbors

    Excellent advice and tips. I always wonder why so many developers have their application links go directly to the app store instead of a product page.

  • http://getheld.com Derek Neighbors

    Excellent advice and tips. I always wonder why so many developers have their application links go directly to the app store instead of a product page.

  • http://snowglobemaker.com Julie McCool

    Thanks for the tip on the more elegant app store URL. Just edited the links in my press materials for http://itunes.com/Apps/SnowGlobeMakerBeachEdition.

  • http://snowglobemaker.com Julie McCool

    Thanks for the tip on the more elegant app store URL. Just edited the links in my press materials for http://itunes.com/Apps/SnowGlobeMakerBeachEdition.

  • http://bit.ly/iphonesecrets Jon

    You can get more from bit.ly by using an optional name for the shortened link. That way you benefit from the SEO side and the analytics; for example http://bit.ly/iphonesecrets

  • http://www.markj.net/ Mark Johnson

    I just found out that if you use iTunes Connect to change the name of your app, the itunes.com link with the original name will still work, but the link using the new name will not work. Maybe it updates with an update of your app, or maybe its the original name forever, I'm not sure.

    Thanks for the bitly named link tip. :-)

  • http://iappurl.com/ Nick

    Also checkout http://iappurl.com

  • mattygreer

    Great Insights! Thank you for cluing us in on the new app store URL's.

  • mattygreer

    Great Insights! Thank you for cluing us in on the new app store URL's.

  • http://www.easyrecovery.ie data recovery

    It's good that we can get more Apps online.

  • http://twitter.com/3D_Magic_Kft Attila Beke

    I don't agree with the landing page instead of the appstore page.
    I know, this article is very old, but anyway: Itunes links and the appstore itself works far more different now, than when this article was written.

    I get a landing page directly on appstore, where all my info is visible. I have my icon, my screenshots, I can quote users in my info text etc.

    The insanely big advantage is in opposite to a random landing page on the net, that here I have a BUY button, which actually BUYS the app.

    Most sales are impulsive purchases. If my (hopefully soon to be) customer is only on my webpage and has to hit the button “buy” and he doesn't buy it by this click, but will be taken to the appstore first, where he has all the info again and has to hit a “buy” button again, then it is possible, that he got angry by now and he just skips the whole damn thing.

    So, I am absolutely for linking directly to the appstore.
    No matter if you use your phone or your PC, you have screenshots, all your infos, user comments and ratings(!) AND the buy button (which actually really buys the app) in one place and immediately, ready for spontaneous sale.