Google is introducing mobile app ads in the Google Play Store

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Anyone who makes a regular mobile search through Google – if you are an American resident, there is an 87% chance that means you – is about to be subjected to yet another round of paid advertisements courtesy of the search engine giant.

Beginning today, Google is testing a new pilot program that will allow web developers to pay for advertising for their apps in the Google Play store.

Acting something like Adwords for webmasters and business owners, the new program will allow app creators to advertise their wares – for a price – at the top of the list of available apps for customers, regardless of popularity or cost.

Mercifully, they will not be shown in the middle of text or automatically on the Google Play store. Instead, users will have to enter a search query that specifically targets an app with evident purchaser intent. In other words, a user would have to search for a commercialized term like “hotels app” or “coupon app” in order to bring up paid advertising results. That being said, how many users enter an app store knowing exactly what they intend to purchase?

Google has a long history of creating, promoting and distributing paid advertisements as enticements to small business owners as an opportunity to promote their products and services to compete with industry giants. The issue with this logic is that these practices are open to click-fraud and competitive multi-clicking moves which can eat through the modest budget of a start-up very quickly, with no benefit to them whatsoever.

Given that only 6% of web traffic originates from paid search results, it seems incredible that business owners (and app developers) would designate such large budgets to paid advertising on Google platforms. That being said, perception is often more powerful than reality, and this trend is going nowhere but up.

The upshot of this entire situation is that we are about to be subjected to another round of paid advertisements which has become representative of Google products and services everywhere.

Robert Cairns

When he is not trolling the web, Robert Cairns works as the Director of Marketing at Caseo Digital Marketing Services, a Canadian company specializing in SEO, digital marketing and PPC campaigns. His goal is world domination, but in the meantime he contents himself with providing tips and information on the latest search engine trends hitting the net.