14 DAY TRIAL // Google is making it possible to open search results directly in apps rather than just on websites. This is a major move that should greatly open up native apps to the web. The company is still testing the feature with a handful of app makers, but it will be making it available to all eventually.
The most interesting part is that this isn't just some pre-programed functionality that works in specific cases. Google will be applying the same methods it uses to index the web to native apps.
"Just like it crawls and indexes websites, Googlebot can now index content in your Android app. Webmasters will be able to indicate which app content you'd like Google to index in the same way you do for webpages today — through your existing Sitemap file and through Webmaster Tools," Google explained.
"If both the webpage and the app contents are successfully indexed, Google will then try to show deep links to your app straight in our search results when we think they're relevant for the user’s query and if the user has the app installed," it added.
It's an interesting approach, but it makes sense. After all, it's logical that everything having to do with how Google Search handles your content, be it on a website or in an app, should be in the same place.
Developers interested in offering this functionality will have to make some changes to both their websites and their apps.
On the sites, it's just a matter of adding the necessary meta information to tell Google that the content on a particular page is also available inside an app. To do this, webmasters need to add a rel="alternate" link pointing to the associated app.
Similar modifications need to be made inside the Android app, for example, adding intent filters which specify that Google Search can launch the app. Several other tags need to be added to specific pages in the apps.