Deep linking for mobile app install ads

Today, we're extending our deep linking capabilities beyond engagement ads to also include mobile app install ads. This new feature will help developers and advertisers send people directly to information they care about when their app is opened for the first time.

When a person taps on a mobile app install ad on Facebook, the developer can choose to send them to a specific place in their app after it's downloaded, such as a product page rather than the homepage. This will make mobile app ads more effective for achieving a developer's goals beyond the install, and provide people with better experiences by taking them to the content that attracted their attention in the ad.

For example, if a travel app is running mobile app install ads featuring a vacation to San Francisco, people who install the app and open it will be taken directly to information about the San Francisco offer. This makes it more likely the person will find information about the San Francisco trip that interested them, rather than having to search for it manually. Removing extra steps between clicking the ad and getting to the travel offer provides a more seamless customer experience.

Getting Started

There are two ways developers can use this feature. One way is through App Links, our open, cross platform standard for deep linking on mobile. Since we launched this technology at F8 2014, developers have already enabled App Links for more than seven billion unique URLs on mobile. We already support App Links for mobile app re-engagement ads — developers can now use them for mobile app install ads too.

Any developer using the Facebook SDK who has already enabled App Links can start deep linking with their mobile app install ads by calling these implementation methods. For developers who haven't enabled App Links, it's simple to start deep linking in their mobile app install ads. A new field in the ad creation tool lets developers define the location they want their ads to link to, just as we already do for engagement ads.

App Ads Helper

We have also introduced a new deep link verifier within our app ads helper. This new tool is designed to verify if your deep links are properly set up before you start running app ads that use this functionality.

Documentation

Visit our deep linking documentation for additional information.