With the mobile application market continuing to grow, Google has introduced new and enhanced ad units to help marketers promote, track and monetize their apps.

App discovery is one of the largest obstacles mobile marketers face. Google is trying to address the issue by enabling AdWords clients to add a link to their search results that takes the user directly to an app download, thereby removing a step in the process of discovery and download.

"Whether they've created a website or a mobile app, marketers and mobile developers are constantly working to be more 'discoverable' to both current and future users,? said Surojit Chatterjee, lead product manager for mobile search ads at Google, Mountain View, CA. ?That is to say, they want to make it as easy as possible to be found among the millions of destinations and services available today.

"As they do on desktop, people use search to find and browse Web destinations on mobile,? he said. ?Yet, mobile search has also proven to be a powerful tool for helping businesses find and download mobile apps.

?These launches build on existing formats for aiding with app discovery to make this process easier and more efficient so that businesses can continue to grow their presence on mobile."

An important step forward
As smartphone and tablet penetration grow, more consumers are downloading apps and engaging with them for a wide variety of activities. This activity is driving further growth in the mobile app market, with new apps being introduced all the time, in-app advertising growing and investors willing to put down significant sums of money to acquire apps.

The growth has presented significant challenges for app developers looking to get noticed in an increasingly crowded space and building successful businesses.

Google is trying to address these challenges with its new ad units, including the new Mobile App extension, which allows advertisers using AdWords to append a mobile app download link to their search ads. According to Google, beta participants saw a six percent lift in the click-through rate for campaigns using Mobile App extensions.

?It's a small but important step forward,? said Dave Martin, senior vice president at agency Ignited, El Segundo, CA. ?Mobile marketing is still a small portion of most advertisers' mix. 

?But apps are already moving onto other platforms like connected TVs; and the ability to cost-effectively drive downloads of your app will continue to increase in importance as mobile becomes a bigger part of a brand's marketing strategy.?

Removing barriers
Google has also enhanced existing click-to-download ad units with rich information about the mobile app in the ad unit itself, such as image previews, a description of the app, pricing and rating information. The information is automatically drawn from the Google Play Store and Apple App Store.

Quicken Loans says the click-to-download ads have enabled it to share its Mortgage Calculator App with a very targeted and engaged group of users.

Businesses can now also track downloads of their Android app from the AdWords campaigns as an AdWords conversion.

Additionally, Custom Search Ads are now available in tablet apps in addition to smartphone apps, meaning both tablet and smartphone apps users can receive ads relevant to they are searching for inside an app.

?The big news for marketers is that the ad medium is the same as the app medium,? said Shaun Quigley, vice president and director of the digital practice at Brunner, Pittsburgh, PA. ?This is huge. 

?It means the user can go from seeing the ad to playing the app game or using the app utility in seconds ?wherever they are,? he said. ?There?s no barrier ? it?s immediate.

?Branded apps?up until now?have been like baseball fields in rural Iowa ? the app is built, but no one comes. Google provides an extremely logical way for marketers to promote these assets.?