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STANDALONE MARKETING PLAY / DISCOVERY
Match the store page to the search
Build a separate app-store page for each keyword theme or audience, and send each ad group to the page that matches what they searched for. Four apps report lower costs or more installs — none as a like-for-like test.
−25% CPAPetit BamBou's cost per acquisition with ad variations on keyword-matched pages versus the default ad. Apple-published success story; comparison design, dates and sample not given, and part of a wider campaign restructure.
−25% CPAwith store pages matched to searches
Product screens: Petit BamBou via Apple Ads ↗. Screens illustrate the product; the number is sourced in the evidence below.
SOURCED
Built from published experiments and company reports across several products. Nobody has checked the screens on a dated day, so read each number with the caveat printed beside it.
THE PLAY
One move, with enough context to use it well.
Build a separate app-store page for each keyword theme or audience, and send each ad group to the page that matches what they searched for. Four apps report lower costs or more installs — none as a like-for-like test.
Before custom product pages, everyone in one country saw the same App Store page, whatever brought them there, and marketers had little way to test which version worked best (Admiral Media).
This play is not tied to a full playbook. Use it for this decision alone.
THE EVIDENCE
7 sourcesWhat the research does, and does not, establish.
Keyword-matched pages cut Petit BamBou's cost per acquisition.
COMPANY-REPORTEDWhat it does not show Published by Apple Ads as a success story; sample size, dates, baselines and the comparison design are not reported. Custom pages were one part of a campaign restructure that also included Search Match discovery campaigns and Search tab ads.
Petit BamBou grows in new markets Apple Ads Success Stories
Language-matched pages raised Babbel's tap-through and conversion.
COMPANY-REPORTEDWhat it does not show Published by Apple Ads as a success story; sample size, dates, baselines, metric definitions and comparison design are not reported.
Babbel boosts ad performance Apple Ads Success Stories
Pages repeating HelloFresh's offers cut cost per install.
COMPANY-REPORTEDWhat it does not show Published by Apple Ads as a success story; sample size, dates, baselines and comparison design are not reported. The pages matched an offer across channels rather than a search-keyword theme.
BORROW WITH INTENTION
A good fit starts with good judgment.
Where it can help
- Apps whose searchers arrive with distinct intents — sleep versus meditation, renting versus buying
- Paid search campaigns already split into ad groups by keyword theme
- A specific use case and a strong hypothesis per page, not customisation for its own sake
Use the play for this decision alone, or combine it with an existing product strategy after checking for conflicts.
Where to be careful
- Custom page assets must match the campaign's country and devices, or the ad variation cannot run; ad variations serve only on iOS 15.2 and later.
- Each keyword combination can belong to only one App Store page, so overlapping themes force a choice.
- Each page adds screenshots and text per localisation that must pass review and stay current.
HOW THIS GOES WRONG
Ways a correct-looking build still does harm.
A page tailored to one theme may bring installs from people the app serves less well; install gains are not shown to reach paying users.
A page showing one feature sets an expectation the first screens must meet; open on that feature by deep link or matching onboarding.
A page repeating an ad's discount promises an offer that must still be available at purchase.
THE BUILD RECORD
This page helps you decide. The record helps you build.
In the record, not on this page
- The screen spec: the mechanism, what goes on screen, and what it should change
- 7 findings in full, with every number the source gives
- 3 ways to adapt it to your product
Plus everything above, as plain text for your coding agent, with a short instruction on top: check the fit, say what the evidence doesn’t support, and adapt it rather than copy it. Paste it and you get an answer, no prompt to write.
Apple Ads success stories (Petit BamBou, Babbel, HelloFresh, Pillow) and one agency's reports; Apple- or agency-published, none a controlled test · evidence reviewed 25 September 2026.
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