A practical guide to Google app campaigns

Google App Campaigns (GAC), previously known as Universal App Campaigns (UAC), are a major advertising platform from Alphabet for promoting apps on both Android and iOS. They operate in a highly automated manner, offering unique inventory access across various Google properties like Google Search, YouTube, and Play Store, and do not allow manual control over ad placements or audience targeting. GAC supports three types of campaigns: app installs, app engagement, and pre-registration, with the core benefit being their massive scale and low maintenance. However, the platform's effectiveness varies significantly between Android and iOS due to differences in data access and placements, and Google does not yet use SKAdNetwork data for optimization, relying instead on a conversion modeling system. Despite the challenges of budget requirements and the black-box nature of its operation, GAC remains a powerful channel with a large market share, especially on Android, but requires strategic setup, careful conversion tracking, and creative asset management to be effective.