Why relevancy decides who serves

Fit gates the auction#

Before bid levels enter the conversation, Apple decides whether a keyword belongs near your app at all: the term, the product page content and the app's purpose must plausibly connect. A bid cannot rescue a keyword that describes a job your app does not do, because the auction simply withholds the impression. This is why relevancy work precedes bid work on every struggling ad group, and why raising bids on misfit terms buys taps that never convert.

Apple publishes no formula and no score for this fit, so treat anyone selling a relevancy equation with suspicion. What exists is behaviour: fitting terms serve, earn taps and convert, while misfits starve or spend badly. Our exact match guide shows the tightest way to buy only the fit you mean.

The page is half the keyword#

Search Match aside, relevancy still starts on the product page: the title, subtitle, screenshots and description teach Apple what each term means next to your app. A keyword mirrored honestly in page copy and creative earns its place; a keyword floating with no page support looks like a conquest attempt and behaves like one. Align new keywords with page language before launch, not as an apology afterwards.

This is also why Search Match mirrors your page back at you: sharp pages attract sharp queries. Apple own keyword best practices put relevance first for exactly this reason. Our Search Match guide shows what automation does with a vague page.

TTR is the relevancy signal#

Tap through rate is the readable shadow of fit: shoppers tap what matches their intent and scroll past what does not. A keyword with impressions but anaemic taps is telling you the match failed in the shopper's eyes, whatever your spreadsheet believed. Compare TTR within themes rather than across them, since brand terms will always out tap cold category phrases.

Act on the signal in order: rewrite nothing first, but check the term truly fits, then check the page supports it, then pause or negate what still starves. Our brand, category and competitor guide sets the TTR expectations per theme.

Building tight themed groups#

Relevancy loves small, honest ad groups: one theme per group, keywords that share intent, and creative that matches the promise. Ten synonyms for one job outperform fifty loosely related terms, because every term in a tight group borrows credibility from its neighbours. Split groups the moment a theme forks into two different shopper intents.

Name groups for the intent they serve so reviews stay quick and pruning stays brave. Apple own structure guidance builds whole campaigns on this themed logic. Our limits guide keeps group sizes inside the ceilings.

Pruning what does not fit#

Every account accumulates misfits: launch guesses that never converted, trend chases gone cold, translations that drifted off meaning. Pause the hopeless positives, negate the recurring junk queries, and watch TTR recover as the dead wood leaves the averages. Pruning is the cheapest performance lever in the account because it costs nothing and compounds.

Run a fit review quarterly: every keyword must justify itself with taps or conversions, and sentiment is no defence. Our negatives guide handles the blocking mechanics once the review names names.

Relevancy across markets#

Fit does not translate itself: a term tightly aligned in English can read as nonsense or near offence in another locale, and local rivals own connotations no dictionary captures. Review relevancy per market with local eyes, localise page support alongside the keyword, and never bulk translate a winning list and call it strategy.

Start at the Apple Ads hub for the account wide picture, read our localised keywords guide for the per market method, and ask our team when a market's TTR flatlines for no visible reason.

Frequently asked questions#