If Google has its way, soon Android users will be able to search the content stored inside apps using the Google search app. Currently, the search app only hooks into data collected from websites and cannot look inside apps like Wikipedia or Flixter. But Google is working on a feature called "app indexing", which was announced last year in October, to give app makers ability to connect their apps to Google search engine.
If developers choose to use app indexing, relevant search results linked to their apps will appear on the web page of the Google search along with normal web links. If a user clicks on the app link, it will not open in a web browser. Instead, it will open in the relevant app.
"Wouldn't it be cool if you could give your users the choice of viewing your content either on the website or via your app, both straight from Google's search results," Lawrence Chang, a Google product manager asked developers in a blog post. "Today, we're happy to announce a new capability of Google search, called app indexing, that uses the expertise of webmasters to help create a seamless user experience across websites and mobile apps."
In a separate post, Chaesang Jung, a software engineer with Google, explained, "Let's say that a user is searching for a movie. With app indexing, Google will begin to include deep links to apps in Android search results. When the user taps on the 'open in app' deep links, the app opens up directly to the movie in question."
Google has announced that it is already working with several app makers including those who manage AllTheCooks, AllTrails, Beautylish, Etsy, Expedia, Flixster, Healthtap, IMDb, moviefone, newegg, OpenTable, Trulia, and Wikipedia apps. But the company wants more app developers to join the app indexing programme.
Initially, search results based on app indexing will be available to Android users in the US.
While the app indexing has some obvious benefits for users, it is very important to Google and its future. Google dominates the world of web. It has over 70% share in the worldwide web search market, and consequently gets lion's share in money spent on web advertising. But in the world of mobile, Google is not dominant.
"Apps are like walled gardens. Google's search engine cannot crawl the content stored within an app. The app indexing is a way for Google to stay relevant in the future when most of the users will not search for the best restaurant through a search engine but within an app that lists restaurants and their details," says Rohith Bhat, CEO of Robosoft, one of the leading app developers in India.
While Google, which owns world's most used mobile operating system Android, has done well to gain traction among tablet and phone users, it doesn't have the dominant position that it enjoys on the web and personal computers.
According to a report by Flurry on Tuesday, smartphone and tablet users in the US spend only 14% of their time on the mobile web. The figure last year was 20%. In comparison, 86% time users are inside apps.
"Both Google and Facebook have very well established franchises on mobile, but the market is still very fragmented. In fact, Google and Facebook combined probably command less than 25% of the total time spent by the average US mobile consumer," noted the Flurry report. "It is still too early to predict the trajectory apps will take in 2014. But one thing is clear - apps have won and the mobile browser is taking a back seat. Now every company in the world including Google is adjusting to that reality."
For Google, consequences of users spending most of their time within apps may turn out to be disastrous. This is one of the reasons why the company has beefed up its Search app on mobile phones to pull in answers that way Siri on iPhone does instead of just showing web links. The company has also introduced Google Now, which shows the "right information at the right time" in a bid to keep the search app relevant. Google has also beefed up Maps, YouTube and Gmail apps.
But for a company with a mission statement that reads "organise the world's information and make it universally accessible and useful", not being able to index stored in apps that majority of people use may result in an existential crisis.
Bhat believes that in terms of technology, app indexing is a sound idea. "Google has good traction with Android and the company will not have much problem attracting app developers for its project. Also, I am sure the API it will offer to developers will be simple to use," he says.
The problem, however, is related to the use cases.
Bhat says that these are early days for app indexing and in the coming months app developers will surely find some good use of it but currently his company is not thinking of integrating the Google search with its apps. "We haven't really figured out a use case for it so far. We mostly deal in games and utility apps. Developers who are working on apps with interactive content can make better use of app indexing," he says.
If developers choose to use app indexing, relevant search results linked to their apps will appear on the web page of the Google search along with normal web links. If a user clicks on the app link, it will not open in a web browser. Instead, it will open in the relevant app.
"Wouldn't it be cool if you could give your users the choice of viewing your content either on the website or via your app, both straight from Google's search results," Lawrence Chang, a Google product manager asked developers in a blog post. "Today, we're happy to announce a new capability of Google search, called app indexing, that uses the expertise of webmasters to help create a seamless user experience across websites and mobile apps."
In a separate post, Chaesang Jung, a software engineer with Google, explained, "Let's say that a user is searching for a movie. With app indexing, Google will begin to include deep links to apps in Android search results. When the user taps on the 'open in app' deep links, the app opens up directly to the movie in question."
Google has announced that it is already working with several app makers including those who manage AllTheCooks, AllTrails, Beautylish, Etsy, Expedia, Flixster, Healthtap, IMDb, moviefone, newegg, OpenTable, Trulia, and Wikipedia apps. But the company wants more app developers to join the app indexing programme.
Initially, search results based on app indexing will be available to Android users in the US.
While the app indexing has some obvious benefits for users, it is very important to Google and its future. Google dominates the world of web. It has over 70% share in the worldwide web search market, and consequently gets lion's share in money spent on web advertising. But in the world of mobile, Google is not dominant.
"Apps are like walled gardens. Google's search engine cannot crawl the content stored within an app. The app indexing is a way for Google to stay relevant in the future when most of the users will not search for the best restaurant through a search engine but within an app that lists restaurants and their details," says Rohith Bhat, CEO of Robosoft, one of the leading app developers in India.
While Google, which owns world's most used mobile operating system Android, has done well to gain traction among tablet and phone users, it doesn't have the dominant position that it enjoys on the web and personal computers.
According to a report by Flurry on Tuesday, smartphone and tablet users in the US spend only 14% of their time on the mobile web. The figure last year was 20%. In comparison, 86% time users are inside apps.
"Both Google and Facebook have very well established franchises on mobile, but the market is still very fragmented. In fact, Google and Facebook combined probably command less than 25% of the total time spent by the average US mobile consumer," noted the Flurry report. "It is still too early to predict the trajectory apps will take in 2014. But one thing is clear - apps have won and the mobile browser is taking a back seat. Now every company in the world including Google is adjusting to that reality."
For Google, consequences of users spending most of their time within apps may turn out to be disastrous. This is one of the reasons why the company has beefed up its Search app on mobile phones to pull in answers that way Siri on iPhone does instead of just showing web links. The company has also introduced Google Now, which shows the "right information at the right time" in a bid to keep the search app relevant. Google has also beefed up Maps, YouTube and Gmail apps.
But for a company with a mission statement that reads "organise the world's information and make it universally accessible and useful", not being able to index stored in apps that majority of people use may result in an existential crisis.
Bhat believes that in terms of technology, app indexing is a sound idea. "Google has good traction with Android and the company will not have much problem attracting app developers for its project. Also, I am sure the API it will offer to developers will be simple to use," he says.
The problem, however, is related to the use cases.
Bhat says that these are early days for app indexing and in the coming months app developers will surely find some good use of it but currently his company is not thinking of integrating the Google search with its apps. "We haven't really figured out a use case for it so far. We mostly deal in games and utility apps. Developers who are working on apps with interactive content can make better use of app indexing," he says.
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