The Deep Link Validator lets you validate deep links for either your entire Android app or a specific App Link or Custom Scheme within your app. Using the tool you can view, send, and download a detailed report that contains all the checks the tool performed on your link and how the missed configurations should be fixed. Learn more About deep links.
Access the Deep Link Validator
- In your Google Ads account, click the Tools icon
.
- Click the Planning drop-down in the section menu.
- Click App advertising hub.
- You’ll find the Deep Link Validator on the menu.
How to use the deep link validator
Deep links provide tremendous value for you and your users: better user experience, higher retention and new opportunities to engage your users and increase traffic to your app.
Use the deep link validator tool to:
- Validate your entire mobile app or a specific link.
- Understand the fixes you need to make so that all of your links are configured correctly.
- Download or send the report for easier documentation and sharing with relevant stakeholders in your organisation.
- Make the necessary changes in your app and website.
Validate an entire app or a specific link
Using the tool, you can validate your entire app, provide a full report of all the links found in your manifest file and check whether each link is configured correctly. Alternatively, you can choose to validate a specific link to make sure that it’s usable and working as intended.
App validation – Android
To validate all the deep links in your app:
- Select 'Android' from the drop-down menu.
- Choose your app from the app picker.
- Choose the Validate all deep links option under the drop-down menu
- Click Validate.
Once you do, the scan pulls all the deep links found in your app, and performs the relevant checks on each link.
Overall report and download functionality
You’ll see how many of your links won’t work and the app version that we validated. You can also click on the 'full report' button to download or send the report to other stakeholders in your organisation.
Detailed app verification table
Once we validate, you’ll see up to three tabs on the validation table.
Domains that failed website checks tab:
- This tab is based on domains since a domain can be associated with multiple apps, and vice versa.
- In the table, you’ll see the list of domains that failed website checks, how many website checks failed for each domain.
- By clicking on 'View details', you can see all of the checks performed on this domain, which ones passed and failed, and what you'll need to do to fix each failed check.
- Under the same 'View Details' page, you can click on the 'links under domain' tab to see all the links that are associated with this domain.
Note: If one or more of the domains in your app fails website checks, all the App Links in your app will not work as intended. When clicking on those links, the app may still open, but the dialogue which allows the user to select which app will open the link will show.
Links that failed app checks tab:
- In the table, you can see the list of links that failed app checks per link, and whether it was validated as an app link or custom URL scheme, and how many app checks it's failed.
- You can click on 'View details' to see a detailed view of all the checks performed, which ones passed or failed and how to fix the failed ones.
Valid links tab:
- In the table, you can see the list of links that failed app checks per link, and whether it was validated as an app kink or custom URL scheme.
- You can click on 'View link report' to see a preview (if available) and a QR code for the landing page that this deep link leads to in the app, as well as all of the related checks that we performed for this link.
Filtering
To help you prioritise the data, you can filter the domains and links in the tables based on the number of checks that failed or the type of checks that failed.
App validation – iOS
Follow these steps to validate all the deep links in your app:
- Select 'iOS' from the drop-down menu.
- Choose your app from the app picker.
- Choose the Validate all deep links option under the drop-down menu.
- Click Add app domains.
After you have validated all the deep links in your app, a slidelalog opens. In the slidealog, select the following:
- Matching Android app: Select the corresponding Android app to the iOS app.
- Add your own domains: Select the domains that you want to validate.
- Click Apply to validate.
The validator pulls all the domains found in the Android app along with the domains that you entered and then performs the relevant checks.
Detailed app verification table
After validation is complete, you can notice up to three tabs on the validation table.
- Domains that failed website checks tab:
- In the table, you can find the list of domains that failed one or more website checks, and the number of website checks failed for each domain.
- By selecting 'View details', you can view all the checks performed on the domain, which checks passed and failed and a suggestion to fix each failed check.
- Domains that passed website checks tab:
- In the table, you can view the list of links that passed website checks and you can select 'View details' for each domain. Under 'View details', click 'App check validation' and scan the QR code to ensure that the deep link is set up correctly in the app.
- Domains with recommended updates tab:
- In the table, you can view the list of links where some updates are recommended. These updates are recommended based on Apple’s developer guidelines. You can select 'View details' for each domain. Under 'View details', click 'App check validation' and scan the QR code to ensure that the deep link is set up correctly in the app.
Specific link validation
To validate a specific link:
- Select 'Android' or 'iOS' from the drop-down menu.
- Choose your app from the app picker.
- Choose the Validate a deep link option from the drop-down menu.
- Enter the link that you want to validate.
- Click Validate.
Once you click on 'Validate', the relevant checks on your link are performed.
Verification results – Android
Once validated, you’ll see the checks that the tool performed on your link, how many passed and failed, whether the link was validated as an app link or custom URL scheme and the app version validated. It’s important to note that any link check other than a custom URL schemes check will require a different setup.
You can also click on the 'full report' button to download or send the report to other stakeholders in your organisation.
If the deep link isn't configured correctly, you’ll see the list of app and/or website checks that we performed, which ones passed or failed and how to fix the failed ones.
If the link that you validated is a valid link, you’ll see a preview (if available) and a QR code for the landing page that this deep link leads to in the app, and all the related checks that the tool performed for this link. However, the deep link preview may not always accurately reflect the content of the app, especially if the access to the app is restricted (for example, if it requires a login or needs to be accessed from a specific location). Therefore, use the QR code to test the deep link on your own device.
Verification results – iOS
After validation, you can receive one of the following messages:
- 'This deeplink passed all web checks, but app check is still required'.
- 'This deep link won’t work'.
If you receive the first message, proceed to install the app and scan the QR code to verify that the right page opens up in the app. This step ensures that the deep link is set up correctly in the app.
If you receive the second message, review the errors found and instructions on how to fix them.
Note: For iOS, custom schemes can’t be validated. The deep link in need of validation must start with 'http' or 'https'.
We can only validate website checks for iOS apps. App configuration will still be essential for any validated deep links to work.
Web to App Connect
You can set up deep linking and app conversion tracking using the Web to App Connect interface in Google Ads. Once you’ve completed setup for both, you can provide a seamless web-to-app experience for your customers and drive on average 2 times higher conversion rates for ad clicks landing in your app compared to your mobile website.
This improved experience allows your customers to more easily complete their intended action, whether purchasing, signing up or adding items to their cart. Plus, from within the Web to App Connect interface, you can track these in-app conversion actions and get recommendations on how to improve your campaign.
To get started with Web to App Connect, follow the three steps below:
- In your Google Ads account, click the Tools icon
- Click the Planning drop-down in the section menu.
- Click App advertising hub. This will take you to the Web to App Connect interface.
Learn more about converting better with the Web to App Connect interface.
