Deep links are a powerful tool that can help you drive engagement with your app. They allow you to send users directly to specific content within your app, rather than just to the home screen. This can be a great way to drive conversions and re-engage users who have already installed your app.
On this page
- Prepare for success: Manage your deep links in Play Console
- How to access the Deep Links tool in Play Console
- The Deep links page
- Patch your deep links
- FAQs
Prepare for success: Manage your deep links in Play Console
The Google Play Console provides a dedicated tool to help you manage your deep links. This tool gives you a comprehensive overview of your deep links, and helps you to identify and fix any issues. You can also use the tool to patch your deep links, which means you can make changes to them without having to release a new version of your app.
How to access the Deep Links tool in Play Console
- Open Play Console and go to Deep links.
- Select Grow users, and then Deep links.
The Deep links page
The Deep links page offers a streamlined approach to managing deep links, which includes creation, upkeep, and validation. The page has 2 tabs: “App configuration” and “Web URLs”.
App configuration tab
The “App configuration” tab offers a summary of your app version's setup and its associated deep links.
Key features
- Configuration snapshot: Get a clear and comprehensive overview of your deep link configuration for the chosen app version.
- Issue identification: Quickly check and resolve deep link setup problems.
- Patch management: Add, disable, or fix deep links with patches, eliminating the need for a full app version release.
The “App configuration” tab has 2 main tables:
- Domains table: This table lists all of the domains that you have declared in your app's manifest. It also shows you the status of each domain, and whether it is properly associated with your app.
- App manifest links table: This table shows you all of the deep links that you have set up in your app's manifest. It also shows you the status of each deep link, and whether it is working correctly.
Web URLs tab
The Web URLs tab provides insights into the missing URLs that are recommended to be implemented as deep links in your app. This includes data on your most frequently crawled web URLs, the domains with the highest click-through rates from linked Google Ads campaigns, and various status updates.
Key features
- View a list of your most important web URLs along with their deep linking status.
- Preview deep-linked versions of your landing pages, comparing them side-by-side with the web version.
- Uncover missed opportunities to deep link your content and further increase user engagement.
- See which ad campaigns are deep-linked and gain insights into the deep links' user reach (if you have a linked Google Ads account).
The "Web URLs" tab has 2 main tables:
- Most ad traffic table: This table shows you which of your deep links are getting the most clicks from your Google Ads campaigns. It also shows you the user reach for each deep link, which is the percentage of users who are taken to your app when they click on the link.
- Web crawled URLs table: This table shows you the most important web-crawled URLs with user reach listed as a percentage.
Learn more about how to Verify and maintain deep links.
Patch your deep links
Patching is a powerful feature in the Play Console that allows you to manage your app's deep links without the need to release a new version of your app. Think of it as a quick and flexible way to make immediate changes, which is useful for managing your ad campaigns.
You can use patching to:
- Fix broken links: Quickly resolve issues with deep links that aren't working correctly.
- Add new links: Add new deep links for a limited-time promotion or a new ad campaign.
- Turn off existing links: Deactivate deep links for seasonal campaigns or outdated content.
How to create and publish a patch
You can create a patch to add a new web link or turn off an existing one.
Add a new web link
- Open Play Console and go to Deep links.
- Select Grow users, and then Deep links.
- Near the top-right of the page, select Create patch. A banner will appear at the bottom of the page confirming you are in "Patch mode."
- If you need to use a domain that is not already in your app's manifest, you must first select Add domain in the domains table. When verified, it will be available to use.
- Select Add web link to begin defining your new deep link.
- Provide the required information:
- Activity: Select the destination activity within your app.
- Scheme and host: Choose from the available options.
- Path: Enter the full URL path for the new deep link.
- Select Add to patch draft.
- When you’re ready, select Review and publish to finalize your changes.
Turn off a deep link
- Open Play Console and go to Deep links.
- Select Grow users, and then Deep links.
- Near the top-right of the page, select Create patch.
- In the "App manifest links" table, find the path you want to deactivate and select Turn off.
- Select Review and publish to apply the change. When you turn off a deep link, users will no longer be taken directly to your app and may see an app picker or be directed to your website instead.
