The search giant Google is launching a new ability for its Search. On November 18th, 2015, the company's search technology allows users to search inside mobile apps without downloading them, and use them when they want.
The feature is Google's attempt to extend its search reach on smartphones, and to ramp up its advertising efforts to cover more places.
With this new feature, Google is no longer requiring apps to have matching web content in order to be indexed. So when users are searching for something using Search, clicking on a link that points to an in-app content, will open a streaming "virtual app".
In order to do this, Google hosts selected apps on its servers. When a user searches something inside a specific app it has in its disposal, it'll display its contents in an interactive streaming video. Links inside the app are displayed as deep links which will take the user to relevant contents inside the app.
What users are seeing isn't some functional mobile web version of the app. The streamed app is actually running on Google's virtual machine on its cloud platform. This means that the app responds to interactions, similar to native apps.
"The app loads in a virtual machine on Google's cloud platform, and the client - the Google app that runs on your phone - sends up the touch interactions to the cloud machine. And that cloud machine executes those touch interactions, renders the app and sends the pixels back down to the client," explains Rajan Patel, the Director leading the app indexing team inside Google.
With this ability, users can book hotel rooms, for example. What users need to do is just swipe and tap, just like how they typically use a website/app.
Search Has Just Got Better: Going Inside Apps
Google is one of the very few who is already indexing the visible web. But the visible web isn't its only attempt to get more information. Google has actually been indexing contents inside mobile apps for years as its move to embrace more computing devices and get inline with the shifting trend of users.
During this time, thousands of apps have been indexed and 100 billion links are crawled. This means that they can appear in Google's search result. But what it formerly do, is prompt the user to install the app before doing pretty much anything else.
The challenge in delivering the streaming app is that the indexing process required app developers to have matching content that mirrors their app. That meant mobile app developers should have to have a full-fledged website as well.
What Google wants is to make any contents, regardless their environment, to be indexed so users can have access to these content.
"We want users to be able to have access to this content, regardless of whether it's available on the web or in an app," said Patel.
To make this possible, developers only have to implement Google's app indexing API, as before, which helps Google to understand what a page is all about and how often it's used. The company has also update its ranking algorithm to incorporate app content.
Mobile trends are indeed growing and Google is still in its ongoing attempts to confront the big challenge. Google thrives on the web and browser, but it can't aim for great advertising efforts on mobile because users are spending most of the time in apps.
Google can't crawl and index apps as easy as it can on the web. In order to achieve the ability to go deep inside apps, Google should partner with developers. One of the first apps which Google is partnering with was Facebook. The social giant is allowing Google in searching portions of its mobile app.
Initially, users will have to use Google app on their phone for this to work, running Android Lollipop or higher, and have a Wi-Fi connection, as app streaming requires a good internet connection and a lot of bandwidth. At the time of launch, it's also only available for users in the U.S..
The feature first include nine apps that don't have mobile websites: Hotel Tonight, Weather by MacroPinch, Chimani, Gormey, My Horoscope, Visual Anatomy Free, Useful Knots, Daily Horoscope and the New York subway system.
The debut partners were chosen after expressing their interest in testing out the new Google's app-only indexing functionality when it was previously announced at Google's I/O developer conference.
These are engineering partnerships with no money changing hands, a Google spokeswoman said.
The technology is built on Google's acquisition of Agawi back in 2014. The startup had been developing means of streaming mobile apps over the web, which included playing mobile games within ad units. Several former Agawi employees worked alongside Google's app indexing team in rolling out the new app streaming feature.
Benefiting Google, Benefiting Developers, Benefiting Users
With the ability to crawl and index links and contents inside an app, Google is getting better in delivering information with its Search.
With the ability, developers are benefited. Developers are no longer required to have a full-fledged running website just to get their apps indexed. Without a website, Google can index their apps as good as it can on indexing websites.
And besides that, users are also experiencing a huge benefit. As an end user, they're not required to download and install an app just to get its benefit. Whether if they're curious about the app they see, or want to do something, streaming an app to them is Google's way out.
But once again, Google is the one who gets the most benefit. Being able to find contents that were once hidden away from sight, deep inside apps, is crucial for Google whose ad business depends heavily on people using its search engines for information. Without the ability to index apps, Google's dominance will be limited to the web, a place where people are no longer spending much of their time.
The drawback? If an app's vital information and contents are all within reach, users have less to no motive to actually install the app on their phones. Users can use Google instead of downloading the app, giving developers less ability to control the user flow. But again, Google can't actually index everything. It's obvious that app developers have more control of their app than Google, and with this ability, developers can still limit what Google can index and crawl.