Apple will be rolling out its Search Ads to the App Store worldwide from October 5th.

The ads will appear at the top of searches for games and apps that are relevant to the ad. The idea behind the move is to give developers the chance to drive installs to their games when users search for other titles or enter certain keywords.

Apple has stated on its Search Ads website that the ads will only be shown if the search is actually relevant, no matter what ad spend the developer has assigned.

This should hopefully bypass a problem in which a large developer buys up all the ad space and leaves smaller developers with one less avenue for user acquisition.

Tapping into a new market

Ads will be shown on a cost-per-tap basis, with developers setting a daily spend cap. Apple will then determine the actual cost of each tap based on what its nearest competitor is willing to pay for an ad.

Apple will also be giving its users access to a Search Ads Attribution API. This will allow developers to gain insight into which keywords and search terms are driving their ads and taps.

Developers who want to use the ads can sign up to Search Ads and receive $100 worth of free ads until December 31st 2016.

Search Ads have been a contentious matter with developers, with our Indie Mavens saying that it would be a blow to smaller developers.

There are those who think that the Search Ads won't make a particularly big impact however, with Priori Data and Pocket Whale stating that 70% of app installs are already driven by searches. Apple itself has this figure pinned at over 65%.