Deep Linking Isn't Taking Off Yet. Can Facebook Change That?

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Deep links are very hard to visualize, so please enjoy this visual pun.

Image: Flickr, Arend Jan Wonink

By Todd Wasserman2014-07-01 20:25:52 UTC

Deep-linking, a technology that lets you use a link to launch a mobile app without going through the welcome screen, has been a hot topic in tech circles recently, but that hasn't translated into actual use.

However, a new move by Facebook on Tuesday may change that. Facebook is now letting developers send users from a mobile ad to a "deep link" within an app, the company announced on a blog post.

See also: How Deep Links Could Revolutionize Mobile Advertising

In April, Facebook announced AppLink.org, a technology that would make it easier for third-party developers to provide deep links. The company reported that since then, developers have enabled more than a billion app links on mobile.

The news comes as URX, a startup that provides deep linking technology, analyzed the top 200 mobile apps (excluding ones like Uber that don't have a corresponding web presence), and found only 22% have deep link tags on their sites.

The 22% figure refers to sites that have deep links in at least one OS. If you count apps that have deep links for both iOS and Android, the figure drops to 8%.

John Milinovich, cofounder and CEO of URX, says he expects the numbers to change soon. "For the last several years, publishers were far more focused on app installs, rather than re-engagement," he says. Milinovich adds that he is encouraged by some recent uses of the technology, including OpenTable reviews in Yelp and Uber in Google Maps.

Deep linking also has some major industry support. In addition to Facebook, Google also provides deep links from Google+ posts, and Twitter announced deep linking support in April.

Proponents of deep linking say it can revolutionize mobile advertising by providing a frictionless way to go from app to app. A mobile ad, for instance, could promote a necklace being sold on Etsy and provide a link directly to the page within the app where the necklace is sold. If the user doesn't already have the Etsy app installed, they would be taken to the corresponding mobile web page.

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Topics: Advertising, Business, deep links, Facebook, Marketing