• by Laurie Sullivan , Staff Writer @lauriesullivan, July 18, 2014

When content in a mobile application doesn't have the correct code, it's hidden from searches on the rest of the Web and across devices. Deep linking lets you click a link in an app or mobile Web site to transition from one location to another. It also will help with tracking consumer actions across screens.

Indexing all the world's information to make it available to the masses has become Google's mantra over the years. But how do you open up closed systems to deep link information across screens and operating systems?

Wide-scale use of deep linking could have a significant impact on mobile app development and consumer adoption. Without it, developers will create an industry of walled gardens that severely suppresses the growth of mobile marketing and advertising.

In the second quarter of 2014, Google launched app indexing and app deep linking tools to help developers connect and market to consumers who had already downloaded their app. The tool aims to offer better targeting options in AdMob, along with a YouTube app install format and measurement tools, so developers know how their apps perform as consumer use them.

Analysis from URX suggests 22% of the top 200 mobile apps analyzed on the Android and the iOS App store charts use deep links from their Web sites to their mobile apps.

The apps in "action-based" verticals have the highest adoption of tags. Entertainment has 46% and music at 36%, but gaps in categories where users spend more time like social and productivity pale in comparison with 6% and 0%, respectively.

Patrick Pichette, Google senior vice president and CFO, said during the earnings call Thursday that the company continues to "aggressively" make sure app indexing happens across devices.

Earlier this year at the Facebook developers' event, the company announced App Links, an initiative to help developers build deep links into their apps to support the ability to move across platforms between mobile and desktop Web content, as well as mobile operating systems. Companies like App Links provide the code.

"Ornamental Plants On Wall" photo from Shutterstock.