

API Docs for URX's Deeplink Search Engine - jmilinovich
http://developers.urx.com/

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steve_taylor
A while ago, I made a search app using Google Custom Search:
[https://itunes.apple.com/app/in-app-
search/id908073064](https://itunes.apple.com/app/in-app-search/id908073064)

The URX App Search API certainly looks a lot more promising than Google for
this purpose. It's good to see the documentation is public now and I'm sure it
won't be long before a large number of apps are using this API.

One question about the app index: It doesn't specify the availability of apps
in different operating systems. I have come across a number of apps whose
sites have deep link information only for Android or iOS.

Also, it's interesting that IMDb isn't in the list, considering it is one of
the most widely cited examples of app deep linking and its complete site index
is easily downloaded and you can follow the links to it via /robots.txt.

~~~
jmilinovich
CEO of URX here- thanks for your excitement Steve! We're definitely big fans
of the app you built!

Currently we list out the availability of apps in our index by company and not
by operating system; we’ll look into providing more detailed information.

Regarding IMDb: while the site index may be accessible and their app does have
deep links, IMDb has not publicly exposed their deep link structure via meta
tags. Currently, we're only indexing sites with these tags, but that will
change shortly.

------
guybrushT
Is there an ELI5 explanation of what are Deep links? And in the context of an
app, what does a "link" to a place in an app means?

"We’re indexing the top apps with deep link tags and building a knowledge
graph that organizes apps by their content and by the actions they allow users
to take." \- whats the advantage for a developer to allow their app to be
indexed?

I am super intrigued by the tech. But just want to understand by what it can
do for an app.

~~~
alook
CTO of URX here - thanks for the feedback!

ELI5 "what is a deep link?": mobile deep links mean registering custom URI
schemes for your app, and registering a URL dispatcher within your app. The
end result is that users can be sent directly to a specific page of content
within your app. For example,

    
    
      spotify:artist:0X2BH1fck6amBIoJhDVmmJ
    

...will take you to the in-app version of this experience:

    
    
      https://open.spotify.com/artist/0X2BH1fck6amBIoJhDVmmJ
    

The intuition is that sending users to in-app content is preferable to web
content; IMHO, this is especially important for apps that have rich content or
have logged-in functionality.

Example of a bad experience for apps that don't use deeplinks: have you ever
clicked on a LinkedIn email on your mobile device and landed on a sign-in page
in your mobile browser? If they used deeplinks, you're probably already signed
into your LinkedIn app and wouldn't need to go digging for your password. This
has been a common pain point in people we've talked to.

As a developer, allowing your app to be indexed will make it easier for other
developers to send you traffic. Currently, we believe that the limiting factor
preventing a "link graph" from existing across apps, is the challenge
developers face in discovering how to find (a) which pieces of content are
relevant to a page within your app, and (b) how to contruct a deep link URL to
send users to those pieces of content.

