Apple Search Ads Overview

Apple Search Ads is Apple’s paid search channel on the App Store. It is separate from App Store Connect: App Store Connect handles publishing, reviews, analytics, and sales reports; Apple Search Ads handles paid keyword campaigns and ad performance. Appeeky wraps Apple’s Campaign Management API v5 for campaign management and reports, and Platform API v1 for search term popularity, keyword suggestions, and impression share. After connecting credentials once, you can read and manage campaigns, ad groups, targeting keywords, negative keywords, performance reports, and official popularity scores through REST or MCP tools.

Apple Search Ads support requires Indie plan or higher. You also need an active Apple Search Ads account.

Apple Search Ads uses a different API key than App Store Connect. If you already connected App Store Connect, you still need to connect Search Ads separately.

What You Can Do

Area	What it covers	Docs
Credentials	Search Ads API key setup, org access, secure connection options, per-request headers	Credentials & Setup
Campaigns	List campaigns, pause/resume, change names and daily budgets	Campaigns & Ad Groups
Ad groups	List ad groups, pause/resume, change names and default CPT bids	Campaigns & Ad Groups
Targeting keywords	List, find, create, update, delete, recommendations, bid recommendations	Targeting Keywords
Negative keywords	Campaign-level and ad-group-level negative keyword management	Negative Keywords
Reports	Keyword performance and real search-term reports	Reports
Insights	Official search term popularity, keyword suggestions, impression share	Insights & Popularity
Profitability	Join Apple Ads spend with RevenueCat revenue, profit, and ROAS	Profitability
ROAS workflow	Integration readiness, optimization recommendations, review country gate	ROAS Workflow
MCP	Assistant tools for Search Ads workflows	MCP Tools

Customer Setup Flow

Create or choose an Apple Search Ads account.
Generate Search Ads API credentials in the Search Ads UI.
Save credentials in Appeeky, or pass them per request.
Verify accessible organizations with /me and /acls.
List campaigns and ad groups.
Pull search term and keyword performance reports.
Optionally manage bids, statuses, targeting keywords, and negative keywords.

Start with Credentials & Setup. If credentials are already connected, continue with Reports for search terms and performance data, or Profitability to join spend with RevenueCat revenue.

What Search Ads Data Is Good For

Signal	Why it matters
Search terms report	Shows real user queries that triggered your ads
Keyword report	Shows impressions, taps, installs, spend, and efficiency per paid keyword
Bid recommendations	Helps estimate competitive pressure for a keyword
Negative keywords	Blocks irrelevant paid traffic and protects spend
Campaign and ad group status	Explains why ads may not be serving

Search Ads reports are especially useful for ASO because they reveal real query language and paid conversion behavior. Pair them with App Store Connect Metrics, Keyword Metrics, and Apple Ads Insights for official search popularity.

Apple Ads Platform API v1 now exposes search term popularity (asa_search_term_popularity) and keyword suggestions with 0–100 scores (asa_keyword_suggestions). See Insights & Popularity.

Typical Workflow

1. Check connection

GET /v1/connect/apple-ads/credentials/status

2. List campaigns

GET /v1/connect/apple-ads/campaigns

3. Pull search terms

POST /v1/connect/apple-ads/campaigns/:campaignId/reports/searchterms

4. Review keyword performance

POST /v1/connect/apple-ads/campaigns/:campaignId/reports/keywords

5. Pull official search popularity

POST /v1/connect/apple-ads/insights/search-term-popularity

See Insights & Popularity.

6. Manage keywords or negatives

POST /v1/connect/apple-ads/campaigns/:campaignId/adgroups/:adGroupId/targetingkeywords/bulk
POST /v1/connect/apple-ads/campaigns/:campaignId/negativekeywords/bulk

7. Join spend with RevenueCat revenue

GET /v1/connect/apple-ads/profitability?level=keyword&days=14

8. Run the ROAS workflow

GET /v1/connect/apple-ads/playbook/status
GET /v1/connect/apple-ads/playbook/recommendations?appId=YOUR_APP_ID

See ROAS Workflow.

Endpoint Families

Base path:

/v1/connect/apple-ads

Family	Endpoints
Credentials	`POST /credentials`, `GET /credentials/status`, `DELETE /credentials`
Account	`GET /me`, `GET /acls`
Campaigns	`GET /campaigns`, `PUT /campaigns/:campaignId`
Ad groups	`GET /campaigns/:campaignId/adgroups`, `PUT /campaigns/:campaignId/adgroups/:adGroupId`
Targeting keywords	List, get, find, create, update, delete, recommendations
Negative keywords	Campaign and ad group negative keyword CRUD
Reports	Keyword performance and search terms
Insights	Search term popularity, keyword suggestions, impression share
Profitability	Apple Ads spend joined with RevenueCat revenue
ROAS workflow	Readiness, recommendations, review country gate

Apple Search Ads vs App Store Connect

	App Store Connect	Apple Search Ads
Product	App publishing, private app analytics, reviews, sales reports	Paid search campaigns on the App Store
Console	appstoreconnect.apple.com	searchads.apple.com
Appeeky connect path	`/v1/connect/credentials`	`/v1/connect/apple-ads/credentials`
MCP prefix	`asc_*`	`asa_*`
Best for	Metadata, reviews, downloads/revenue sync	Paid keyword performance and real search queries

App Store Connect

Google Play Console

RevenueCat

Superwall

Apple Search Ads

What You Can Do

Customer Setup Flow

What Search Ads Data Is Good For

Typical Workflow

1. Check connection

2. List campaigns

3. Pull search terms

4. Review keyword performance

5. Pull official search popularity

6. Manage keywords or negatives

7. Join spend with RevenueCat revenue

8. Run the ROAS workflow

Endpoint Families

Apple Search Ads vs App Store Connect

​What You Can Do

​Customer Setup Flow

​What Search Ads Data Is Good For

​Typical Workflow

​1. Check connection

​2. List campaigns

​3. Pull search terms

​4. Review keyword performance

​5. Pull official search popularity

​6. Manage keywords or negatives

​7. Join spend with RevenueCat revenue

​8. Run the ROAS workflow

​Endpoint Families

​Apple Search Ads vs App Store Connect

​Related Docs

What You Can Do

Customer Setup Flow

What Search Ads Data Is Good For

Typical Workflow

1. Check connection

2. List campaigns

3. Pull search terms

4. Review keyword performance

5. Pull official search popularity

6. Manage keywords or negatives

7. Join spend with RevenueCat revenue

8. Run the ROAS workflow

Endpoint Families

Apple Search Ads vs App Store Connect

Related Docs