Google is implementing a new wave of advertising for mobile application developers. The company recently launched a pilot program that allows these app developers to advertise their apps directly in the Google Play store. Google believes this an effective method for app developers to get noticed, and it may just be.

Ads will become active over the next few weeks, and when searching Google Play with terms like “travel” or “restaurants,” the normal listings will populate with the new sponsored results on top labeled with the yellow “Ad” heading.

google-play-ad

Photo retrieved from http://techcrunch.com/2015/02/26/google-starts-testing-mobile-app-ads-in-the-google-play-store/.

To start with, the program will only be available to advertisers that are currently running Google search campaigns. And another major kicker obviously is that this is only for the 1 billion Android users to discover new apps that may not have come across in the past. If this works, will rival Apple and the App store follow? Most likely. Currently, mobile advertising is becoming a threat to Google’s advertising business, so this is a logical step for the Internet giant. And eventually, it will be a logical step for Apple and other tech companies.

458395-ads-in-google-play

GIF retrieved from http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2477448,00.asp.

Even if it is logical for these tech companies, is it worth it for business owners and app developers? Only six percent of web traffic emerges from paid search results, so it seems far-fetched to allocate such a large amount of money to paid advertising on Google and eventually Apple platforms. But the biggest return might just be the perception, and the trend will rise.