Peak season is almost here, the best opportunity of the year to scale your app. It’s also when every Shopify app bids on the same Shopify Ads keywords. The apps that grow through BFCM are the ones that cast a wider net.
Short answer: growing a Shopify app through BFCM (Black Friday and Cyber Monday season) comes down to three quick wins. Tighten your app store SEO so Shopify search sends more organic installs. Scale Shopify Ads without waste by bidding on value. And switch on Google Ads now, where hardly any Shopify apps advertise, so its AI has learned by the time merchants start buying.
This is the playbook from our “Cast a Wider Net” peak-season webinar, updated with our newest Google Ads results. Of the three pillars we grow apps on (traffic, conversion, monetization), it covers the traffic you can add before Black Friday.
Shopify Ads are a top revenue driver, and three things hit them at once in peak season:
Meanwhile, merchants don’t only browse the Shopify app store. They type their problems into Google all day, like losing carts or bundling products, and hardly any Shopify apps show up there with ads. That is the wider net.
“Peak season is weeks away. The campaigns working in November are the ones learning now.”
Boaz Lantsman, Founder, Convert2x
For most apps, Shopify search is the #1 source of revenue, and changing your app store copy moves your position, traffic, installs and revenue from Shopify search quickly. Yet most app teams guess at keywords or copy competitors. Without real data they miss valuable searches, which means lower visibility and fewer installs.
Four steps fix it:
| Keyword source | What it tells you | How you use it |
|---|---|---|
| Shopify Ads impressions ÷ visibility | Estimated searches per term | The starting list, sorted by searches |
| Installs, paying users and revenue per keyword | Which searches bring merchants who pay | Moves keywords up or down the tiers |
| Smaller keywords and typos | Searches that convert despite low volume | Added to your priority list |
The results we published from this process: +45% Shopify search visitors and +69% Shopify search installs. The field-by-field method is in our Shopify app store optimization checklist, and we do the whole thing for you as a Shopify app store SEO service.
Peak season punishes waste. Three steps keep Shopify Ads profitable while CPCs climb:
That third step is where the extra installs come from. In one account, the new-keywords campaign delivered almost as many installs as the main campaign, effectively doubling installs. In another, the new keywords brought installs at a lower cost per install. The account layout behind it is in Shopify Ads campaign structure, and we manage it for you as Shopify app store ads management.
Shopify Ads are crowded and costly. Google Ads is cheaper, with less competition. Three moves get you started:
Results: 563% ROAS for one store optimization app, and 740% ROAS in 8 weeks on AI Max. Because the AI learns from conversions, this is the one quick win you can’t leave until November. Setup, compliance and AI Max vs PMax in detail: Google Ads before BFCM.
| Channel | The move | When |
|---|---|---|
| App store SEO | Build the keyword list (impressions ÷ visibility), rank by quality, rewrite the listing by priority | Now, then check positions 1 to 2 days after edits |
| Shopify Ads | Exact + broad, negatives from the search terms report, bids set by visitor value | Weekly |
| Shopify Ads | New suggested keywords, misspellings and variations in their own campaign | Every two weeks |
| Google Ads | Exclude “Shopify” with phrase match, manual CPC to about 30 conversions, then AI Max or PMax | Now, before November |
| Google Ads | Tighten negatives, add keywords, try AI campaign types, watch ROAS | Weekly |
Convert2x has grown 100+ Shopify apps since 2018. For BFCM we start where your biggest multiplier is: app store SEO ($2K, delivered in a week), Shopify app store ads management ($1K/mo plus media), or managed Google Ads for Shopify apps ($1K/mo plus media). A free growth assessment shows you which one comes first for your app.
Now. Google's AI bidding needs about 30 conversions on manual CPC before it can take over, and app store copy changes need a day or two before you check where you rank. The campaigns working in November are the ones learning now.
Every app fights over the same few short-tail app store keywords, and peak season makes that worse. CPCs climb fast and squeeze ROI, so every click spent on a poor match costs more.
Sort your Shopify Ads search terms report by impressions, copy the relevant terms with their impressions and visibility, and estimate searches as impressions divided by visibility. Then rank them by the installs and revenue each keyword brings.
Yes. Keep Shopify and other ecommerce platforms out as negatives, target the searches merchants use to describe their problem, and send clicks to your listing. Google shows the Shopify label on the ad itself.
Results we published: +45% Shopify search visitors and +69% Shopify search installs from app store SEO, twice the Shopify Ads installs at a lower cost per install, and 563% ROAS at a $0.07 average CPC on Google Ads.
Convert2x has grown 100+ Shopify apps. Start with a free growth assessment.
Get a free growth assessment →