Deep link

How it works

An ordinary web link names a page on a site. A deep link names a place inside an app. When someone taps it, the phone's operating system checks whether an installed app has registered to handle that address. If one has, the system opens the app and passes the address along, and the app reads it and shows the matching screen.

Apps register in one of two ways. The older way is a custom address scheme the app declares. The newer way uses a normal web address on a domain the app's owner has verified, so the same link opens the app on a phone that has it and the website everywhere else.

If the app is not installed, a plain deep link has nowhere to go. Getting a new user through the store and still landing them on the right screen is the job of a deferred deep link.

When it matters

Use a deep link whenever a message promises one specific thing to a person who already has the app: a sale item in a push notification, an order status in an email, a shared playlist in a chat. Each extra tap between the promise and the screen loses some people on the way, so opening the exact screen is the point.

How it relates to attribution

A deep link run through an MMP is also a tracking link. The tap is recorded before the app opens, so the visit can be credited to the campaign or message that caused it. That shared tap is why deep linking and attribution are bought together.