App Install Banners Without Intrusive Interstitials

What Google's guidance says

Google describes intrusive interstitials and dialogs as elements that "obstruct users' view of the content, usually for promotional purposes." Interstitials cover the whole page; dialogs cover part of it. The guidance is explicit about apps: "This applies to all kinds of promotional dialogs, including app install prompts." Its alternative is to "use banners that take up only a small fraction of the screen to grab your users' attention," and for app installs it points to browser-supported banners such as Smart App Banners for Safari or the in-app install experience for Chrome, or a small HTML banner linking to the store.

The same page exempts mandatory interstitials, with a casino age gate as its example. An age or location check that the law requires is not the same as a promotion, and the note on age gates and crawlable pages covers how to build one without hiding the page from crawlers.

Safari's Smart App Banner

Add one meta tag to the head of each page that should show the banner:

<meta name="apple-itunes-app" content="app-id=myAppStoreID, app-argument=https://www.example.com/events/123">

• app-id is required: the app's identifier from App Store Connect or Apple's marketing tools.
• app-argument is optional: a URL that gives the app context, so the visitor can "jump from your website to the corresponding position in your iOS app."

Apple lists the behaviors that make it the right default for casino brands. If the app is installed, tapping the banner opens it. If not, it goes to the App Store entry. The banner "doesn't reappear" after the visitor closes it and returns. And "if your app is unavailable in the user's location, the banner doesn't appear," which matters for an app distributed only in licensed markets. Apple also notes that the banner cannot show inside a frame and does not appear in the iOS simulator, so test on a device.

Landing pages under the banner

A banner sits on top of a page; it does not replace one. Keep the page complete: the event, the help article or the promotion terms in full, readable without the app. That serves visitors without the app, visitors who closed the banner, and crawlers, which read the mobile version of the page. The mobile-first indexing guide lists what must match between mobile and desktop. The note on canonical web pages explains which pages should never live only in the app.

For gambling pages, keep the elements a regulator expects visible on the page itself rather than only in the app: who operates the site, its license details, age limits and a route to safer gambling help. Our safer gambling page lists the help lines for the four markets we cover.

Show the banner only where the app exists

Real-money apps are distributed per licensed location. Google Play allows different gambling products in each market. Smart App Banners hide themselves where the app is unavailable; your own HTML banner needs the same logic, or it will advertise an app some visitors cannot install. The guide to Google Play and App Store rules for gambling apps sets out each market. What the listing itself must say in each market is in the note on store listings by market.

A short banner checklist

• A small banner or bar, not a full-screen overlay, for any promotion.
• A real close control that stays closed for the visit.
• The banner names the app and the store; no bonus claims in the banner itself.
• Shown only where the app is offered; hidden for visitors outside licensed markets.
• The page works fully with the banner closed or blocked.