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Optimising Apple Ads keywords for revenue, not installs

Why install- or CPA-optimised Apple Ads quietly funds keywords that never pay, how to judge each keyword on trials, cost per paid and predicted LTV (≥20 installs for a first signal, ~100 for conversion rates), what MMP fees cost per payer (~$1.40–3.50), automation rules tied to trials/subscriptions, and Adapty's claim of accounts scaled to ~$60K/month at ≥90% D31 ROAS.

Updated 2026-10-24·2 sources·user-acquisitionapple-adsroasltvkeywordsattributionmmp

Optimising Apple Ads keywords for revenue

TL;DR

  • Apple Ads reports impressions, taps and downloads, then stops. CPA/Max Conversion targets therefore optimise for cheap installs, and your worst keywords can look “green”.12
  • Adil Bilgi’s test: list your top 5 keywords by spend. If you can’t say what revenue each produced, you’re running “a download machine”, not an ad account.3
  • Judge each keyword on trials → paid → cost per paid vs (predicted) LTV. If cost per paid subscriber is below LTV, you’re in profit.45
  • Low-volume keywords: wait for ~20 installs for a first signal and ~100 installs to read trial/paid conversion. That takes more time, not more budget.6
  • Mykola Martynovets’ MMP fee math: $0.07 per tracked install = **$1.40 per payer at 5% install→paid**, ~$3.50 at 2%. At 20K installs/month that’s ~$1,400/month (he said ~$70K/year).7
  • Apple Ads users usually have higher LTV than other channels because they arrive with intent. Check your own LTV by channel.8

Details

Example of revenue-blind optimisation. The same keyword in the US and Canada gave ~200 installs each; the US had 0 trials, Canada ~20. The cause was US pricing, invisible at install level (see Which countries to target with app ads — high-RPD bundles and cheap-but-paying geos).9

Bid/budget automation on downstream metrics (Adil).10

  • Early on, target lower CPAs. Over time, judge on trials, subscriptions, ROAS and LTV.
  • Example rules: subscriptions up 30% without a budget change → keep raising that campaign’s budget. A keyword taking 30% of spend but <10% of trials → cut its bid 5% per day until trials rise.

Balancing volume and efficiency. For long-term players with stable budgets, Adil recommends steering by LTV rather than short-term CPA.8 With weekly/monthly plans, remember you pay once and earn on each renewal, so account for retention. The simplest workable target is cost per paid vs predicted LTV.5

Reported outcome. Mykola says he saw accounts go from ~$1–2K to ~$10K and then ~$60K/month spend with D31 ROAS ≥90%, including in generative-AI apps.11

Value beyond ROAS. Petit runs Apple Ads partly for the data: which competitors convert unusually well, and keyword insight for ASO (Google UAC discloses no keywords).12

Disagreements / caveats

See also

Footnotes

  1. Turn Apple Ads into a revenue channel @ 34:33 — Mykola Martynovets ↩

  2. Turn Apple Ads into a revenue channel @ 35:28 — Adil Bilgi ↩

  3. Turn Apple Ads into a revenue channel @ 45:30 — Adil Bilgi ↩

  4. Turn Apple Ads into a revenue channel @ 37:06 — Mykola Martynovets ↩

  5. Turn Apple Ads into a revenue channel @ 57:06 — Mykola Martynovets ↩ ↩2

  6. Turn Apple Ads into a revenue channel @ 1:04:08 — Mykola Martynovets ↩

  7. Turn Apple Ads into a revenue channel @ 32:04 — Mykola Martynovets ↩ ↩2

  8. Turn Apple Ads into a revenue channel @ 59:00 — Adil Bilgi ↩ ↩2

  9. Turn Apple Ads into a revenue channel @ 37:06 — Mykola Martynovets ↩

  10. Turn Apple Ads into a revenue channel @ 50:03 — Adil Bilgi ↩

  11. Turn Apple Ads into a revenue channel @ 47:18 — Mykola Martynovets ↩

  12. Hard truth about Apple Search Ads | Thomas Petit | ASO Conference 2023 @ 33:23 — Thomas Petit ↩