You can buy ads on the Shopify App Store to help more merchants discover your apps.
## Available ad types
There are three ad types available on the Shopify App Store: Search results, category and subcategory pages, and the homepage.
Each type is visually similar, but their layout and the number of available placements differs by device type, whether desktop or mobile.
Type | Desktop placements | Mobile placements
---|---|---
Search results | 4 | 3
Category and subcategory pages | 4 | 2
Homepage | 4 | 4
<div class="section-tabs-container">
<div role="tablist"
aria-label="Search results, Category pages, Homepage tabs"
class="section-tabs">
<button id="tabs-918013-0"
aria-selected="true"
aria-disabled="false"
aria-controls="content-918013-0"
class="search-results-item section-tabs__tab section-tabs__tab--is-selected"
role="tab">
Search results
</button><button id="tabs-918013-1"
aria-selected="false"
aria-disabled="false"
aria-controls="content-918013-1"
class="category-pages-item section-tabs__tab "
role="tab">
Category pages
</button><button id="tabs-918013-2"
aria-selected="false"
aria-disabled="false"
aria-controls="content-918013-2"
class="homepage-item section-tabs__tab "
role="tab">
Homepage
</button>
</div><div tabindex="0"
role="tabpanel"
id="content-918013-0"
aria-labelledby="tabs-918013-0"
class="search-results-item section-tabs__content--is-selected section-tabs__content">
<figure class="figure"><img src="https://cdn.shopify.com/shopifycloud/shopify_dev/assets/api/listing-in-the-app-store/app-store-ads-placement-search-fbe40e5d4efabb449efc195bb7a53da63feeb36b95b3a9174214a278a1999437.png" class="lazyload" alt="Search results page with ads on the Shopify App Store." width="2880" height="1800"></figure>
</div><div tabindex="0"
role="tabpanel"
id="content-918013-1"
aria-labelledby="tabs-918013-1"
class="category-pages-item section-tabs__content">
<figure class="figure"><img src="https://cdn.shopify.com/shopifycloud/shopify_dev/assets/api/listing-in-the-app-store/app-store-ads-placement-category-2a10ff71c5576a37d77ee39900a90e7ee0b5e359ec8d7acb99134ef24074c993.png" class="lazyload" alt="Category page with ads on the Shopify App Store." width="2880" height="1800"></figure>
</div><div tabindex="0"
role="tabpanel"
id="content-918013-2"
aria-labelledby="tabs-918013-2"
class="homepage-item section-tabs__content">
<figure class="figure"><img src="https://cdn.shopify.com/shopifycloud/shopify_dev/assets/api/listing-in-the-app-store/app-store-ads-placement-homepage-33117950bd6b51598a10464e4202cef1c19923ef992007faf033c32ab405f4a1.png" class="lazyload" alt="Homepage ads on the Shopify App Store." width="2880" height="1800"></figure>
</div>
</div>
Ads are always clearly marked with a badge to indicate that they aren't organic app listings. On the homepage and category pages, ads appear in a section labeled **Sponsored apps**.
## Pricing
All ads use a Cost-Per-Click (CPC) model. This is an industry-standard model that uses pay-per-click auction bidding to determine when to show ads and which ads are shown. You pay only for each click on your ad.
The actual cost per click is calculated based on a first-price auction model. This means that the price you pay for a click on your ad is the same as the bid amount that you entered for the ad placement or search keyword that led to your ad being displayed.
While all ad types use CPC pricing, the bidding process and costs differ for each ad type.
### Homepage and category ads
When you create a homepage or category ad, you specify the bid amount that you would pay to have your ad shown. When a merchant visits the homepage or the selected category, an auction takes place where advertisers who want to show their ad compete by submitting their bid. The ads from the winning advertisers in each auction are shown in a ranked order.
### Search ads
When you create a search ad, you specify the keywords for which you want your ad to be shown. Whenever a merchant searches for any search term, an auction takes place where advertisers who want to show their ad for related keywords compete by submitting their bid. The ads from the winning advertisers in each auction are shown in a ranked order.
Keywords aren't always sold to the highest bidder. Your app's relevance to the search term and merchant is factored in as well. Keywords cost less for highly relevant apps, and their ads rank higher than others for the same auction.
In the example above, the first ad displays in position 1 and pays only $0.50 because of its high relevance. The last ad won’t be displayed because it did not win the auction to be within the first 3 ad slots. Its bid and relevance combination was too low, even though its bid was the highest.
Ad positions can change because they depend on the advertisers' bids and the relevance of their ads. For example, an ad in position 3 can move to position 1. Increases or decreases in bids immediately change ad rankings. This means that if you increase your bid for a particular keyword, then your ad's position can immediately be improved in the search results for that keyword.
If no one else competes for the same opportunity in an auction, then you automatically win and your ad is the only one that displays. In this case, your ad will display in the top position.
## Restrictions and limitations
- Only apps published in the Shopify App Store can advertise.
- Only Shopify Partners are eligible to purchase ads. Shopify doesn't advertise its own apps on the Shopify App Store.
- You must be in good standing with the [Shopify Partner Terms of Service](https://www.shopify.ca/partners/terms), including any applicable commercial terms.
- You can create ads for multiple apps, but each ad must promote a single app.
- After you create an ad, you can't edit it to advertise a different app. Instead, create a new ad.
## In this section
* <a href="/docs/apps/launch/marketing/advertising/ad-billing">About ad billing</a>
* <a href="/docs/apps/launch/marketing/advertising/check-ad-performance">Check ad performance</a>
* <a href="/docs/apps/launch/marketing/advertising/create-ads">Create ads in the Shopify App Store</a>
* <a href="/docs/apps/launch/marketing/advertising/faq">Ads FAQ</a>
* <a href="/docs/apps/launch/marketing/advertising/manage-ads">Manage ads on the Shopify App Store</a>
* <a href="/docs/apps/launch/marketing/advertising/permissions">About Ad permissions</a>