The new way to get your app listed in Facebook Search

Facebook has made a couple of recent changes for developers that alters the way apps are discoverable within Facebook. The first of these changes is that Facebook is removing the app directory from the site. While the app directory was a good way to get your app listed within Facebook and discoverable to people who searched there, it found it wasn’t really driving an awful lot of traffic to people’s apps, as not many people really used it in the way it was intended. It’s introduced a second change now which has made it incredibly simple to get your app listed by Facebook Search instead. When you’ve created your app, simply select ‘Submit to Search’ to allow your app to be discoverable:

The good news for developers and brands is that there is no approval process required for getting the app listed, which was previously the case. Changes made to your app however may take up to 72 hours to register on the search listing. While some developers may lament the loss of the App Directory as it was an easy way to discover apps, according to ZDNet, just 0.5% of app installations came via the app directory. This addition by Facebook is a positive one for developers as it simplifies the process to get your app listed, but bear in mind that it only affects people searching for your app name directly, as opposed to searching for a general description.