Solved: Optimizing Apple Search Ads Campaigns in Lisbon

Hi there,

Thanks for reaching out!

Happy to give you some initial thoughts on your situation with Apple Search Ads in Portugal. Scaling in a new market, especially a specific city like Lisbon, can be a real headache. It sounds like you're caught in the classic loop of tweaking bids and hoping for a better ROI, which is a common trap.

Tbh, the secret to scaling profitably isn't just about outbidding everyone. It’s about being smarter with your campaign structure and deeply understanding what a user is actually looking for when they type something into the App Store search bar. Get that right, and the bidding strategy almost takes care of itself. Let's get into how you can fix it.

We'll need to look at your campaign structure...

Right, let's get one thing straight. Most people who fail with Apple Search Ads fail because they lump everything into one or two campaigns. They'll have one campaign with their brand name, some competitor names, and a bunch of generic terms all thrown together, with Search Match turned on. The algorithm then gets confused, your spend goes all over the place, and you have no idea what's actually working. It's a complete mess and a surefire way to burn your budget.

You're paying for access to users at the very moment they are looking for a solution. This is bottom-of-the-funnel marketing at its finest. They've already decided they need an app for *something*. Your job is to show up with the right message for their specific need. To do that, you need to separate your campaigns based on user intent. This isn't optional; it's the foundation of a profitable account.

I always structure my client accounts, including one we worked on that got over 45,000 signups, using four distinct campaign types. Each has a specific job:

1. Brand Campaign: This is for your own app name and any common misspellings. The intent here is as high as it gets. Someone is literally searching for you. The goal here isn't discovery; it's defense. You're making sure no competitor can sneak in and place an ad above your organic listing. These should be your cheapest and highest-converting installs. If you're not running this, you're letting competitors steal your most valuable users for pennies.


2. Competitor Campaign: This is where you target the names of your direct competitors. The user's intent is still very high—they are looking for a solution just like yours, but they've named a rival. Your job is to interrupt them and present your app as a better alternative. This is a bit more expensive than Brand, but it's a direct way to steal market share from others in your niche.


3. Generic Campaign: This is for keywords that describe the problem your app solves or the category it belongs to. For example, if you have a budgeting app, keywords would be "app de orçamento" (budgeting app), "controlar despesas" (control expenses), or "finanças pessoais" (personal finance). The user knows they have a problem, but they don't know the solution (your app) yet. This is your primary channel for acquiring genuinely new users who aren't aware of you or your competitors yet.


4. Discovery Campaign: This is your research and development department. Here, you use Apple's Search Match feature. You don't add specific keywords. Instead, you let Apple's algorithm match your app to search queries it thinks are relevant. The goal here is NOT to get cheap installs (though sometimes you do). The goal is to find *new* keywords that people are searching for. You regularly review the search terms report from this campaign, pull out the good ones to add as exact match keywords in your Generic or Competitor campaigns, and add all the irrelevant ones as negative keywords. It's a keyword harvesting machine.

This structure gives you total control. You can allocate budget precisely where it's most effective. You know exactly which type of user you're acquiring with each campaign, and you can tailor your bids accordingly. A brand search user is worth bidding high for (though the CPCs are usually low), while a discovery search requires a much lower, more cautious bid.

I'd say you need to rethink your keyword strategy...

Now that the structure is sorted, let's talk keywords. This is another area where people make costly mistakes. They either use broad match everywhere, which gives Apple far too much control, or they fail to use negative keywords effectively, resulting in their campaigns competing against each other.

For your Brand, Competitor, and Generic campaigns, you should be using Exact Match almost exclusively. This means your ad will only show when someone types in that precise keyword. It gives you maximum control and ensures your ad is hyper-relevant to the search query. Broad match has its place, but it's a tool for exploration, not for scaling controlled campaigns. If you use broad match on a term like "budget app," Apple might show your ad for searches like "how to save money on groceries" or "best bank accounts in Portugal." Some might be relevant, most won't. You lose control and waste money.

The second, and arguably more important, part of keyword strategy is the aggressive use of Negative Keywords. This is non-negotiable. Here's how it works with the four-campaign structure:

• All of your exact match keywords from the Brand, Competitor, and Generic campaigns should be added as negative exact match keywords to your Discovery campaign. Why? Because if someone searches for a term you're already bidding on, you want them to see the ad from the specific, controlled campaign, not the Discovery one. This prevents internal competition and keeps your data clean.
• You should also have a list of universal negative keywords. These are terms you *never* want to show up for. Words like "free," "jobs," "reviews," "cheap," unless your app specifically fits that description. You're looking for users with commercial intent, not freeloaders or job seekers.

Thinking specifically about the Portuguese market, you can't just translate your English keywords and hope for the best. You need to understand local nuance and dialect. How do people in Lisbon actually talk about the problem your app solves? Do they use formal language or slang? For instance, "car" is "carro" in Portugal, but many might search for specific brands or models. You need to do the research. Use tools like Google Keyword Planner (set to Portugal) or even just type queries into the Portuguese App Store and see what autosuggest gives you. This cultural insight is what separates a generic, poorly performing campaign from one that truly resonates with the local audience and brings in high-quality users.

Here's a sample of what your keyword structure might look like for a hypothetical budgeting app targeting Lisbon.

By implementing this rigorous structure, you move from just 'running ads' to architecting a predictable system for user acquisition.

You probably should focus on what the user actually wants...

This might sound obvious, but it's amazing how many app developers forget it. Your App Store page—the screenshots, the preview video, the description—is your landing page. It's the final step in convincing a user to tap 'Get'. And if it's not perfectly aligned with the keyword they just searched for, you'll lose them.

You need to stop thinking about your app in terms of features and start thinking about it in terms of the user's nightmare. What is the specific, urgent, frustrating problem that someone in Lisbon is experiencing that would lead them to search for your app? Forget demographics for a second. Your Ideal Customer Profile isn't an age range; it's a problem state.

Is your app for tourists? Their nightmare is getting lost on the Metro or missing the last train to Sintra. Is it for expats? Their nightmare is navigating the SEF bureaucracy or figuring out their taxes. Is it a food delivery app? Their nightmare is being hungry at 10 PM and not knowing which restaurant is still open. Your creative assets and copy need to speak directly to that nightmare and present your app as the immediate, obvious solution.

This means your creatives MUST be localised. It's not enough to just translate the text into Portuguese. You need to show the app being used in a Portuguese context.

• Screenshots: Use screenshots that feature Portuguese text in the UI. If it's a map app, show a map of Lisbon, not San Francisco. If it's a finance app, show transactions in Euros with logos of Portuguese banks like Millennium BCP or Caixa Geral de Depósitos. This builds instant trust and shows the user, "this app was made for me."
• App Preview Video: Your video should reflect the local culture. Use music that's popular in Portugal. If you show people, make sure they look like people you'd see walking down the Rua Augusta. These small details make a huge difference in conversion rates.
• Description: Use the Before-After-Bridge framework. Before: Describe their pain. "Cansado de perder o controlo das suas despesas no final do mês?" (Tired of losing control of your expenses at the end of the month?) After: Paint a picture of the solution. "Imagine saber exatamente para onde foi cada euro e atingir as suas metas de poupança com confiança." (Imagine knowing exactly where every euro went and hitting your savings goals with confidence.) Bridge: Introduce your app as the way to get there. "A nossa app é a ponte que o leva da incerteza financeira à tranquilidade." (Our app is the bridge that takes you from financial uncertainty to peace of mind.)

When a user from Lisbon searches for "controlar despesas," sees an ad that speaks their language (literally and culturally), and clicks through to an App Store page with familiar-looking screenshots and a description that understands their specific financial worries, the chances of them installing your app skyrocket. This relevance is what drives down your cost per install and improves your ROI, far more than fiddling with your bids will ever do.

You'll need to understand your numbers...

Alright, this is the part where we get serious. You can have the best campaign structure and the most beautiful, localised creative in the world, but if you don't understand the fundamental economics of your app, you can't scale profitably. You'll always be guessing what to bid.

The question isn't "How low can my Cost Per Install (CPI) go?" The real question is "How high a CPI can I afford to acquire a valuable, long-term user?" The answer lies in calculating your Customer Lifetime Value (LTV). Once you know what a user is worth to you over their entire time with your app, you know exactly what you can afford to spend to get them.

The calculation is pretty straightforward. You need three numbers:

1. Average Revenue Per User (ARPU): What do you make from an average user each month? This could be from a subscription, in-app purchases, or ad revenue.
2. Gross Margin %: What's your profit margin on that revenue after app store fees and other direct costs?
3. Monthly Churn Rate: What percentage of your active users do you lose each month?

The formula is: LTV = (ARPU * Gross Margin %) / Monthly Churn Rate

Let’s say your app has a €9.99 monthly subscription. Apple takes 30% (or 15%), so your gross revenue is €7.00. Your margin might be nearly 100% on that after fees. And let's say you lose 5% of your subscribers each month (your churn rate).
LTV = (€7.00 * 0.95) / 0.05 = €6.65 / 0.05 = €133.
In this scenario, each new subscriber is worth €133 to your business. Now we're getting somewhere.

To make it easier, I've built an interactive calculator for you right here. Play around with the sliders to see how small changes in your metrics can drastically affect your LTV.

Once you have your LTV, you can determine your target Cost Per Acquisition (CPA) or Cost Per Install (CPI). A healthy LTV:CPA ratio for a growing business is typically 3:1. This means you can afford to spend up to one-third of your LTV to acquire a customer and still have a very profitable business model. So with a €133 LTV, you could afford to spend up to €44 to acquire a single paying subscriber. That number becomes your north star for all your advertising efforts.

Suddenly, that €2 CPI from a generic search term doesn't just look good, it looks like an absolute bargain. You can confidently set your bids knowing precisely how much you can pay. This frees you from the tyranny of chasing the lowest possible CPI and allows you to focus on acquiring the *best* users, even if they cost a little more.

This is the main advice I have for you:

I know this is a lot to take in. Running paid ads effectively isn't about finding one 'magic bullet' but about building a solid, logical system. To make it easier, I've broken down the entire strategy into an actionable table. If you follow this, you'll be miles ahead of most other app advertisers on the platform.

Implementing this system takes work. It's not a 'set it and forget it' solution. You need to be in the account weekly, analysing the search term reports from your Discovery campaign, moving winning keywords over, adding negatives, and adjusting bids based on performance relative to your target CPI. But this is the process that builds a scalable, predictable, and profitable user acquisition engine for your app.

Doing this correctly requires expertise and a significant time commitment. While this guide provides the blueprint, the execution is where the real challenge lies. We've managed many app growth campaigns, including one where we helped an app scale to over 45,000 signups at a very efficient cost. We applied this exact methodology to their search campaigns, combined with rigorous testing and optimisation.

Getting it right from the start can save you thousands in wasted ad spend and months of frustration. If you'd like to have an expert pair of eyes on your account to help you implement this strategy correctly for the Portuguese market, we offer a completely free, no-obligation initial consultation. We can walk through your current setup and provide some specific, actionable advice to get you on the right track.

Hope this helps!

Regards,

Team @ Lukas Holschuh