Deep Link

A deep link is an address that, instead of an app's home screen, opens a specific piece of content inside the app directly — a particular product or article, say.

A deep link plays the same role in the app world that a precise URL plays on the web: not open the app but open this screen in the app. Its three kinds should not be blurred: a plain deep link that works only when the app is installed, a deferred deep link that first sends a user without the app to install and then opens the intended destination, and a universal link — a single address that opens in the app or the browser depending on whether the app is installed. Its analytical weight is in attribution: because the user hops from web to app (or ad to app), without the right mechanism for that hop the original source is lost and the install is recorded with no source. This domain is inherently app-centric, and a web analytics tool sees only the web side of the journey.