WeChat team announced a new feature over the weekend that makes WeChat Mini-Program discoverable by keywords searching.
WeChat Mini-Program started with its discoverability limited to QR code scans (both online and offline) and the names of mini-programs; and, it expanded to WeChat Official Account integrations.
The new feature allows Mini-Program developers to submit up to 10 keywords for approval for each mini-program with which the WeChat users can discover it by conducting searches, effective from 9 June 2017. Developers can make the changes up to three times per month.
Keywords must be related to the features or brands of submitted mini-programs.The ranking algorithm includes factors such as the relevance of the keyword, the quality of the mini-program, user usage, and etc.
However, this search keywords feature is not applicable to Store Mini-Programs.
Developers can also check the performance of the keywords (visits in the last 7 days) in the admin area.
WeChat launched WeChat Search section last month, arousing speculations of its potential threat to Baidu in China’s mobile search market. The new “search keywords” feature will likely drive more search queries on WeChat.
WeChat Mini-Program has high penetrations in mobile payment, online videos, maps and navigation, e-commerce, online music, group buying, and Weibo according to data from QuestMobile.