App Store

The App Store Marketing URL: What to Put There and Why Most Devs Get It Wrong

What Apple's optional Marketing URL field actually does on your App Store product page, why pasting your homepage underperforms, and the fastest ways to ship a dedicated landing page.

8 min read

The App Store Marketing URL: What to Put There and Why Most Devs Get It Wrong

You are filling out App Store Connect and you hit the Marketing URL field. It is optional, App Review will not reject it, and the fastest way through the form is to paste your homepage and move on. Most developers do exactly that. The problem is that Apple renders whatever you put there as a "Developer Website" link on your public product page, and the qualified user who taps it lands on something that was never built to sell the app they are already looking at.

This guide explains what the Marketing URL does, why a homepage underperforms, and when to reach for something purpose-built.

TL;DR

  • Marketing URL is optional in App Store Connect but visible on your product page — free conversion real estate, not a throwaway field.
  • It should point to a dedicated page for this specific app, not a multi-app homepage.
  • A good marketing page mirrors the product page: hero screenshot, one-line value prop, features, gallery, FAQ, download button.
  • Carrd, Swipe Pages, Notion, Google Sites, and Embeddable can all get you there in a few hours — with honest trade-offs.
  • If you also need a privacy policy, terms, support page, and account deletion URL, AppLander gives you the landing page plus all four from one dashboard.

Table of Contents

What the Marketing URL Actually Does

Apple's App Store Connect properties reference lists Marketing URL as editable, not required, and not localizable. One URL per app, changeable without a new build, the same link for every region.

On the public product page, Apple renders it as a "Developer Website" link near your developer name. A user who has scrolled past the screenshots, read the description, and is still curious is the one who taps it — already qualified, thinking about downloading. The page either closes the sale or loses them. Apple's App Store Product Page documentation lists every element Apple controls; the Marketing URL is the one place you own the experience beyond short metadata fields.

The field is optional, which is exactly why so many developers leave it blank or paste https://mycompany.com without thinking. The cost is invisible: a user who tapped "Developer Website," landed on a five-product company page, could not find the app they were just reading, and closed the tab. If you care about install conversion, the field is functionally mandatory.

Why Pasting Your Homepage Underperforms

A homepage is about the company, not the app. The moment you have two products and a blog, the visitor has to hunt for the thing they tapped on. Most bounce.

A homepage is rarely mobile-first. App Store users tap from a phone. Pages built for desktop with fly-out menus and autoplay headers load badly on a 5.5" screen on cellular.

A homepage cannot close the sale. A good landing page ends with a single "Download on the App Store" badge. A company homepage ends with a newsletter signup and a footer. The Marketing URL is your bottom of the funnel.

A homepage drifts out of sync. You ship a new feature; the homepage still shows last year's screenshots. None of these cost you a rejection. They cost you installs.

What a Good Marketing Page Contains

  • App name and icon, matching the product page.
  • One-line value proposition — what it does and who it is for, under 12 words.
  • Hero screenshot or preview — the same visual the user just saw on the App Store.
  • Three to five feature blocks — icon, headline, one sentence each.
  • Vertical screenshot gallery — tall mobile shots, not cropped web versions.
  • FAQ — three to six questions the App Store description did not answer.
  • Apple's official "Download on the App Store" badge from App Store Marketing Tools.
  • Links to privacy policy, terms, and support for this specific app.
  • Mobile-first layout — test it on a phone on cellular.

Five DIY Options

Carrd

A one-page site builder with clean mobile-first templates, a solid free tier, and custom domains on paid plans.

Pros.

  • Templates look polished without design work.
  • Free tier is usable, loads fast as static HTML.
  • Paid tier unlocks forms, custom domains, and analytics cheaply.

Cons.

  • One page on the free tier — separate FAQ or press pushes you to paid.
  • No native App Store badge component; you embed Apple's code by hand.

Best for. A single app with a strong preference for the prettiest result at a low budget.

Swipe Pages

A dedicated mobile-first landing page builder with conversion optimization features.

Pros.

  • Templates assume phone first, desktop second.
  • A/B testing built in on paid plans for conversion data.
  • Ships App Store and Google Play badge components in templates.

Cons.

  • No meaningful free tier — paid from the start.
  • Defaults are aimed at lead gen, so some elements feel off-topic for apps.

Best for. Developers running paid acquisition who want to optimize install conversion.

Embeddable

A newer builder that composes pages out of "blocks" you can also drop into existing sites.

Pros.

  • Component-driven editor is fast once learned.
  • Good multi-page support for landing, pricing, and support.
  • Clean default typography and spacing.

Cons.

  • Smaller template library than Carrd; more assembly from scratch.
  • No native App Store badge block at the time of writing.

Best for. Developers who want a modern block-based builder.

Notion

A public Notion page used as a marketing page, with embedded images and toggle FAQs.

Pros.

  • Set up in under an hour.
  • Toggle blocks make a long FAQ scannable.
  • Free on the personal plan.

Cons.

  • The notion.site URL looks like a private doc — less trustworthy under a developer name.
  • Limited layout control and no real way to embed the official Apple badge.

Best for. A zero-friction placeholder page where aesthetics do not matter.

Google Sites

A free drag-and-drop site builder integrated with Google Workspace.

Pros.

  • Completely free, no ads, no platform branding.
  • Familiar interface for anyone who uses Google Docs.
  • HTTPS and reliable uptime out of the box.

Cons.

  • Default design is the plainest of the five options by a clear margin.
  • Default URL is long and awkward without a custom domain.

Best for. The cheapest option where visual result is not a priority.

The Purpose-Built Option

Every option above gives you a landing page. None is designed around a mobile app developer who also needs a privacy policy, terms, support center, account deletion page, and changelog for the same app, at consistent URLs.

AppLander was built for that shape of work. Every app gets a landing page at yourapp.applander.io — or on a custom domain — with a hero, feature grid, vertical screenshot gallery, FAQ block, Apple and Google official download badges, and mobile-first layout by default. Multi-language publishing covers English, German, Italian, French, Arabic, Persian, Swedish, Turkish, and Chinese.

Because the landing page shares a dashboard with the privacy policy, terms, support center, account deletion page, changelog, status page, and app-ads.txt, the Marketing URL you submit is part of a coherent per-app presence. Ship a feature and the landing page updates next to the policy and the support FAQ.

Honest limitations. If you already have a per-app landing page, AppLander is redundant. If you only need a landing page, Carrd is prettier and cheaper. AppLander is newer than the alternatives; templates and features are still growing. Where it wins is the common middle case: a developer who needs a landing page plus the other four or five compliance assets without managing five subscriptions.

Decision Table

Tool Setup time Starting cost App Store badge Custom domain Per-app multi-asset Best for
Carrd ~2 hours Free + paid Manual Paid No Prettiest on a budget
Swipe Pages ~3 hours Paid only Yes Paid No Paid-acquisition conversion
Embeddable ~3 hours Free + paid Manual Paid No Block builder lovers
Notion ~1 hour Free Manual Paid No Zero-friction placeholder
Google Sites ~2 hours Free Manual Paid No Absolute cheapest
AppLander ~1 hour Free to start Native Yes Yes (landing + policy + terms + support + deletion + changelog) Full-stack submission

How to Enter the URL in App Store Connect

  1. Sign in to App Store Connect.
  2. Open your app record.
  3. Under App Information, find General Information.
  4. Scroll to Marketing URL (next to Privacy Policy URL and Support URL).
  5. Paste the full URL, including https://.
  6. Save. The change is editable without a new build.
  7. Open the URL on a phone, in a private window, on cellular. If it looks wrong, users see the same thing.

See our App Store support URL guide and privacy policy generators for mobile apps for the two URLs that are not optional.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is the Marketing URL required?

No. Apple's App Store Connect documentation lists Marketing URL as optional. Privacy Policy URL and, in practice, Support URL are the two URLs every submission needs.

Can I use my homepage?

You can, but it usually underperforms a dedicated landing page. A homepage introduces the company; the user tapping "Developer Website" is interested in a specific app. If your homepage already is that app's page, it is fine.

Can I change the URL without a new build?

Yes. The field is editable and the change propagates to the product page without a build submission.

Is it localized per region?

No. Apple stores one URL per app across all regions. For a localized experience, your page must detect language and serve translated content itself.

Should the Marketing URL be the same as the Support URL?

Usually not. Support is for users who need help; Marketing is for users deciding whether to install. A purpose-built tool hosting both keeps them visually consistent while letting each do its own job.

Does it affect App Store search?

No. Apple does not index the content of your Marketing URL. Rankings are driven by title, subtitle, keywords, ratings, and install velocity.

Conclusion

The Marketing URL is the cheapest conversion real estate in an App Store submission. It costs nothing, it can be updated without a new build, and the users who tap it are more qualified than any cold traffic you will pay for. The common mistake is treating it as a throwaway field and pasting a homepage built to introduce a company, not to close an install.

If you only need a landing page, pick whichever DIY tool fits your budget. If you also need a privacy policy, terms, support center, account deletion page, and changelog — which is almost every App Store submission — try AppLander. See our mobile app launch compliance checklist for everything else before hitting submit.

Sources

Ship your app faster with AppLander

The all-in-one compliance and landing-page platform for mobile app developers.

Start Free