On Friday, Google announced Android Studio 2.0 (Beta), the latest release of its official Android IDE.

Among the new features are some helpful additions for app indexing, which became a ranking signal in search results last year.

“Adding App Indexing into your app helps you re-engage your users,” says product manager Jamal Eason in a blog post (via Search Engine Roundtable). “In the first preview of Android Studio 2.0 you could add indexing code stubs into your code. With the beta release you can now test and validate your URL links in your app all within the IDE.”

“Supporting app indexing is now even easier with Android Studio 2.0. App Indexing puts your app in front of users who use Google Search,” he says. “It works by indexing the URL patterns you provide in your app manifest and using API calls from your app to make content within your app available to both existing and new users. Specifically, when you support URLs for your app content, your users can go directly to those links from Google Search results on their device.”

More on these and other new features here.

The beta can be downloaded in the Beta release channel.

Image via Google