MENUMENU
  • Services
    • Services
      • Search Engine Optimization
      • Local SEO
      • Generative Engine Optimization
      • Digital PR
      • Content Marketing
      • Email Marketing Services
      • Lifecycle Marketing
      • Paid Media Advertising
      • Social Media Marketing
      • Creative Design Services
      • Conversion Rate Optimization
      • Website Design & Development
      • Amazon Marketing Services
      • Franchise Marketing
      • Franchise Development
      • National to Local Marketing
      • Reporting and Data Analytics
      • Digital Marketing Strategy
  • Who We Serve
    • Who We Serve
      • Franchise Marketing
      • B2B Marketing
      • Lead Generation
      • Ecommerce
      • We Build Custom Strategies
      • View Sample Industries
  • About Us
    • About Ignite Visibility
      • Our Story
      • Our Values
      • Our Team
      • Clients
      • Diversity & Inclusion
      • Our Blog
      • Marketing Resources
      • Franchise Marketing Resources
      • Careers
      • Hiring Notice
  • Case Studies
  • Awards
  • Contact
  • 619.752.1955
Home / Apps / Everything You Need to Know About Google Firebase

Everything You Need to Know About Google Firebase

June 2, 2016 By John Lincoln

Everything You Need to Know About Google Firebase
Everything You Need to Know About Google Firebase

At the I/O Conference in May, Google unveiled the latest iteration of Firebase – a software development platform that reduces the hassle of establishing proper infrastructure, provides analytics about user behavior, and facilitates rapid application deployment.

Firebase isn’t new. It was originally an independent company that Google acquired in 2014. Since then, the company has put its employees to work to establish Firebase as a branded Google property that will give other deployment platforms, such as Amazon Web Services, stiff competition.

That’s because Firebase not only provides users with a software developer’s kit (SDK), but it also gives them the infrastructure they need to quickly produce robust solutions.

As a bonus, much of the features of Firebase are free. Even better: Google promises to make those services free for life. That’s also seen as shot across the bow to Amazon, which currently offers a single free EC2 instance to developers, but just for just one year.

Multiple Platforms Supported

With Firebase, Google isn’t just offering free technical goodies to the development community, it’s also delivering a solution that works with multiple platforms.

Firebase is a development framework that supports web applications, iOS applications, and, unsurprisingly, Android applications. That means developers not only have access to a broad spectrum of tools to make their lives easier, they also have the ability to use Firebase to produce applications that run on multiple operating systems.

That’s going to save some companies big bucks. It can cost a fortune to hire a development team to produce an app that runs on both iOS and Android. That’s because the skill set required for the two technologies is noticeably different. The cost would increase even further for companies that want a web solution similar to their mobile apps, because once again a different skill set is involved.

All those different development streams result in an IT expense that’s too high for a lot of struggling startups. It’s likely, then, that many small businesses will look to Firebase as a cost-effective solution for delivering apps.

Analytics

There must have been some clamoring from the development community for more analytics in apps because Google goes out of its way to make the case that Firebase has your back if you’re interested in app analytics. It’s the very first feature listed on the “Features” page of Firebase and Google claims that Firebase Analytics is the “heart” of the Firebase platform.

If you’re familiar with Google Analytics, then the learning curve for Firebase Analytics should be pretty small.  It’s not only built by the same company, it also presents itself with a similar user-interface that’s fairly similar to Google Analytics.

The biggest difference between Google Analytics and Firebase Analytics is the metrics that are tracked. Instead of page views, impressions, and session lengths, developers will see how many users downloaded the app and their behavior within it. That way, designers can improve their apps to enhance the user experience and, of course, increase conversions.

Firebase Analytics provides developers with access to more than 500 metrics and enables audience segmentation based on devices, events, and other user properties.

Cloud Messaging

One of the reasons that you know Google is taking the Firebase brand name seriously is because the company actually renamed Google Cloud Messaging to Firebase Cloud Messaging.

That’s right. Google took away its own name from one of its own properties.

FCM is a cross-platform messaging solution that enables developers to deliver messages to client apps. Even better: it’s offered by Google at no cost.

Authentication

It’s likely that an app will need to know the identity of its user. Fortunately, Firebase offers a solution for that.

Firebase Authentication delivers a suite of tools that make it easy for developers to authenticate and authorize users. It also offers single sign-on support with identity providers like Facebook, Twitter, and, obviously, Google.

The Firebase authentication solution also integrates with well-known security standards, such as OpenID Connect and OAuth 2.0.

Database

Developers who’ve struggled with finding a solution for persisting user data will appreciate the Firebase Realtime Database.

It’s a cloud-based NoSQL database solution. Data is stored in JavaScript Object Notation (JSON) format for easy retrieval without the complicated hassles of inner and outer joins associated with SQL queries.

The Firebase Realtime Database also performs up-to-the-milisecond synchronization. That means when data changes, all devices running the app immediately receive the update. It’s a solution that gives users in different geographic regions the opportunity to communicate, collaborate, and coordinate more effectively.

Firebase Realtime Database

Also, when a device goes offline, all of its Firebase apps will sync with the database once the device is online again. That process happens behind the scenes in a way that’s completely invisible to the user.

Storage

Looking for storage? Firebase has storage.

If Firebase app users need to store videos, photos, or other types of large binary files, Firebase Storage offers a secure means of transferring data to Google Cloud Storage. It’s a solution that also works regardless of network quality.

Even better: uploads and downloads are robust. That means if they’re interrupted at any point for any reason, they’ll resume where they left off later on.

According to Google, Firebase Storage uses the same infrastructure that powers Snapchat. That’s a pretty good endorsement in and of itself.

Hosting

One of the first questions that small business owners ask themselves once they launch their enterprise is: “Which hosting solution should I select?”

Firebase Hosting makes it easy to answer that question for business owners who’ve already made the decision to use Firebase as a development platform. That’s because it’s a production-grade content-delivery system that’s offered as part of the Firebase suite.

Key Hosting Functions of Firebase

The Firebase hosting solution offers security, fast content delivery, and the ability to rapidly deploy an application to production. It also offers one-click rollbacks.

Remote Configuration

Here’s the scenario: you’ve made a great UI update to your app and uploaded the new app to Google Play. A few days later, you check the console and notice that nobody wants to download your update. That means your users are all stuck with the old, not-up-to-snuff user interface.

That problem doesn’t exist with Firebase. That’s because Firebase Remote Config enables you to change the design and behavior of your app without publishing an update.

It works like this: developers begin by creating in-app default values that control the look and feel of the app as well as its behavior. Then, they can later use Firebase console to override those defaults and create a richer user experience.

Developers also get to control when apps are updated and how often they’re applied.

App updates have a very modest impact on performance.

Testing

Developers who need to test their apps in an isolated infrastructure will appreciate Firebase Test Lab – a cloud-based environment for testing Android apps.

The testing environment also gives developers the opportunity to test on real devices instead of just emulators. That’s helpful because there’s a myriad of different types of Android devices and configurations currently on the market.

Also, developers will have the opportunity to use Robo test to run tests on apps even if they haven’t written any testing code. Robo test analyzes the code itself and performs tests relevant to the user interface.

https://ignitevisibility.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/Introducing-Firebase-Test-Lab-for-Android.mp4

Finally, Firebase Test Lab is also integrated with Android Studio, the Firebase console, and the G-cloud command line.

Crash Reporting

Developers will not only receive notifications about when their apps crash, they’ll also receive full reports that offer actionable tips to help them diagnose and resolve software defects.

As of this writing, though, Crash Reporting is in beta release. That’s because there some known issues with Android and iOS platforms.

When it’s finally delivered, Crash Reporting will give developers the ability to monitor fatal and non-fatal errors, collect relevant data needed to diagnose the problem that caused the crash, and integrate crash stats with Firebase Analytics. Once again: Google delivers all of that free of charge.

App Indexing

If you’ve been involved with digital marketing for any length of time, you already know about the importance of search engine optimization (SEO). You can think of Firebase App Indexing as SEO for apps.

Basically, Firebase App Indexing puts an app in the search engine results pages (SERPs). It goes farther than that, though. If a person searches for a key term related to an app and already has the app installed, Google will launch the app instead of just showing a bunch of search results. For users that don’t have the app, they’ll see a search card at the top of the SERPs so they can install it.

Additionally, Firebase App Indexing leverages the power of Now on Tap and also facilitates auto-complete for search terms related to apps.

Dynamic Links

You can think of Firebase Dynamic Links as “smart” links.

They’re smart in two ways. First, they take users not just to an app but also to the right place in the app when users first open it. Second, the link destination can be changed based on run-time conditions, such as the browser or device being used.

Dynamic links can be used and shared just like “normal” links. That means developers can use them within other web apps, on social media updates, and in email messages.

Dynamic Links are smart url's that change to provide the best experience across multiple platforms.
Dynamic Links are smart URL’s that change to provide the best experience across multiple platforms.

Firebase Invites

How would you like to turn your users into brand ambassadors? You can do that with Firebase Invites.

Firebase Invites is a cross-platform solution that allows users to send personalized invites to install an app. Those invites are sent in the form of emails and SMS messages to other people within their personal and professional networks.

Firebase Invites uses the aforementioned Dynamic Links solution to make it easy for users to send links to Firebase apps.

AdMob

Many developers provide their app free of charge and monetize it by running ads within the app. Firebase simplifies that process with AdMob integration.

AdMob isn’t unique to Firebase. It’s been available as a way to monetize mobile apps for a while.

Now, however, it’s part of the Firebase platform. That means developers can run ads from millions of Google advertisers in real time. They can also use AdMob Mediation, an advertising solution that offers ad from more than 40 ad networks to improve competition, simplify ad operations, and ultimately earn more money.

https://ignitevisibility.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/Introducing-Firebase-and-AdMob-by-Google.mp4

Best of all, AdMob follows the pattern of native ad formats. That is, the look and feel of AdMob ads will match the overall aesthetics of the app itself.

Finally, AdMob also integrates with Firebase Analytics. That means developers can quickly see how their ads are performing best and make the necessary adjustments.

A Fabulous Platform

Firebase is a robust, sweeping app development platform that streamlines a number of tasks related to producing quality software solutions. It’s almost certainly going to offer stiff competition to Amazon Web Services and similar offerings, especially because the technology is backed by one of the most well-respected software development companies in the world: Google.

Related Posts

  • Google App SEO, Get your Google Apps Indexed in Google Search

    Google wants to be able to deliver anything you are looking for in search results.…

  • Get Into Google News, Learn Google News SEO Now

    Google News is an important part of Google. Delivering over 6 billion website clicks per…

  • Tips for Google News Sites SEO

    Matt Cutt's Gives Tips for Google News Sites SEO Optimizing for Google news is different…

About John Lincoln

John Lincoln (MBA) is the CEO of Ignite Visibility, a top performance marketing agency backed by Mountaingate Capital. A digital marketing strategist and keynote speaker, Lincoln has managed over 1,000 marketing programs for brands like DoorDash, HBO, Tony Robbins, and Experian. Under his leadership, Ignite Visibility has been named a leading digital marketing agency in the U.S. and made the Inc. 5,000 list six times. Lincoln also spearheaded the development of CertaintyTech, a cutting-edge media mix modelling and forecasting platform. An award-winning marketer, Lincoln has authored three books, including Advolution (2022), and produced films such as SEO: The Movie. Recognized as a Top Business Leader, he has been featured in Forbes and The New York Times and spoken at global events like Web Summit and SMX. Lincoln's mission is to empower businesses through innovative digital strategies while reinvesting in clients, employees, and the community.

About Ignite

Ignite Visibility is a premier full-service digital marketing agency. We were founded in San Diego, CA but are now a 100% remote-first company with Igniters and clients around the globe.

Ignite Visibility is one of the highest awarded digital marketing agencies in the industry, works with some of the biggest brands in the world and is a 6x Inc. 5000 company.

noun-trading

Our Services

Ignite Visibility offers Award-Winning Services including comprehensive full-funnel digital marketing strategies. Learn more about our most popular service offerings below:

  • SEO Search Engine Optimization
  • PPC Pay Per Click
  • Email Marketing
  • Social Media
  • Creative
  • View All Services

Contact Us. Let’s Chat!

  • This field is hidden when viewing the form

Marketing Guides

SEO In 2020: How To Prepare For Major Disruption

"SEO: The Movie" - Have You Seen Our Film? Watch Now

"Social Media Marketing: The Movie" - Have You Seen Our Film? Watch Now

Amazon Seller Central vs Vendor Central

Listen To The Podcast Featuring The Best Minds In Marketing

John Lincoln Interviews Global Director of Digital Marketing & Strategy at Qualcomm, Jessica Jensen

Check Out 227 Free Online Marketing Classes

The 2020 Guide To Dominating SEO With Advanced Schema

Learn More About Our Digital Marketing Agency

Learn More About Our SEO Services

Learn More About Our Paid Media Services

SELECT CATEGORY

Become A Contributor

Interested in writing for Ignite Visibility?

APPLY NOW

noun-chat

Let's Chat

Ready to grow your online visibility and sales?

Request Your Free Proposal

Work With Us

NEWSLETTER // SIGN UP NOW










noun-strategy

Free Marketing Resources

  • Digital Marketing Resources
  • Marketing Strategy Videos
  • Weekly Marketing News Recaps
noun-strategy

Most Popular Blogs

  • How Long Does SEO Take?
  • Multi-Location SEO: Top Strategies
  • Google AI Overviews: Everything You Need to Know
  • Technical SEO 101
  • 18 Google Ad Extensions You Should Use
  • Complete Guide to Google Responsive Display Ads
  • Capitalizing on Local Service Ads
  • How SEO and PPC Work Together
  • Community Management Best Practices
  • B2B Social Media Marketing Guide
  • VIEW ALL BLOGS
noun-letter

Join Our Newsletter

CONNECT WITH US

  • facebook
  • twitter
  • instagram
  • youtube
  • linkedin

Services

  • Search Engine Optimization
  • Generative Engine Optimization
  • Pay Per Click Management
  • Social Media Marketing
  • Email Marketing
  • Conversion Rate Optimization
  • Website Design & Development
  • Creative Design
  • Content Marketing
  • Digital PR
  • Franchise Marketing
  • Digital Marketing Agency Services

About

  • Our Team
  • Our Values
  • Clients
  • Industry
  • Reviews
  • Careers
  • Marketing Resources
  • Privacy Policy & Service Terms
  • Advertising Disclosures
  • Sitemap

Contact

4370 La Jolla Village Drive
Suite 320
San Diego, California 92122

619.752.1955

Join The Newsletter

Sign up for our newsletter to get the latest from Ignite Visibility.











google parther logo

©2025 Ignite Visibility. All Rights Reserved. Privacy Policy and Terms of Service