The Mobile App Market is one of the leading industries nowadays. Since their very first appearance, mobile apps and smartphones have evolved a lot during the last few years, attracting more and more users day by day. Despite the success of the mobile app market, there is one common issue that mobile publishers face nowadays: app discovery. In this ASO Guide, we will see how to address the visibility challenges, how to improve discoverability and conversion rate of apps to increase downloads. With more than 8 million apps and games in the main app stores, it would be impossible to succeed without App Store Optimization AKA ASO or App Store SEO — the process of optimizing a mobile app in order to maximize its visibility in the Apple App Store and Google Play Store, boost traffic to listing and improve conversion rate to generate the maximum volume of downloads. The main ASO Factors App Store Optimization is affected by two main types of factors: On-metadata factors -the ones that fall under the direct control of a developer and can be easily modified form Google Play Console or App Store Connect. Off-metadata factors — the ones that cannot be controlled, but can be influenced by developers in order to improve them. To learn more about the App Store Optimization factors and the effect they have on Search Rankings and Conversion Rate, take a look at the , based on the expertise and experience of 60+ mobile app marketing professionals. App Store Optimization Guide step by step As we just mentioned, App Store Optimization is an ongoing process that consists of three different steps. Keyword Research and Optimization Keyword Research is the first essential step in ASO — in order to get visibility, you need to target the right keywords for your project. Start by brainstorming the initial list of keywords — think about the value that your app brings and its main functionalities. What problem does it solve for your target audience? As the next step, carry out a market research. Who are your main competitors? What category do they belong to? What keywords are they ranking for? At this point you will need the help of. Do you have an app with a social value? Is it a business app? Is it a shopping one? Do you have a mobile game? What is the gameplay, levels, main characters? Try to answer these questions and you will already have a good set of keywords to work with. Think of your target users and the language they might be speaking — this will give you an idea of the keywords they would use to find your app. It is always recommendable to identify the terms they are targeting in order to copy their strategy or to choose a completely different path. Expand your list of keywords by looking at keyword suggestions — you can do that with the autocomplete feature on the app stores or using an ASO tool. How can you do so? Pick the keywords that will help you get high visibility in Search — choose keywords with a good balance between high traffic and medium difficulty not too competitive. Trying to target only high-volume generic keywords can be very challenging for new apps — instead, you can get more visibility on long-term keyword combinations. It is always better to rank high for lower-volume keywords, than rank low on high-volume ones. Keeping an eye on your competitors is always wise — monitor their keyword rankings to identify possible niches and opportunities to stand out from them. If you are running Apple Search Ads for your iOS app or game, you can use the ASA metrics as performance indicators to evaluate your keywords. Apple Search Ads allows you to compare Conversion Rate and Search Volume on different keywords — and decide which ones are the most relevant for your app. Remember, Apple Search Ads is available in! It is important to work with an extensive list of keywords: at least 60-120 per country. Many times the users would rather carry out specific search than broad one. Working with relevant keyword suggestions is key: when there are suggestions, there is traffic, so select all the relevant combinations that can help you drive the users with download intent to your app. App Store and Google Play have different algorithms and thus, different elements are responsible for search rankings. On Google Play Store, you can use up to 50 characters in the Title to add some of your most powerful keywords alongside your brand name. Source: on Google Play Store On the App Store, however, space is quite limited — only 30 characters — so keep it short and concise. Come up with a memorable brand name and include some of your core keywords here. Source: on Apple App Store Subtitle — App Store The subtitle has been introduced with the iOS 11 and is a short 30 characters field that has an effect not only on search rankings, but as well on the click-through rate CTR and conversion rate CR of your app. CTR measures the rate of users who found your app in search results, to those visiting your product page, and CR measures the rate of page visitors to app downloads. The main goal of the Subtitle is to add additional information about the product. On Google Play Store, the short description has an effect on both search rankings and conversion rate to download, so it is important to keep the balance between your search optimization and CR optimization efforts. Source: on Google Play Store Keywords Field — App Store On the App Store you can find a 100-character field dedicated to introducing your target keywords. The keyword field affects your search rankings, but is not visible to the end users. Introduce your keyword set here without spaces and separating the words with commas. Apple will mix and match these keywords and create all possible combinations for you. In addition, remember to not add the same keywords that you have already added in the App Name or Subtitle. Description The long description plays a completely different role in each one of the main app stores. For Android apps on Google Play, the long description is a really important field — you have to introduce your keyword combinations here and use the most important ones a few times — to keep a sufficient density of keywords 2-3%. You have 4,000 characters which you can use to come up with a neat and well-structured description that would ideally include all valuable information and a catchy call-to-action that would help you encourage your users to install your app. In the case of the App Store though, the description does not affect keyword rankings but, it does affect the visibility in mobile web search. Bear in mind that the first sentences first 3 lines of your app description should be the most catchy ones to encourage the users to tap and see more — be creative here! There are many app developers or app marketer that really struggle at this point because they receive a lot of visits but the percentage of visitors that ends up download the app or game is rather low. Visual assets and user ratings are the main elements responsible for Conversion Rate on both app stores. In addition, you should alsopay special attention to app size — it could be a turndown, as the apps over 100MB can not be downloaded using cellular service. Icon Your app icon should be really catchy — all eyes will be on it when the users find your app while searching or navigating the stores — so you need to be creative and unique. Source: , and on Google Play Store. Use the screenshots to create an interesting story line — strike attention! On Google Play Store, you can add up to 8 different screenshots per device, on the App Store — 10 per device. Source: on Apple App Store Use text and call-to-action to draw attention to your best features. The first 2-3 screenshots are the most important ones — make them count! Feature Graphic — Google Play Store In addition to the screenshots, the apps and games on Google Play Store can have a feature graphic image or video — and this element plays an important role in Conversion Rate to install. If you are using a video, the thumbnail will act as your feature graphic. Source: on Google Play Store Videos The video is one of the most powerful tools you can use to persuade your users to download your app. Videos are displayed differently in the two main app stores. On the App Store, you can add up to 3 video previews that will autoplay on mute and appear in search results and the product page. On Google Play Store, you can add only one video YouTube link , that would be displayed on the top of the product page. In the case of the App Store, your videos can only be 30 seconds long. Google Play provides the possibility right in the developer console with , meanwhile for the App Store you will need a help of third-party tools. Then test different screenshot combinations try portrait and landscape and other elements. If you are following our tips and detailed explanation so far, you are ready to go to the next step and start tracking the main ASO KPIs! Tracking and improving Every step in your ASO strategy is equally important and requires your attention and dedication — now you have to keep up with your App Store Optimization and sustain the growth. This metric refers to the number of users that see your app in Search, Top Charts and Featured and tap to view its product page. Mobile Growth Without any doubt, one of the main goals of promoting our app in the stores is growth — that results in a high volume and velocity of installs. You should not only look at the number of installs, but at their type as well organic and non-organic. Attribution trackers like AppsFlyer or Adjust can help you track your organic and non-organic installs separately. Anyway, you can always check this data on App Store Connect and Google Play Console. In addition, there is another important KPI that derives from the relationship between organic and non-organic installs: the organic uplift organic multiplier that illustrates the ratio between your organic and non-organic installs: User Ratings and Reviews User feedback is an extremely important ASO factor. On one hand, ratings and reviews impact conversion rate, and on other other hand, the app stores algorithms take them into account for search rankings. Make it easy for users to rate and review your app in the stores. Answering to feedback takes less than a minute and can help you turn a negative feedback into positive one! This metric is obtained by dividing the total revenue by the number of users. When it comes to monetization, the quality of users is more important than the quantity. Users that spend more money and for a longer period of time are more valuable than the ones that just try your app and then leave. User feedback is crucial for a stable monetization — listen to your users and meet their needs — satisfied users will keep using your app for longer. Bonus: implement these PRO ASO Tricks! There are nearly 5 billion unique mobile users — why not use the opportunity to turn them into customers? On Google Play, keywords in reviews are also taken into account for the ranking algorithm. Read to find out why you should do it! The anchor text on ASO can surprise you! Maybe you can rank higher in one category than in another. The Ultimate App Store Optimization Guide — Conclusion We hope that after reading this Ultimate ASO Guide, you feel ready to face your ASO goals and rock your Mobile Marketing strategy! Remember that App Store Optimization is a continuous process — ASO is never a single-shot, but rather a marathon. Constantly track, test and tweak your strategy to ensure the best results and consistent growth. If you want to stand out from the crowd, your first goal is designing an unique product that has a clear value. Start your ASO strategy as soon as possible and let us know if this guide helped you! This entry was posted in Post navigation.
