Table of Contents
- Introduction
- What is App Store Optimization?
- Reasons Why You Can’t Ignore App Store Optimization
- Improves the Visibility of your App in App Stores
- Boosts organic installs of your app
- Get found by potential users
- State your Unique Selling Point (USP)
- Keep it Simple
- Raise User’s Interest
- Place rating requests inside the app itself:
- Engage existing users who are likely fans:
- Use gamification:
- Conclusion
Introduction
With more than 6 million mobile apps available for download in the major app stores, getting noticed can be a challenge for mobile app publishers.
App store optimization (ASO) is a powerful tool that helps them to make their products visible and successful.
But what exactly is ASO and how can it help your app soar up the rankings?
In order to help your app rank higher and gain traffic, here’s what you need to know.
What is App Store Optimization?
App Store Optimization (ASO), also referred to as App Store Marketing and Mobile App SEO, is a powerful tool for boosting a mobile app’s online visibility.
This optimization increases the chance of acquiring more impressions which can translate into increased app downloads and traffic, ultimately helping to hit desired goals.
ASO’s core focus is on improving mobile app rankings in various app stores such as Google Play and Apple Store, transforming it from seen to success.
A crucial part of the App Store Optimization toolkit is having a deep understanding of your target customer base. This includes being aware and familiar with the keywords they are using when looking for apps like yours.
Reasons Why You Can’t Ignore App Store Optimization
ASO is essential for improving your app’s visibility and installs.
Optimization of your app title, subtitle, and description, selection of the right keywords, and encouraging reviews all contribute to your ASO success.
But before that, knowing why you shouldn’t neglect ASO will help you understand its value more fully.
Here are some of the reasons that make ASO necessary:
1. Improves the Visibility of your App in App Stores
App Radar reveals impressive stats: 70% of mobile users use search to find new apps and 65% of downloads directly follow a search, making app store searches the most widely used method of finding new apps.
If you want your app to be successful and get found by new users, it is vital that it ranks up in the app store searches.
Luckily, there are ways to influence your apps ranking and drive growth on the store platforms: App Store Optimization techniques can help make sure your app rises above the rest in relevant searches.
2. Boosts organic installs of your app
Developing and refining a successful App Store Optimization strategy is key to gaining organic installs and making your app stand out from the competition.
Part of ASO involves creating convincing titles, descriptions, and images that capture users’ attention and encourage them to click on your app.
By consistently evaluating and optimizing your ASO strategy over time, you can ensure that your keywords remain highly ranked in search results, providing maximum visibility for improved organic install numbers.
3. Get found by potential users
Having your app found isn’t enough; it has to be found by the right people.
App store optimization is key in ensuring that potential users are able to find your app.
By crafting a comprehensive ASO strategy, you can ensure your app is found by those users who are actually looking for an app like yours.
Here’s a complete breakdown of all the factors to keep in mind when optimizing your app for better rankings and higher traffic:
Optimize Your App’s Title and Subtitle
Your app’s name plays an important role in helping potential users understand the purpose of your app, as well as influencing its ranking on the app store.
In fact, App Store Optimization heavily relies on names and subtitles for apps for exposure to potential users.
On the Apple App Store, your subtitle also helps add context to your already creative and memorable name.
Incorporate keywords in a way that is both natural and engaging – while also being sure you’re creating a meaningful title.
Crafting the perfect name takes time and creativity but it’s worth taking that time to create one that accurately reflects your app and its content so it stands out from the crowd and rises to the top of search listings.
It’s important to keep the character count in mind when creating your app’s title: Apple’s App Store allows for 30 characters, while Google Play Store offers up to 50.
With such little space, you have to make every word count if you’re aiming for click-worthy titles that attract potential users.
Ensure that your titles accurately reflect the content of your app while utilizing the limited space effectively.
Optimize Your App’s Description
Creating a compelling and engaging description for your iOS app is still an important part of the app process, although the App Store does not use them in the same manner as the Google Play Store.
To make it effective, you need to strategically include keywords that you want to rank for.
It’s also important to clearly communicate about what your app is, its main features, and why someone should download it.
Both stores have 4,000 character limits for their descriptions, giving you plenty of space to make your case.
To ensure that users are able to take full advantage of your app, include as much information as possible in a succinct and appealing way!
1. State your Unique Selling Point (USP)
When choosing your app, users are looking for a solution to their problem or wish. Your USP explains why your app stands out from the competition.
In order to draw them in, you need to make its purpose clear in your description: explain why and how your app will help them and make their lives better.
Keep in mind that customers want to know exactly how they’ll benefit before downloading; make sure you provide them with all the information they need!
2. Keep it Simple
To ensure your message is understood by everyone, avoid complicated words and sentence structure – focus on making it concise but still legible.
Aim for clarity instead of cleverness, and stick to straightforward language that can easily be understood by the average reader.
Short call-to-actions (CTAs) are an effective way to create concise descriptions.
3. Raise User’s Interest
Crafting an interesting and attention-grabbing description can significantly raise users’ interest in learning more about the app.
Encouraging users to click ‘About this app’ is key to gaining potential downloads.
Entice users to gain a deeper understanding of what your app can do for them by creating content that arouses curiosity and encourages investigation.
For example you can try including strong facts or figures that can give the user a sense of fear of missing out on if they don’t hit the ‘About this app’ button.
Utilize Keywords
Keywords play an important role for successful App Store Optimization.
When looking to include your keyword lists, the Apple App Store allows up to 100 characters in its keyword field while Google Play Store indexes keywords within other content elements like titles and descriptions.
To decide which keywords matter most, it’s helpful to conduct keyword research related to the primary queries users are using.
You can use SEMrush’s Keyword Magic Tool, to discover popular keywords and phrases people are searching.
To gain a more comprehensive understanding of your competitors, you should analyze your competitors’ titles and descriptions for potential keywords.
Create a Captivating Store Listing Experience
Taking full advantage of the features your app’s store listing offers is essential for creating an ideal app experience.
It’s important to showcase your product and truly sell yourself, giving users detailed information, updated screenshots, strong descriptions and engaging reviews that demonstrate the capabilities and value of your app.
While this may not directly influence a higher app store ranking, creating an immersive store listing experience certainly gives users more confidence in downloading and using the app more frequently.
Therefore, ensuring a comprehensive store listing should be high on any developer’s priority list in order to maximize their reach and usage.
Choose the Right Graphics and Image Assets
App icons, images and screenshots are powerful assets that can help make your app stand out from the crowd.
When developing a page for your app listing, it is important to use effective visuals and messages that accurately reflect what users can expect from your app experience.
Taking advantage of video as an alternative to static visuals can also be a great way to set yourself apart, so explore all options before settling on an optimal combination of assets.
All these elements together will prove invaluable in creating a memorable presence for your app and boosting its visibility online.
However, there are few things to consider:
Apple App Store has 10 screenshot slots that should be used and filled with images of the right size for each device.
For Google Play store this figure is reduced to 8.
There are also specific dimensions for each platform which can be found here:
Google Play Store screenshot sizes and guidelines
iOS app screenshot sizes and guidelines for the Apple App Store
Improve User Ratings & Reviews
Reviews and ratings play an integral role in determining an app’s success. Higher ratings mean that your app stands a much better chance of popping up at the top of app store search results.
Getting users to leave reviews and rate your app is a key aspect of app store optimization. To encourage users to engage in this way, there are a variety of tactics you can use:
1. Place rating requests inside the app itself:
In the early days of collecting user reviews, developers had to hope that they could get their users to take the arduous journey of going out of their way to hunt down and rate their app.
It required a lot of effort from the user, and as a result reviews were scarce.
Fortunately, times have changed and now developers are able to place rating requests inside the app itself, allowing users to easily give ratings just by clicking a few taps on their device.
After rating their app, developers can then ask if the user would like to leave a more detailed review regarding their experience using it.
Since this process is significantly easier for users than before, more people are likely to complete both rating and reviewing sections in order to show feedback on your app.
2. Engage existing users who are likely fans:
Reaching out on social media and through email marketing campaigns encourages them to leave a review of their experience with your app.
3. Use gamification:
Consider using gamification as a strategy for rewarding reviews. If your app lends itself to this type of incentive, such as reward points or discounts on digital products, it will help to increase the amount of reviews you get from users who appreciate the recognition.
App Downloads
It’s important to use both external and internal marketing channels to increase the number of app downloads.
This can have a tremendously positive effect, as more downloads mean increased buzz, demand and value for your app.
Additionally, a higher download rate will help boost performance within the app store’s organic ranking.
To ensure maximum impact, it’s essential that you know how to track and combine all the different marketing channels together.
Put resources into Localization
Investing in localization provides numerous benefits, not just in terms of increasing the local market potential, but also in creating a sense of affinity and loyalty within your customer base.
Studies have revealed that 72.4% of global consumers prefer to use their native language when shopping online with 56.2% stating the ability to obtain information in their own language is more important than price.
By customizing your app listings on both Google Play and the App Store, businesses can provide a better user experience for these shoppers and stand out against competitors who haven’t done the same.
Fortunately, Google Play provides a helpful checklist for localization and Apple provides a comprehensive guide to help developers successfully internationalize their apps for optimal performance.
ASO can be complex and time-consuming – but it’s worth it!
App Store Optimization (ASO) is a powerful tool that can help mobile app publishers increase visibility and downloads.
Knowing the correct strategies and understanding the essentials of ASO is crucial.
Conclusion
So, with the above tactics combined with creating meaningful customer relationships, tracking key performance indicators (KPIs) and analyzing user preferences, you can effectively use App store optimization to make your product more visible to potential users and reach new heights in the app market!
