There are many ways to stand in the market, but when it comes to the world of mobile app development, the competition is absolutely challenging!
Apps with more than 5 million count in both the app stores- Apple App Store, Play Store Store, getting your app the stardom it deserves revolves around a lot of strategies and hard work. Do not forget that this 5 million count is increasing every day.
So, what next?
How would you make your app the top app in the market, how will you let the world know that you are also present, and most importantly how will you let your app rank higher in the play store, and how to match the intent of the app to the needs of the users?
The secret to the competitive advantage is nothing but App Store Optimization for both iOS and Google Play Store. Through the app store optimization strategies, you can simply connect with the audience to get things done in a nicer manner.
ASO is a fruitful strategy to make an app a star app, keeping the importance of it in mind, here in this article, we will be showcasing you everything about the ASO guide in detail.
Let’s get started-
What Is ASO, App Store Optimization?
Like Search Engine Optimization or SEO for getting traffic to the website, similarly, app developers make the use of App Store Optimization guide or ASO techniques to get the app reach to the top of the app store search results. It can also be called App Store SEO.
As it is important to make an app the top leader in the app world, the algorithm that helps in ranking keeps on changing and is not regular. However, you can still do a few things to make your app rank along with getting more followers and downloads.
With it, let us know check out the benefits of ASO for the applications-
Benefits Of App Store Optimization
Before following anything new and important, it is good to understand what sort of benefits it provides ultimately. When we are talking in the context of mobile applications, ASO has its set of advantages to look at.
Those advantages are-
Visibility Improvisation
Even after developing a great and outstanding application, no user can ever get to know about your application if they aren’t aware of its presence in the market. And if they are not aware of the app, chances of your app download simply becomes low.
Thus, it is important to make the app easily discoverable and known in the eyes of the users for the ultimate success of the app. With ASO strategy, making your app visible in the market becomes easy.
App Discoverability
Once you are aware of the fact that the app should be found by the users, it is also important to know that the app should be found by the right users. Those right users who are actually willing to download the app and want to use it.
To ease the task, app store optimization strategies take businesses to the users because the relevant keywords match the app. The search items play an important role to make your app found to the users.
App Download Count
Following the accurate ASO strategy can help in boosting the organic installs offering long term results in return. When a person searches for the keyword related to the app, they will automatically end up with your application. Make sure you are timely monitoring and updating the application and its related practice in order to make every step of your success.
User Acquisition Cost
For enticing more users to the app, businesses often spend money on advertisements. App store optimization strategies, on the other hand, helps in eliminating the need to spend bucks and focuses majorly on organic growth. This also results in saving money and brings more growth too.
App Revenue Increase
There are many ways to mobile app monetization models including in-app ads, in-app purchases, subscription models, and so on. This makes businesses often invest money in running ads for bringing in more users and ultimately the revenue. However, if the app store isn’t converting enough, meaning if it is not convincing enough to encourage users to download the app, the money spent on advertisement simply goes in vain.
Also, be sure of the App store optimization strategies that also involves conversion rate optimization, urging people to click and download the app.
Global Audience Reach
Mobile App localization is important as the app becomes available in different languages to the different users for the ultimate convenience. Thus, with the help of App store optimization strategies, businesses can reach the global audience by offering the app as per the demographic requirements.
Now being aware of the fact about app store optimization, let us now understand the mechanism behind the App store optimization strategies and its whole process.
How Is App Store Optimization Done Properly?
The Precise ASO Strategy
It is crucial to know about the market before getting started with the ASO guide and App store optimization strategies. Get into the deep market research. Once done with it, the next thing that arises is the need to understand the users too. Get insights about their likes and dislikes while preparing yourself with the information.
Pick the right and definite keywords that can give an edge to your application as per the user’s dialect, their needs, and so on. Completing this first step to how ASO is done makes you ready for the next step.
Right Name To The App
What’s in the name- well, everything! Yes, you need to give a right, unique and easy name to your app. It is the name that makes users search for your application. Be sure of the app title matching to the relevancy of the application.
Remember, if the app name is easy and appealing, people will always remember it creating a higher recognition value to the app. Do take off the character limit when writing down the name of the app during this stage of how ASO is done.
50 characters are restricted to Google Play Store whereas Apple App Store limits the character value to 30.
The Right Keyword Research
It is the stage where you want your app to be searched. Thus, come up with an accurate keyword that also suits the relevancy of your application. Meanwhile, when you are working on the keyword research phase, here are a few things to keep in mind how ASO is done –
- The top features of the app
- The right synonyms describing the app features
- What are the related similar apps are known by
- What is the app category
- How do people often search for the app in the same category?
These pointers will help you understand the right keywords for the process. Also, there are ASO tools available helping developers to come up with the top keywords.
App Description
The app description is a crucial part of the app’s metadata. It is important to let users be informed of what the app is all about along with giving a complete overview of its main features.
Also, other than users, the App description helps in ranking algorithms too. The description makes the search engine find the relevant keyword to make the app rank. Make sure you are incorporating the keywords into decent sentences. This will result in making the description information, attractive, and relevant as per the algorithm required.
In short, your app description should be informative, easy to understand, and made in a clearly structured manner. Be creative, use bullets, if wanted to use emojis too. Do not move ahead of the character limit which is 4000 for both the platforms.
A/B Testing Based App Icon
Completing the informative part, it is now the time to look at the visual and creative side. The app icon is the next thing you need to take care of.
Whatever app icon you are working on should have the potential to gain the attention of the users and also encourage them to click on the search result.
Be sure of how you are designing the app icon, what your application is informing the users, and how you can convey that information visually. In short, your app icon should reflect the idea and theme of your application.
Also remember not to add a lot of elements, text, or icons. However, in order to understand it the app icon will be accepted by the users or not, just simply opt for A/B testing. Through it, you will be able to understand which icon is getting more clicks.
Screenshots & Video Preparation
Now that the users have landed to your application for the further process. It is now the time to entice them and finally convince them to download the app. Give screenshots, videos of the app resulting in app ranking factor too.
The app screenshots and videos are great as they are like opportunities for demonstrating the functionality of the app. Take the leverage of them and showcase the best part, features, and functionality of the app.
Over 50% of the users often download the app after seeing the visuals and videos of the app. Thus, always pay attention to the design vision. Done with the designing side, work on the screenshots too. Choose whether you want portrait mode screenshot or landscape layouts.
App Listing & Localization
You are now well prepared with the app listing and prepared visuals, it is now the time to jump to the next step- i.e. app localization. English is a widely used language and keeping the same thought in mind, you have created your app accordingly.
Though the language is impressive, avoiding other languages is not good. If you want to be globally available in the world, make sure you are offering a localized app as per the requirements of the users globally. This does not make you start from the very beginning, but to only majorly focus on the language side. Work on the metadata, keywords, descriptions, videos, screenshots, and so on.
App Ratings & Reviews
The next part of the ASO guide is feedback. Both the app stores take comments and reviews into the account given by the users. The better and positive the reviews will be, the more relevant the app will be considered by the app stores. This altogether results in increases in the chances of making the app higher.
Reviews are something that is highly seen by the users for downloading the app.
Backlinks
Though a part of SEO strategy, Backlinks also play a pivotal role in improving the ASO strategies of your Android mobile app. They let the users and search algorithms know about different sites and platforms where you have shared information about your application and in this way, enables you to improve the credibility of your app.
App Update
While following your mobile app launch checklist is good, updating your application at regular intervals is also important for enhancing the app search/conversion rate. This is because when you update an app more frequently, you target the bugs and errors found in your app which eventually improves the user experience and reduces the negative ratings and reviews.
Besides, it gives the App Store/Play Store a hint that you focus on delivering better opportunities to your audience by updating your application timely. This encourages the mobile app stores to consider your app on higher ranking in the search bar.
With it, let us come to the next segment of the blog-
10 Practices For A Mobile App Marketing Guide
Understand Your Target Audience
The very first mobile app marketing guide tips & checklist to consider while planning and implementing your App Store Optimization strategy is to understand your target user base.
That implies, selecting a group of people based on factors such as age, culture, qualification, gender, and location, etc. and determining their response. And hence, ensure that you do not start off on the wrong foot.
Pick The Right Keywords At Right Place
As stated above, choosing the right keywords and adding them to the right places can improve your app ranking and acquisition rate. So, look forward to investing your efforts into building an App Store keyword optimization strategy by following rules like:-
- Pick the right keyword based upon your app category, type, and features.
- Consider the keywords that apps ranking in your niche market are using.
- Localize your keywords for better outcomes.
Make Description More Presentable
When focusing on adding a description to your mobile app store optimization strategy, look forward to following these mobile app SEO best practices:-
Make your description more presentable using bullets, signs, and emojis.
Writing short and simple sentences.
Highlighting the USP of your app within the first two sentences.
Add an email address for support.
Use Significant Screenshots
Screenshots not solely make your app page appealing but also increases the chances of users understand your app purpose and thus, convince them to help you to get more downloads for your Android and iOS app. So, look forward to focusing on these practices:-
- Employ all the available slots for showing screenshots.
- Put the most important app screen on the first slot.
- Add minimal text to screenshots.
Make Lighter Apps
The app size, one of the ASO off-meta factors, is a perfect answer to what is the strategy to rank an app on Play Store/App Store. It increases the chances of users downloading your application and using it – without worrying about the app’s memory consumption or feeling irritated on slow app speed.
Consider Ways to Gain Positive Reviews
Though it is nearly impossible to have no negative review, it is advisable to bring more positive reviews on your app page. And for this, you should look into the best practices to improve positive reviews, including Referral marketing.
Localize Your App Effectively
It’s true that app localization can improve your app ranking by 200%. However, you do not need to localize your app for every country and place for this. You can earn higher app downloads and revenue by focusing on two or more important locations. So, consider this factor as one of the best methods to improve mobile app ranking in Google Play Store or App Store.
Run A/B Tests For Better Insights
Another ASO tips to ensure that you gain the best results from ASO is to invest in mobile app testing, A/B testing. That implies, testing and measuring the metrics of every change you make into the ASO strategy and thus, refining the results.
Perform Competitive Analysis
One of the important app store SEO techniques to ensure that you gain maximum response is to perform competitive analysis. The analysis will help you to determine what type of keywords, description, and other elements your competitors have invested in, and thereafter, come up with a perfect answer to the question, “how to get more downloads for your app.”
Iterate Every Few Weeks
Lastly, keep repeating this process at a particular interval of time to make the best profits of the changing trends in the app industry.
Now when talking about performing keyword optimization, conducting A/B tests, or investing your efforts into competitive analysis, various app store optimization tools can be taken into consideration for enhancing your App Store Optimization strategy.
How To Manage The App In An Efficient Way ?
Analyze
The very first step to manage the app is to analyze it in terms of app visibility. You need to check whether the app is visible in the app stores or not. Users always search for the app in the app stores, make sure you are letting them find the app decently.
Optimize
The second part of managing the app is an optimization which is usually a little time taking and requires a lot of practice. The process often involves endless spreadsheets, numbers, details, information, and so on.
Eliminating the hit and trial method, you can make the use of AI application development for optimization suggestions too.
Publish & Updates
After the completion of app optimization, it is now the time for app distribution. Make sure you are pushing regular updates to the app too. Release updates to the app every two weeks.
Give your users newness to the app always and keep them engaged to the app.
App Monetization
The next thing to take care of is app monetization. You can opt for in-app purchases, ads, paid user acquisition channels, subscriptions model, and so on. The options involve various app store options like social media channels, search engines, and others.
App store optimization tools To Consider In 2020 (and Beyond)
App Annie
App Annie is one of the finest app store optimization tools for performing app analytics. It provides Android and iOS app developers with a complete set of tools to compute, test, and optimize keywords based on your focused market and app type, and thus, enjoy higher app visibility and downloads.
SensorTower
SensorTower is an impressive ASO and intelligence platform that provides developers and marketers with efficient insights and tracking facilities to check and improve their app visibility on the Google Play Store/App Store.
Besides, it also offers the opportunity of keyword translation which helps to localize your keywords in simpler ways and thus, target your audience with better chances of success.
RankMyApps
Another mobile app store optimization tools that you can consider for driving higher visibility and downloads is RankMyApps. The app store optimization tools help Android and iOS mobile app promotion services providers to optimize the app marketing copies more efficiently and effectively – right from app name to description, keywords, category, icon, and screenshots.
Reflection.io
Reflection.io is a one-stop-shop for tracking and monetizing ASO. The app store optimization tools come with a web-based interface and two different plans to provide developers with the opportunity to track around 10 apps, in addition to gathering market intelligence and app data to upgrade their ASO strategy.
App Radar
As the tagline says, App Radar makes App Store optimization easy. The app store optimization tools help app developers and marketers to gather real data and find out relevant and ‘highly searched’ keywords, optimize the app metadata, and above all, receive AI-based keyword suggestions to ensure faster and effective results.
StoreMaven
StoreMaven is yet another impressive AI-based tool that enhances the process of A/B testing and provides you with better possible results.
So, that’s all about how to get more downloads for your mobile app using the ASO strategy.
Conclusion
We have mentioned the most important aspect of ASO, how does app store optimization work, and others, however, there are more calculative things still remaining in the world of ASO based strategy.
If you would like to know more about the same and want to get started with it- connect with our app experts today.
