What is app store optimization?
There are more than 2 millions of apps in app stores (Google
play, Itunes). According to
Pocketgamer.bi There are a total of 1.9
million apps seen in the US
App Store, out of which 1.7 million are currently available for download.
Apple.Developers are currently submitting more than 1,000 apps to Apple's App Store per day.
Getting your app discovered on the app store is the biggest issue facing by developers and publishers now days. If you have mobile app and you want to market your app well, Its important for you to understand the different strategies for your game marketing .
I am going to share some tips with you to understand the most important technique which increased yur downloads – App store optimization(ASO).
Why ASO?
Have a
look on below statistic by Apptentive. Most of the apps are getting discovered
by the search on app store than any other method
According to Google I/O, Ankit Jain
reported that “For the average app, search actually makes up
the vast majority of installs.”.which
means ASO is the most important app
discovery channels for your app. If you are using ASO then It will be the one
of the most important factor for ranking and overall success of app.
What Is ASO (App store Optimization)?
App store optimization is the
process of optimizing your app for best search ranking in apps store (Google
Play, Itunes). Better Ranking increases your visibility in apps store search
pages which ensures your app getting more noticeable by potential user for
their relevant keyword. Which increase a lot of traffic to your app page and
meeting your goal of getting highest download.
According to research
from Forrester, app store searches have resulted in the discovery of 63% of all apps.It
is most amazing fact that publishers are
not investing in App store optimization. If you improve your ASO it will become
very special weapon for you.
How ASO works?
How well do you know your competitor
and your customer?
The Best ASO strategy start with
understanding your customer and competitor in detail, For That you need think like your potential user. Moz blog has
given a great check-list to understand your customer deeply.
To start ask yourself the following
questions:
- · What language do my customers naturally use?
- · How would they describe my app?
- · What are their top reasons for downloading and using my app?
- · What is my competitive advantage?
- · What keywords do my competitors target?
- · How easily can I compete against these apps on the same keywords?
- · Should I target the obvious keywords or the less obvious (and less trafficked) keywords that better speak to my unique offering and points of differentiation?
·
Your ASO
strategy begins with putting yourself in your customer’s shoes. Your goal is to
improve discovery in app store searches and target those keywords that drive
the most traffic. The best way to identify these optimal keywords is consumer
research — finding out exactly what search queries brought your customers to
your app and the natural language they use to describe it.
Its Important to check your competitor
too for understand which keyword they are using and how many are similar as
yours? Is it important to target the same keyword or just choosing some low
competition keyword which makes more sense to your app.
Factors which are important for ASO
1.
Your App Icon
App Icon is the
first impression of your app when someone searching your app in app stores. So
its important to make it unique so that it would stand out from the crowd.
Its not to be
over complicated, It needs to be very simple and clear to understand that what
your app is about.
In fact, Google now allows you to A/B test app
icons and screenshots in real-time.
1.
Magic
of Keyword
Keyword selection is very crucial thing for
ASO.
Keyword research will take
significant amount of time to choose most relevant and best keyword to rank on
app store pages.
Tools For understanding current Keyword Trend.
Tools For
Keyword Analysis
Best
practices while choosing your keyword
·
Use the singular form of words
·
Do not repeat keywords
·
Do not use keywords that are already in your app’s title
·
Do not include any spaces in your list
·
Put commas between each word, even if it’s a phrase like “bingo card”
·
Try to max out with 100 characters (Google “character count” to help
you)
·
Use singular form for example. “Bird” instead of ”Birds”
·
Its always good to be on first for low ranking keyword than on 10th
for high ranking keyword (Source: appempire.com)
App Name:
It is good to include search friendly
keyword in your app name
Its important to have clear and
descriptive app name. Maximize the use of long name which will describe the app
as well as help in branding.
Apple provide 255 character limit for Titles in the App Store.Google
provide you 30 character limit for play
store. You can use allowing for plenty of keywords or keyword phrases in character
title.
As I said App name is 1st impression
for for your user so take care of relevancy fact instead of overstuffing the
keyword.Longer titles, however, will be truncated on a search results or top
chart page. Titles are typically truncated after the 23rd character (including
spaces) in the App Store and the 30th character in Google Play.
App Description
Optimize App description is also
important factor of ASO.It is important to use your keyword statigically in
description.Your app description needs to targeted for user customer than for
writing it for serch engine.Describe your description in very simple word so
that it should be worked as a call to action for your potential user.
First two Lines are the most important lines for user and for ASO.
First tell the user what your app is
about then list award and feature of app.
Of course, App Store Optimization is an ongoing process, thanks both to
the continually evolving ranking algorithms and to the competitive nature of
the app stores. A successful ASO strategy requires a keen eye, a penchant for
analytics, and regular check-ins.
Stay tuned for beginner tips for ASO : Part 2 :)
