8 Best Guide for App Store Optimization
As if search engine optimization was not giving a hard time already, app store optimization (ASO) has come to make things even more complicated. Well, if you look at it from one perspective, keeping up with the algorithms can be challenging. It may annoy you as well. But if you look at the brighter side of it, things get more organized. Moreover, if you abide by all the rules, you can rank your website or app better than others can. A common misconception that surrounds this whole ‘ranking’ game is that you only rank websites. When clearly you can even rank a single page from your website. For example, a company aiming to rank the Frontier packages page to promote its deals. Now that we know that ranking apps is a thing as well.
Let’s talk about ASO in today’s blog and have a look at some of the tips regarding the topic.
Keyword Research
Just like SEO, you need to put a lot of effort to search for the right keywords for app store optimization. The more the better. Therefore, search at least fifty keywords. However, the keywords have to be relevant to your app as well. Do not waste your efforts looking for keywords that are popular among people but are not relevant to your app. Your aim is to target the people who will look for your app and download it as well. Interested people will search for your app using the related keywords rather than by the keywords that are popular. Therefore, make sense when choosing keywords. In case, it is hard for you to do so, here are a couple of free apps that can help you with your hunt:
- Keyword Suggestions
- OneLook Reverse Dictionary
Core Keywords
Whenever you search the keywords, there is a primary keyword against which you want to rank yourself on search engines or app stores. And then there are secondary keywords. One thing that you should keep in mind is that the primary or the core keywords should be a part of your app’s title or name. Because that is what will help you get a better ranking on the app store. However, you should also find a balance between branding and keywords. Google play allows 50 characters and App Store allows 30 for the title. Do not exceed this limit.
Keyword Combinations
In the quest to rank yourself above the competitors on the app store, don’t forget to find the best keyword combination according to your business. The most popular keywords have a low difficulty level and very high traffic. However, if you are a rather young business, you should aim to rank for low difficulty keywords with low-mid traffic. Also, make a combination of generic keywords choosing from short and long-tailed ones. This will help to increase the visibility of your app on the app store.
Right Place at the Right Time
Different indexes fit different app stores. For example, Google Play asks for keywords in all fields including the title, description, and short description. Moreover, keywords in reviews and developer name are asked from you as well to rank better in Google Play. On the other hand, you have to put your creativity to use in the App Store. Because you have a limited place to fix your keywords in. Hence, more thought goes in deciding where to put the keywords when you are launching an app on the App Store.
Promotional Text
If you want to introduce your app on App Store (iOS) then you have to make use of promotional text as well. Even though the keywords that you use in the promotional text are not indexed but they lift up your rank by 35%. Therefore, make good use of it.
Go Global!
In order to rank yourself better, you need to go global. You need to allow people from different countries to access your app. For that purpose, you will have to find the popular keywords related to your app and business in various countries. Although this asks of you to put in more effort and hard work, it will be worth your time. Once you have done that, you can localize your listing and eventually your whole product page.
Right Category
Another thing that you should be mindful about is to choose the right category for your app. Study the market and see the category under which you can rank better. For example, we all know that Twitter is a social media website. However, it places itself under the category of ‘News’ in the app store. And we all know just how popular Twitter is amongst the masses.
Visual Assets
Your visual assets will have a great impact on the conversion rates. Therefore, make sure that they are eye-catching enough. The icon of your app should be relatable, unique and scalable. Visuals attract the majority of the people. Therefore, put in an effort to come up with unique ones.
