Google Play has 3.48 million apps accessible for Android users in Q1 2021, while iOS users could choose from 2.22 million apps in the Apple App Store.
Today’s challenge for marketing teams is not whether to spend money on apps to interact with their audience, but rather how to help consumers find their applications in the first place.
Herein lies the significance of app store optimization (ASO).
This article will teach you:
What is optimization for app stores?
how to improve your app’s ranking in the stores.
several app marketplaces to advertise your business’s app.
Strategies to raise your organic app ranks.
This post offers useful advice that has been shown to increase app store success, whether you are new to app store optimization or simply want to improve your method.
What Is Optimizing for the App Store?
App Store Marketing and Mobile App SEO are two more names for App Store Optimization (ASO).
The core goal of ASO is to increase your apps’ exposure in app stores’ search engines like Google Play or the Apple App Store. You can help other objectives, including visitors to your web app and downloads, by raising impressions.
ASO focuses on applications that use professional resources to raise the ranking of mobile applications (apps) in app stores (like iTunes, Google Play, and Windows Store).
The iPhone/iPad, Android, and Windows Phones are the three most popular mobile platforms for which apps are made.
The primary objective of ASO is almost always app downloads, although secondary objectives can include things like:
increased brand awareness
positive evaluations and reviews of the app.
More reviews of apps are published more frequently.
audience participation.
diversification of additional marketing channels.
Are you thinking about how to support an ASO investment?
You should be aware that the number of app store consumers and app downloads is rapidly increasing.
Statista.com reports that since 2016, the number of mobile app downloads worldwide has increased:
In 2016, 140.68 billion.
2018 saw 192.45 billion.
2019: 204 billion.
2020: 218 billion.
App Store Optimization: What It Is
If you are new to ASO, you might find it to be a more familiar kind of internet marketing for your company than you first imagined.
Traditional search engine optimization (SEO) and ASO have many similarities in their approaches, which we’ll go over in more detail in the following section.
Upon reflection, this makes complete sense.
In essence, app stores function as closed-site search engines and rely on:
Simple discovery of content (app content).
Indexation.
Additionally, app ranking formulas linked to
the app’s perceived quality.
Freshness.
brand hierarchy.
User value indicators (e.g., reviews, ratings, engagement).
Sounds recognizable? It ought to.
All of these elements are significant organic search ranking signals.
Key performance indicators linked to raising app visibility are the main focus of marketing gurus looking to boost ROI from app stores:
Ranking. \sImpressions.
Shares.
Participation (reviews/ratings).
Downloads.
The process of optimizing your app’s visibility is continual and always changing, just like SEO.
The purpose of app development is to increase traffic.
You can stand out in the App Store and Play Store, where your reach is virtually endless if you make a commitment to ASO and continuously track and measure performance and outcomes.
If you’re curious about which app store categories are most popular, the top 5 in March 2021 on the Apple App Store were:
Games (21.53%).
Enterprise (10.11%).
educated (8.67%)
Personality (8.62%).
Services (6.24%).
Travel, food and drink, health and fitness, and other topics are among those with percentages outside of the top 5 categories that are closely clustered between 2% and 4%.
The entertainment sector, which has 5.72% of popularity, is the only one to deviate from this closely clustered tendency.
Your ASO Foundation: Organic Optimization
The crucial component absent from many ASO marketing delivery strategies is the integration of app stores into the larger organic marketing mix and organic search optimization.
ASO and SEO are less in direct rivalry with one another than they are with each other.
Numerous search marketing advantages can be supported by combining these areas and applying a consistent focus on ASO.
Many of the conventional SEO techniques that are effective for search engine performance, such as Google and Bing, may also be directly applied to ASO, which may surprise you.
Several instances of this are:
Optimization of the app’s name, title, and URL.
ASO keyword research.
production and management of app ratings and reviews.
within mobile apps, deep connection.
App Indexation in Google SERPS (search engine results pages).
optimization of the click-through rate (CTR).
The biggest marketing error with regards to merging SEO and ASO, however, is ignoring the website’s function in generating significant referral traffic to your store page and app downloads area.
Your website should be viewed as the engine that moves visitors from your primary online presence (your website) all the way to an interested, prepared-to-buy/download audience (your app store).
The more you can use your website content to promote your app and enhance app awareness and discovery to develop your app’s external authority and exposure, the more traffic, downloads, and value your app will have as the content levels in the app stores themselves are restricted.
App Store Strategies
Updates, improvements, and continuing optimization can be focused at a variety of specialized optimization areas inside app stores, including Google Play and other venues for app marketing.
You cannot overstate the importance of in-app store maximization because app stores account for the vast bulk of all app downloads.
The following are the primary optimization areas you need to concentrate on and enhance, despite the fact that app store features and available fields will vary:
Name, URL, and subtitle of the app
Make sure they incorporate the essential terms that best describe your software as well as signals that support value, distinction, and other perceived worth. These areas must accurately reflect the most valuable keywords and user search patterns.
You should also be aware that there are character limits in place for things like the app title (name), and you should use caution when using low-quality or spamming techniques. For instance, keyword stuffing should be avoided because it is simple for algorithms to detect, degrade, or penalize it.
If in doubt, seek advice from a professional or consider why you are including this particular set of phrases. Does the user hear their voice? Do they accurately reflect their search behaviors?
space for app keywords (s)
To accurately reflect the most recent and evolving user search queries, these must be updated. To optimize this, traditional keyword research is necessary. Make sure you take the time to compile a thorough data collection and implement strategies to iteratively examine, enhance, and adjust this and the other critical items (likely monthly).
Reviews and ratings for apps
Users place a lot of trust in these, and app stores use them as a rating signal. Quantity, freshness, and rating are all important.
SEO Trends 2023: Predictions From 24 Industry Pros [Ebook]
You must set up a system for both creating regular reviews and responding to and interacting with them. Front-line employees can be really helpful in this regard, and having some kind of staff training and incentive program in place will assist inspire and empower your team to be proactive and consistent in obtaining high numbers of favorable app reviews.
downloading apps
As you might anticipate, the buzz, demand, and user value connected with your app increase as more people use it. A rise in download numbers will promote a rise in prominence in the app store’s organic ranking.
As crucial as it is to optimize in-app performance is the integration of your marketing channels outside of the app store to attract users to the app. The more effectively you can mix marketing channels and monitor their interactions, the more influence you will have.
App Updates: Freshness Is Deserved for Downloads
The most successful apps in app stores are those that are constantly changing (reflecting user feedback, technology changes, feature additions, and improvements).
Additionally, these are those programs that adapt and change over time as a result of user input and demands.
Apps that receive frequent updates typically receive more favorable and frequent reviews.
Additionally, they offer iterative approaches to update, interact with, and support your business community.
Regular app updates can increase the relevance of your product to your audience and give your company the opportunity to respond to shifting consumer demands and competitive shifts.
The frequency of app updates is a factor in the ranking algorithms of both the Apple App Store and the Google Play Store.
This implies that your brand’s commitment to improving your app product offering will increase your likelihood of having a higher app rating and better in-store performance.
It is also a helpful way to make that your software is still useful for its intended purpose, supportive of good ratings, and supportive of transparent feedback loops with your audience.
Additional Tips for App Store Optimization
Here are a few more strategies you may use to improve your app store rankings.
1. Because keyword triggers are used in your app’s name, title, description, and related fields by app stores, make sure to do your homework on the ideal keywords to utilize and return to them periodically to look for optimization chances.
2. The conversion rate (number of downloads) of your app store product page will be significantly impacted by the way it is presented. To increase downloads, product page CRO should be a constant topic of effort.
3. The click-through rates (CTR) of impressions compared to clicks to additional app pages are strongly impacted by the thumbnail photos and screenshots used to promote your app in app stores.
4. Conduct A/B tests on each of your app store fields to continuously improve the field’s key performance indicators (CTR, CRO, etc.). To maximize the potential of the app store optimization areas, this kind of experimentation and hypothesis testing is essential.
5. Give Apple’s Spotlight Search a shot. Users can search the apps they have already loaded on their mobile phones utilizing this app store. Because more people will be exposed to your app as a result of enabling Apple’s Spotlight Search, you can potentially affect app use and engagement levels.
Conclusion
ASO outperforms growth trends and continues to increase.
The significance and usefulness of apps within the marketing mix have been solidified over the past few years as a major marketing strategy.
After Brexit, our European neighbors simply say: “Nein, thanks.”
How to get apps noticed by customers naturally among the top app stores are currently the main difficulty.
Now that you know some useful tips, you can start reworking and positioning your apps to get better outcomes right away.
