A mobile application is the most effective approach to reach your target audience, grow your customer base, improve sales and income, and outshine your competition. Launching an app is no joke, as competition is fierce for all verticals. According to International Business Times, the App Store receives over 1,000 app submissions every day. Studying your competitors is essential when developing your overall app store optimization strategy. According to App Radar, a whopping 70% of mobile users utilize search to find new apps. Furthermore, 65% of all downloads occur directly after a search. According to Business of Apps, the Apple App Store has approximately 3.6 million iOS applications, and the Google Play Store has over 2.39 million Android apps. App store search is quite evidently the most common method for discovering new apps.
by Liz Rustia
If your app isn’t visible, people won’t click through to download it. Therefore, increasing the visibility of your app in the app store is essential for distinguishing your brand from the competition and growing app download rates.
ASO, or generating and optimizing content, is the key to success in these stores. Such efforts improve app store positioning: the higher an application’s score, the more visible and popular it is among consumers. Increased attention leads to improved conversion and more organic downloads; therefore, more substantial popularity is good.
But first, keep this in mind.
It’s vital to enhance the product itself and make it appealing to consumers before focusing on optimizing your application or picking good visuals. As a result, concentrate on product quality. Stability and appeal are the most critical aspects of quality.
The app should also be well-designed, increase user involvement, and meet user demands. One of the most crucial variables determining the application store’s ranking is user rating. Users are more likely to write good reviews and promote the application to others when they get it for free. As a result, there are more organic downloads.
The better the number of positive reviews, the more visible the app is on the App Store. Of course, other aspects, such as the number of active app users and their general maintenance level, impact the statistics. However, the more solid the application, the better it is to begin ASO efforts.
So how does App Store Optimization work?
The main objective behind optimizing your content is to increase listing traffic and organic downloads. To put it simply, App store optimization = traffic+conversion. The higher you rank, the more exposure your app will have to potential new users. It is of prime importance to understand your users to use these insights while preparing your ASO content.
The discovery of apps is directly related to the ratings of the app. For ratings to be high, the quality of the app is a deciding factor for the same, making it very important to optimize one’s content.Asking users to leave a kind review at the right time is also important. This also helps determine the pattern of how users are finding your app and engaging with it.
In short, App store optimization(ASO) improves business and helps generate more downloads at a lower cost.
Top 8 App Store Optimization (ASO) Strategies for 2022:
- Understanding User Behavior
According to Forrester, app store searches are among the most prevalent methods to discover new apps, accounting for 63 percent of all app downloads. Therefore, you can start by investigating the target market and audience and finding out what they need and how they act. Understanding your users allows you to gather the information that might aid in creating app content. You must figure out why they’d use the app, how they’ll discover it, what language they speak, and so on.
- Working on the Right Title for your App
Your app title on Google Play Store can be 50 characters long and 30 characters on the Apple App Store. Using keywords in the app title that have the strongest ranking weight is the first step in app store optimization. Use words in your app title that are relevant to your app, that is easy to read, simple and unique.
- Optimization of Keywords / keyword research
Optimizing keywords means increasing your visibility for relevant keywords that visitors are looking for. 70% of Apple App Store visitors, for example, use the app store to find new applications. Furthermore, 65% of downloads occur only after a search.
In ASO, properly chosen keywords guarantee that your app gets indexed as a search result for individuals seeking a certain kind of app. These are picked based on how well they represent your app and its features, as well as the latest trends in app store search engines.
Performing research to identify the best fit keywords is the second step in app store optimization. To help you determine what keywords your app should be found with, the following aspects need to be considered:
- Main features of the app or game
- App category
- Benchmark the competitor apps
- Synonyms describing the features
- Commonly used terms in the app category
- Not all AI recommendations are bad. For your first set of keywords, various App Store Optimization tools are available. For example, App Radar provides tailored keyword suggestions.
- Optimizing the App’s Description and Product Page
It’s essential to optimize your app product page or app listing in addition to your keywords. More than 50% of users make choices based on first impressions; therefore, app names, app descriptions, and screenshots, among other things, should all be optimized regularly.
The app’s description should focus on targeting the customer base. It should spur potential customers towards downloading the application.
Even with the 4000 character limit for your long description, keep in mind that you only have 252 characters before the rest of the description gets truncated with the “More” link. Keep an eye out on word count to avoid keyword stuffing in case you plan on repeating keywords for the Google Play ASO, as it may lower your positions in search results. Keeping that in mind, keep your pitch short, informative and easy to understand to make sure that the user knows your app is worth downloading.
- Prepare App Screenshots & Videos Preview
App screenshots and videos give you an opportunity to demonstrate the functionality of your app or mobile game to the user. Screenshots capture attention. Use them to tell people how your app can help them.
According to Chipthompson.com, 85% of the US audience views videos online, with over half watched on mobile. As a result, including a video on an app store page may help increase conversions. For example, include a video demonstrating the app’s operation or a sneak peek at the gameplay. Videos for app previews may be up to 30 seconds long.
- App Listing and Localization
Localization is another important for app store optimization. This is the practice of adapting your app listing and visuals to appeal to target regions. Using existing metadata, keywords, or screenshots, you can translate them into other languages. This is done to give customers a more personalized experience. There are App Store Optimization tools, localization, and translation services for the same.
Do not forget to translate CTAs in the screenshots when localizing your app page. In case you plan to cater to a local area or market, it is essential to modify the content as per the localized market. Changes in the communication of the brand, audience language, screenshot captioning, etc. will need to be made so that it becomes easier to reach out to the local audience. Adoption and conversion of your app will boost, as more customers will be able to find the app in their native language.
- Increasing Positive Reviews and Ratings
ASO’s success relies heavily on feedback, and both Google Play and Apple consider users’ comments and reviews. According to Apptentive, 90% of customers believe star ratings to be critical when evaluating apps. Furthermore, 79% of users look at ratings and reviews before installing an app.
However, besides ratings and reviews, regular updates and external advertising, such as app store ad campaigns, might help you rank higher in the app store. The higher the ranks, the more relevant an app looks to be, and the better the rating.
Hence, reviews are essential parameters for the App Store ranking system. In addition, potential consumers are influenced by user reviews and ratings while deciding whether or not to download your software. Therefore, giving timely responses to customer feedback can help you earn your present app users’ confidence.
- Paid Visibility Combined with Organic Growth Can Be a Winning Combination
The paid promotion has become critical for developers attempting to compete in the app stores. For example, you may boost traffic to an app listing by presenting it to consumers searching for relevant phrases through paid marketing like Apple Search Ads and Google Ads.
Consider it like bidding for a spot at the top of a search engine results page. As a result, your app may index terms quicker, thanks to increased visibility from sponsored networks. Furthermore, the clicks and downloads generated by the adverts contribute to organic growth and indexation. Thus, sponsored marketing might result in additional downloads even if consumers do not see the commercials.
Conclusion
Developing a mobile app with the best possible features is definitely important for an app publisher. But, performing app store optimization is as important as development as this process allows developers to show their app to more people. Submitting your app to the app store and play store is not enough. The effective marketing strategy will help you grow your app’s downloads and generate the revenue you have planned for. The process of app store optimization is never-ending.
You can’t just perform keyword research, create a description for your app, post a few images, and then forget about it. To get long-term outcomes, you must develop and implement an ASO strategy. Therefore, it is imperative to understand your users, concentrate on their experience, and measure and improve your ASO.
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