With over 5 million apps available on the Apple App Store and the Google Play Store, your app is facing a lot of tough competition. So how do you boost downloads and get yourself a bevy of loyal followers? The secret to maximizing your downloads is to make your app easily discoverable by the right users. And this is where App store Optimization comes into play!
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App store optimization is all about enhancing app conversion rate and boosting the visibility of your app within the app stores, especially Google Play and the Apple app store, as well as engaging your audience, increasing brand exposure, and garnering positive app reviews and ratings. Proper app store optimization helps you rank higher on the app store search results, as well as enables you to coax people into actually clicking into your app store listing once they find it. This is why understanding app store optimization (ASO) is so crucial. Let’s dive deep into why App store optimization is so important and how to get it right!
Why is ASO Important Same as App Development?
Did you know that 63% of apps are discovered through app store searches? This means that this is the most important channel for discovering and downloading new apps! Not to mention, the search ranking position of an app has a direct bearing on the number of downloads. The higher your app ranks in the search results, the more it appeals to users and has a higher chance of being downloaded. After all, users don’t have the time to endlessly scroll through the search results. With millions of apps competing for attention in each app store, it is a wonder that so many people are oblivious to the power of App Store Optimization.
What Are The Benefits Of App Store Optimization?
- Improved Visibility
No matter how great your app is, people can’t download it if they don’t see it. Unless your app is easily discoverable, it can’t reach the success that it is due. Why let all of your hard work go to waste?
- Get Discovered By The Relevant Users
You don’t just want your app to rank high, you also want it to be in front of the right users – those that are searching for an app like your’s. App store Optimization marketing matches your app to the keywords and search terms that your audience is using to look for an app like yours.
- Increase Organic App Downloads
App Store Optimization, when done right, will boost your organic installs and offer long-term results. This is because when people use the search terms associated with your app, they will always see your app on top of the search results. With regular monitoring and updating, you can hit your bottom line effortlessly. Not to mention, instead of splurging an arm and a leg on ad spend, you can achieve organic and steady growth with App Store Optimization marketing services. - Boost App Revenue
You can monetize your app in a plethora of ways, such as subscription models, in-app purchases, and in-app ads. But if your app isn’t visible to users or if your app store listing page isn’t converting, all that ad spend will be for nothing.
How to Do App Store Optimization (ASO) the Right Way?
Develop a stellar App Store Optimization Strategy
First things first, you need to do your due diligence and study the market deeply. You need to know who your prospective customers are so that you can incorporate that data in your strategy. What search terms are they using when searching for an app like yours? Which language do your customers normally use? What are their top reasons for downloading your app? What keywords are your competitors targeting? Your end goal should be to target those keywords that drive the most traffic.
Name Your App
What’s in a name you say? Well, everything when it is being used to draw users to this page! Didn’t you just land on this page by just reading the title? This is why it is important to make sure that the title of your app is unique, easy to read, and relevant to the purpose of your app! When faced with a choice of similar apps, users are more likely to pick one with a better name.
Also, Optimizing with a keyword in the title increases search ranking for that title by 10.3%, but due to the character limit in both Google Play and the App Store, 50 for Google play and 30 for the latter, make sure that you don’t exceed the word count. Keyword stuffing doesn’t just get you banned, users hardly download apps with shady names. After all, would you rather download “Evernote” or “Note Taking Note App for Notes”? You need to be smart about how to optimize.
Do Your Keyword Research
It’s not just enough to search for a list of keywords relevant to your app! You will also need to dig deep into the traffic, difficulty, and demand for those keywords, in addition to how frequently they are already being used. Ideally, you should look for Keywords with high traffic and a low to moderate number of apps. It’s also good practice to add relevant keywords in your app’s title and description.
For each chosen keyword that you want your app to be found with, look at the top apps appearing for those keywords to get a sneak peek into what people are looking for when they use those search terms. If your app isn’t likeable to the top apps appearing for those keywords, you may not be able to captivate those audience.
When conducting your keyword research, it is a good idea to identify the key features of your app, all the different ways people describe those features, the names of the similar apps, and your app’s category. There are a lot of app store optimization tools which can aid you in keyword research.
Create A Compelling Description
Before we delve deeper in this topic, remember that your app description should be targeted toward your customer base, rather than a search engine index. Think of your app description as a call-to-action for potential customers. Ideally, your app description should concentrate on describing what your app does in a simple and concise language, highlight all the unique benefits of your app, and compel the readers to download it. App store optimization got you this far, now it is time to seal the deal! In order to persuade the users to download your app, you need to put yourself in your users’ shoes. Make sure to concentrate on what your app does, what real-time problem it solves, how it can improve the lives of the buyers, and why it is worth the cost!
Even though Apple will not index keywords from your iOS app description, your app store description is especially important for Google Play. The app description is where Google finds the right keywords to rank your app for. However, keyword stuffing is not the answer. Just try to incorporate your keywords into sentences as naturally as you can without disrupting the flow, so that your description is attractive to the readers while still remaining relevant for the algorithm.
Your app store description should be three things: descriptive and informative, easy to understand, and clearly structured. However, since description is limited to 4000 characters in both stores, be sure to remain succinct yet persuasive. We recommend app owners to spend the bulk of their energy on the first three lines of their description, since usually truncated snippets are shown on your product page, and hardly anyone ever clicks “more” to read beyond what you see here.
Focus on Your App icons
A picture speaks a thousand words, which is where an app icon is your most important visual asset. It is the only thing the users sees in the search results, and you get one chance to leave a good impression. You app icon gets a lot of attention and could be the fine line between whether people click on your app or not. Your app icon is a visual display of what your app is about, and therefore, needs to reflect so in the best possible way.
Not to mention, it should be engaging, eye-catching, and not too similar to other apps. It shouldn’t appear to be busy so try to keep it minimal instead of cramming it with elements. The best way to find out what ticks your audience base is A/B testing. The idea is to create a few icon variation and then test to see which got the most clicks. For instance, some color palettes would better appeal to your users, or perhaps a particular image would capture more eyes.
Once you have tested a few options, evaluate and compare results and implement the necessary changes. That said, we would advise you to hire a graphic designer to get a custom app icon designed.
Get the Best App Store Screenshots And Videos
Users may land on your app page if you play all your cards right, but you still need to convince them to download it. While your app description may be compelling enough to capture their attention, users believe in a “show, don’t tell” approach. This is where app screenshots and videos let you demonstrate the functionality of your app and give users a sneak peek into what they can expect to see once they download the app. Although Screenshots and Videos don’t affect your app ranking directly, they play a large role in conversion rate optimization, which in turn is important for ASO. In fact, more than half the app users base their download decision on a first impression.
The trick is to show them the best and the most promising parts of your app. Use your screenshot real estate wisely, and focus on the key benefits and most engaging parts of your app. Not to mention, you can also harness the power of video content to show your app in action and give prospective users a better insight into what your app can offer them. You get 30 seconds to show recordings of the in-app experience, so make sure you show the parts that matter to your audience.
Pick the Right App Category
Placing your app in the proper category on all app stores is not only helpful for users who are browsing apps by category, but also a good practice to ensure top rankings for your app in the relevant category. If you are having a tough time selecting a single category for your app, or if you believe that your app falls in one than one category, just select one that best describes your app. Not to mention, it also helps to check how competitive each category really is, or rather how many apps are in each category.
Picking a less competitive category gives your app a better chance of ranking higher. Last, it also helps to check out the estimated app worth of the top apps for each category. It will work to your advantage to choose a category with the lower numbers. Last but not the least, placing your app in a wrong category can get you penalized since Apple reviews all submitted apps before publishing them to the App Store, and any foul play can give your app the reject stamp!
App Reviews and Ratings
People believe more in word of mouth than over-the-top advertising. Users like to check out an app’s customer reviews and ratings before they decide to download it. 80% of mobile users read at least one review before downloading an app. Not to mention, app store algorithms also take into account the ratings of an app while making the ranking decision. And you don’t just want reviews, you also want positive ones.
This is why it is important to allow your customers to vent and talk directly to you if they come across a glitch in the app rather than leave an unsatisfactory review that will cast your app in a negative light. Remember that happy customers are more likely to leave positive reviews for you. Customers never want to download an app with low ratings. Will you ever download a one-star app no matter how many lofty claims the developers make?
If you want to perfect your app, solicit reviews from customers within the app, preferably within the first 72 hours of use. Perhaps you should ask the customer for a review after they have completed a set of actions on your app. You can also turn a negative review around by replying promptly to dissatisfied customers and fixing their issues in a timely manner.
Number of Downloads
Your bottom line is to get more downloads for your app, bur ironically, your existing downloads can affect your future ones. Both the app stores use an applications existing downloads, as well as the download rate, to determine ranking. For instance, you may have garnered 1 million overall downloads, but a newer app on the market can beat you to it by getting more downloads this month. It’s just as simple as this: get more downloads for your app to acquire even more!
FAQs:
How Long Does it Take for App Optimization To Show Results?
Many app store optimization marketing companies will tell you that it takes 4 to 6 months to start seeing results, but bear in mind that App store optimization is an ongoing process. Your aim isn’t just to get new users, but also to keep your existing users. ASO is a process that needs to be monitored and constantly tweaked over a period of time.
How Much App Store Optimization Cost In UAE?
ASO can entail many different steps, so in order to get an overall price review, we would need to take into considerations all the efforts. For instance, the company you hire for your app store optimization will need to review search visibility and conduct a competitor analysis, as well as, create an actionable plan for optimization. Then, we need to factor in the time and efforts exerted in text and Keywords Optimization, as well as graphic optimization.
If you don’t already have technical guidelines for graphics and video, the company will need to do it for you. Not to mention, the company will evaluate your competitors’ text and graphics optimizations, analyze which markets they are targeting and conduct Ratings & Reviews analysis to understand their strategies.
The company will also need to review your customer ratings and reviews and create recommendations for rating improvement and templates for answers to reviews. Since the App Store Optimization process never stops, the company you hire will need to continue A/B testing as you acquire new users, in order to find the best-converting elements of your Google Play Store listing.
Also read: Tips to hire the Best IT Outsourcing Companies and Agencies for App Development in Dubai UAE
