Elif Merve Topal

Still haven’t done ASO for your app? Let’s get you here!

☕️ 6 min read
With more than 6 million mobile apps in major app stores, getting your app discovered without using any technique is one of the biggest challenges the mobile app publisher faces. If you’re in the mobile app area, it’s important to understand the various methods used to market your app because with the developing competition in the application world, it becomes difficult to increase the visibility of the applications. I would like to share the application store optimization (or ASO for short), one of the most important of these techniques, which has been overlooked so far.

The majority of apps is discovered through search ASO is the most cost-effective way to get your application organically to more people. It includes multiple strategies for increasing the chances of your application being discovered through search, then increasing your number of downloads and making your application popular. Basically, ASO can be called SEO for mobile apps. Why is ASO important? According to Forrester, 63% of downloaded apps were discovered through app store searches. Google employee Ankit Jain reported that: “For the average app, search actually makes up the vast majority of installs” Simply put, this means: If you don’t use ASO to increase your app’s search ranking, you’ll miss the largest discovery channel available for your app. As hundreds of thousands of apps tend to rank on top of each other in each app store, the amazing reality is that most publishers don’t invest in app store optimization. Here is our gift: ASO is your secret weapon. Spend time developing your ASO every week, and you’ll significantly influence the ranking and overall success of your application. What are the factors behind the working logic of ASO?

image credit: https://sensortower.com Icon/Logo The application logo is the first area that attracts users’ attention. Studies have shown that well-designed logos can increase user interest by 560%. It is recommended that the logo should be catchy, representative of the brand and relevant for corporate brands. Video and Screen Shots With app previews and videos, you can let your users get more detailed information about your app. Videos and previews are highly recommended to improve the user experience. Screenshots will also be useful to promote your application like videos. However, it is recommended that you use the most important ones when selecting screenshots. In particular, you can use the benefits of your application by adding text to screenshots describing its content. Application title The keyword placed in the title should be the one with the heaviest search traffic. Spend some time on which keyword to use, as it may be detrimental to change your title to include different keywords. As your app begins to rank higher and gain more reviews, news of your app will begin to spread by word of mouth. App Store: Allows a maximum of 50 characters for the title. The maximum length of the visible section in the App Store is up to 30 characters, while the rest of the title is truncated. Google Play: Considering the visible section on the catalog page, it recommends limiting the title to 30 characters. Also, it is important to include the brand name in the URL structure for corporate brands. For other applications, it is recommended to include the application name in the URL field. Title should also be created to include the brand name for corporate brands. If you also add title to “Mobile” as “Brand Name Mobile” you can increase the visibility of your app on brand mobile searches. Short description (for Google Play only): The text field is displayed up to “More”. The maximum length is 80 characters. The basic idea of ​​an application should be explained here, taking into account the basic questions. Keywords: To improve your search ranking, you need to know which keywords are relevant and most often used by your audience. It will be useful to monitor competitors to understand. One of the most important factors for ASO is the ability to easily change keywords, which means you can optimize them regularly. Category It is important to choose the most relevant category. To choose wisely, you must be rational and have tried competitor categories. There are 53 categories with ”games” and için for the whole family ’in Google Play, and 25 categories in the App Store without subcategories.

image credit: https://appradar.com Downloads Generally, users prefer applications with a high number of downloads. Although Google and Apple have not provided precise information, application developers are thought that the ranking of applications downloaded by more users are higher. Application Size Another important issue is the size of the application. Application sizes, which also affect the number of application downloads, are still one of the factors that are still considered when downloading an application, although mobile storage is gradually increasing. Comments and Ratings Many studies have shown that there is a link between application ratings and reviews and the number of downloads. It is a fact that the number of application downloads increases as application ratings increase. You can ask your users to review and rate your application. However, it is recommended that you choose the best time to send these notifications. Comments or rating notifications you send during the purchase process might have a negative impact. Application Updates You should regularly monitor the status of your application on devices to enhance the user experience; user reviews, and it is recommended that you make updates to your application according to user feedback. Localization If your application is in different regions, you will need to localize the application page elements: create titles, descriptions, keywords, and a sequence of screenshots for each language with the correct translations. For localization, you need to visit iTunes Connect and the Google Play Developer Console, select apps, and mark the languages that will be used for page customization. The next step is to fill in the title, description, and other information for a particular language. In the App Store, it is possible to change some metadata, including new languages, when the IOS app version is first downloaded. Recommendations to apply ASO You should do keyword analysis properly in accordance with application searches. Be craeful with the title, description, application name, and the URL structures of the applications. Keep in mind that user ratings and reviews are important. Don’t forget to share your APP links on your home site. You can create a page on your site that advertises your application. You can encourage users to download and use your mobile app by talking about the best features and benefits in this page content. One of the techniques used for App Store Optimization is A/B testing. Many logos and explanatory texts are tried in landing pages before the application is published. In other words, the application owners test the number of users who pressed the download button of the application in the landing page. The logo and description text with the highest return rate is determined in this way. To summarize, ASO is a trial and error process. You will have to try different strategies, measure and analyze all the results. With continuous improvement and optimization, you’ll begin to increase the number of downloads of your application, increase graphics, and finally increase your revenue.

LinkedIn
Reddit
WhatsApp
Telegram