Creating a great app is not enough to make it popular and profitable. You need to tell users about your creation and make them download it. That’s when it’s high time for App Store Optimization (ASO).
As Google research showed, 48% of users discover new apps by browsing app stores (mostly, these are Apple App Store and Google Play Store). The main goal of app store optimization is to let the user find, click, and download your app from the entire catalog of applications.
How important is it to increase App Store optimization?
First, let me drive one important point home: ASO is really important.
Why? It’s not only because apps are big biz, but because customers are searching for those apps. Statista reports that 41% of app customers report browsing in the app store to discover new apps.
According to the former head of search and discovery for Google Play, Ankit Jain, a full 12% of all daily active users are looking for apps on a daily basis. And a whopping 50% of these DAUs (daily active users) search for apps at least once a week. Over the course of a month, aso factor Google Play processes six million unique search phrases.
How to increase App Store Optimization:
The key factors which influence app position in search results are the number of downloads and its dynamics, rating or user reviews, number of comments, dynamics of app deletes from a device, a number of app launches by users.
By looking at these factors, you may realize which areas to improve. For example, change keywords, ask users to leave reviews or comments. To best app store optimization your app for the app store, follow these rules:
1. Make the title creative and understandable: You want users to remember the app name and at the same time, you want them to quickly figure out what it’s about.
2. Write a compelling keyword-rich description: Put the most important positive sides in the first three lines of the description as to see the rest users have to click the “read more” button (and not everyone will do that!). For most apps, the longer the description is, the better is app rank. Vice versa, for top 100 apps shorter descriptions mean higher ranks because these apps are already popular.
3. Fill in keywords: Think like your customers: which words would they type in the search tab to find your app? Then write them in special Keyword fields. Apart from the most popular keywords, use the ones you can’t put in a description.
4. Work on ratings: The number and star rating of your reviews influence the app position in search results. App stores get profit from each download which means they show users only the apps they will most likely download. Users won’t download an app with bad reviews, so the more good ones your app has, the better it ranks.
5. Create an appealing icon: Nice icon encourages visitors to download an app, and the more people do that, the higher your rank will be. A good-looking interesting icon that reveals the purpose of the app and at the same time intrigues is a good way to get the user to click on the app.
6. Add app screenshots and video: Like with the app icon, screenshots influence the number of downloads. They help the user imagine what his experience will be like.
7. Choose the right category: If users are browsing categories to find an app, one mistake can cost too many downloads. You should choose the most relevant category. If you can’t decide between two or more, take a look at the number of competitors and choose the category with the least apps in it.
CONCLUSION:
Part of app store success is simply avoiding pitfalls or in this case the myths about ASO. You may not be creating the world’s next Flappy Bird or a billion-dollar Instagram. However, with sufficient effort and enough savvy, you can create an app that will get found, will get downloaded, and will make you successful.