According to Statista data, global mobile app downloads have continued to grow since 2016, surpassing 247 billion in 2020. In the most recently measured year, consumers downloaded 275 billion mobile apps on their connected devices. Statista also predicts that mobile App revenue will exceed $613 billion by 2025, with the largest revenue share in all app categories, including mobile games.
It is believed that the mobile app market will become stronger in the future, and the demand for ASO will increase for businesses.
What is ASO?
ASO stands for “App Store Optimization.” ASO (App Store Optimization) is the process of improving your App’s ranking in various app stores/marketplaces and search results. The principle is similar to optimizing a website for search engines and can be understood as SEO (Search Engine Optimization) optimization of an app.
ASO optimization is the use of App Store search rules and ranking rules to make the App more likely to be searched or seen by users. Usually, what we call ASO is the keyword optimization ranking in the App Store. The focus is on keyword search ranking optimization.
But in fact, the scope of ASO is broader than SEO optimization, and ASO also includes the optimization of non-search results such as “store app listings” and “Apple recommendations.”
The purpose of ASO
ASO is one of the ways of app promotion whose goal is to acquire new users. According to the formula of Downloads = Exposure * Download Conversion Rate, ASO can be divided into two methods.
- Increasing the exposure rate of the App
- Increase App download conversion rate
To achieve these two goals, the first thing is to clarify the rules of the App Store, including the ranking and inclusion rules of each traffic portal. There is also the influence of various metadata of products in the App Store on the download conversion rate. The principle of ASO is to summarize and speculate on the above rules and make corresponding optimization measures.
Tips on how to improve your app rankings
1. Application metadata optimization strategy
App metadata includes icons, names, descriptions, downloads, keyword fields and user reviews. These are also important factors that affect the app store algorithm.
● Icons
Icons are different from text descriptions in that they attract users to click on them with a strong visual impact. Therefore, visual content is more important than textual content, and more than 80% of users’ decisions rely on human impulses. Icons must have the power to drive people’s motivations.
(1) Simplicity. Don’t add too many details, and remember to highlight a feature so that users can understand the meaning of the Icon after seeing it for a few seconds. Also, when the App is displayed on the phone screen, the Icon will be displayed smaller, so the colors should not be complicated. Don’t add too many words or phrases to the Icon. Keep it simple and straightforward!
(2) Only existing brands can use the brand logo. If your App has developed to the brand stage, you can set the brand logo as your Icon. If it is a new app, please don’t do this. Otherwise, it will be very confusing for users.
(3) Choose the design effect according to the type of App. For example, the icons can be rich and intense for game apps, while most tool apps tend to be minimalist.
(4) It is better to have a border. Borders apply to all types of apps so that you can highlight your app features from the icons.
(5) Icons need to have updates. It is not hard to find that many well-known applications make a big deal about their Icon for specific shows or special time periods, such as Christmas, Halloween, or Valentine’s Day. Customize and update your Icon according to different time periods to make it fit your theme and give users a sense of interaction. But it’s best not to change your Icon drastically. Keep the original features and only add some details.
● Application Name
The app name is as important as the Icon. The app name increases exposure, and the Icon increases conversions. Application names are divided into titles and sub-titles.
(1) Be memorable. With the assurance that the name reflects the usefulness of your App, think more about the idea that app names with memorability will become more and more famous as the App’s exposure increases.
(2) Keep the length short. While app names can use up to 255 characters, try to keep it at 11 characters to display comfortably on the iPhone.
(3) Use keywords. The use of relevant keywords in the title is extremely important. They can significantly improve your App’s ranking. Adding keywords to your title will save you some space because you don’t have to repeat them in the keyword column. The best keywords are those with high search volume and low competition.
(4) Localize your App. If you plan to promote your App in countries/regions where different languages are spoken, it is important to localize your App. Because your potential users need to know you quickly. Otherwise, they won’t even consider downloading your App. Although it will consume a lot of effort, I highly recommend localizing your whole App. And never use the results of automatic translations. For each keyword, it’s important to choose the most optimized keywords. Automatic translations are often not accurate enough, and the raw tone will affect the user’s first impression of your App.
(5) Pay attention to the choice of keywords. Choosing a similar name to other apps is not a good thing. While you know that many words are popular and attractive to use, Apple strictly regulates this phenomenon. Some apps have been rejected or removed because their names were too similar to some already existing well-known apps. Search for keywords in ASOTools and choose the right ones according to the principle of high traffic and low difficulty.
● Application Description
(1) Pay attention to the first sentence of your description. The app description is displayed on the app listing page and describes what our App does, thus increasing user downloads. It is important to note that when users see the App on the search results listing page, they will see the first 30 characters of the app description (for iPhone). Therefore, the first sentence of the app description is usually an important element that influences the user’s click-through rate—one of the factors. Get straight to the point and introduce it with the most engaging resources to increase user clicks.
(2) Make the most of your description. The text limit for application descriptions is 4000 characters. Try to describe as much as possible. Repeat your chosen keywords. They should appear in apparent places but don’t repeat them too much. It is best not to have more than five occurrences of a keyword.
(3) Layout your content carefully. Pay more attention to the layout of the description, and users do not want to see a lot of text without segments. Be flexible with subtitles, lists, and multiple paragraphs. Let your potential users see clear, informative descriptions.
(4) Add the results you get. Add your App’s impressive number of downloads, users, best app rankings, best awards, press releases, and other notable apps you’ve created in the description.
● Number of downloads
Although the Apple Store has been adjusting the AppStore ranking rules and algorithms, there is still no denying that the number of app downloads and activations is still a very important factor in ASO. However, it is essential to note that in ASO, by increasing the number of downloads, it still depends on real users and valid IDs.
● Keywords
Keywords include the title and keyword section specified by the app store. The number of characters allowed in the keyword section is 100. This section is second only to the app title in weight. If you have a great keyword plan, you will be able to cover more core keywords while bringing in more traffic.
ASOTools can do your app keyword analysis for free.
● User Reviews
As the name implies, it is the user experience and rating posted by users after downloading your App. Previously, user reviews had a significant impact on app rankings, but with Apple’s crackdown on ranking scraping, app downloads and user review weightings have decreased. But it still has influence. So, improving the App’s quality and making users spontaneously like it is the correct ASO strategy.
2. Monitor competitors
Alternatively, you can find shortcuts by studying the ASO strategies of your competitors — Use ASOTools to view competitor apps.
1: Enter the App name you want to monitor in the App Search field of ASOTools, and various data and keywords of this App will appear.
2: As shown in the figure, ASOTools tracks the rating of each App, the trend of Google Volume, Downloads and Revenue, and the Top10 keywords of the App for you.
3: To view more detailed keyword information, click “Track This App” and add it to your subscription list.
Once you enter the subscription list, ASOTools will show you the trend graph of the App’s downloads, revenue, ratings, search traffic, and a list of all the keywords it uses. Different keywords have different popularity, traffic, KD, relevance, and search ranking. Summarize these words and choose high traffic and low competition keywords for different
- To view more detailed keyword information, click “Track This App” and add it to your subscription list.
- To view more detailed keyword information, click “Track This App” and add it to your subscription list.
- Once you enter the subscription list, ASOTools will show you the trend graph of the App’s downloads, revenue, ratings, search traffic, and a list of all the keywords it uses. Different keywords have different popularity, traffic, KD, relevance, and search ranking. Summarize these words and choose high traffic and low competition keywords for different apps.
3. Conducting A/B testing – optimizing material conversion rates
A/B testing presents two or more versions of variables (web pages, page elements, etc.) to different website visitor segments simultaneously or before and after a randomized experimental process of presenting different material for a fixed period of time. Determine which version of the material leaves the greatest impact and drives business metrics. A/B testing is a method often used in many industries because it is simple and effective.
For example, apps with a lot of screenshots and video footage are likely to run into the problem of not knowing which one to choose.
Essentially, A/B testing takes all the guesswork from website optimization and allows experience optimizers to make data-backed decisions. A/B testing is an integral part of the overall conversion rate optimization process, and you can use it to gather qualitative and quantitative user insights. You can further use the data collected to understand user behavior, engagement rates, pain points, and even satisfaction with site features, including new features, improved page sections, etc. If you are not A/B testing your site, you will lose a significant amount of potential business revenue.
4. Ensuring quality ideas for your App – a prerequisite for ASO
Although ASO is very useful, it becomes useless when your App’s content is not enough to attract users.
App developers should always keep in mind that they do a good job with the App’s content and improve the user experience, which is more real than anything ASO can do. ASO is just an auxiliary optimization method, and it can only work if the app itself is good.
In Conclusion
ASO optimization is the most important source of traffic for the App, which is the main reason why ASO must be done. Doing ASO optimization well is also helpful for the ranking of the list. At present, it is getting more and more difficult and expensive to get natural traffic from other channels, ASO is a good cost-effective method. Furthermore, ASO is still the basis of promotion. Although we do more advertising, the final download still has to go to the App Store.
What I shared above are some of the most effective ASO strategies. Doing a good job with your product and every optimization action is the only effective path to lead your app to higher rankings and more downloads. If you still have questions about ASO optimization, you can use ASOTools to find more optimization suggestions.
