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297 viewsWhen you are outside your residence, be it on the road, in a public place, or on public transportation, you will hardly find people sitting idle.
Either they are conversing with someone in person or engaged with their mobile device. That is the easiest way to understand the increase in mobile usage.
However, as far as statistics are concerned, there will be more than 7 billion mobile users worldwide in 2023, and the number will keep increasing.
Hence, having a mobile app for all online businesses has become more than essential.
Why?
Because apps help boost user engagement and brand awareness.
But the problem is more than 5 million mobile applications are available in the leading app stores, and 143 billion downloads took place alone in 2022 from Apple App Store and Google Play Store.
These numbers are enough to give you an idea about the present competition. That means you need more than creating a mobile app to stay ahead of the competition; you must do something out of the box.
But the good news is that though millions of mobile apps are available in app stores, most app owners do not invest enough in app optimization.
That makes app store optimization the best solution to increase your app’s visibility and downloads.
What is App Store Optimization (ASO)?
App store optimization is the process of improving the rank of a mobile app in app store search results and boosting its visibility in app stores to increase the number of total downloads.
That, in turn, also helps brands increase user engagement, earn reviews, gather customer feedback, and boost brand awareness.
App store optimization is also commonly known as app store SEO, ASO marketing, or app search optimization.
Apple App Store and Google Play Store are the two most popular app stores most users prefer.
However, you can implement app SEO for other leading app stores like Amazon Appstore, Huawei AppGallery, Samsung Galaxy Store, etc., to further increase your app’s number of downloads.
Why is ASO Important?
ASO optimization allows you to gain control over your app’s discoverability in app stores.
As per Google, 48% of the users perform app store searches to find apps. That shows how popular app store search is among users.
Moreover, 34% of users download apps that are recommended by app stores. It shows that most users download apps after viewing them in app stores. That makes app store SEO even more important.
ASO Ranking Factors for Different App Stores
Though there are similarities between Google Play Store and Apple App Store, you need to put ASO SEO efforts for your app separately for both due to some key differences in ranking factors.
Let’s talk about the similarity first.
Both the app stores follow a review and approval process before launching an app in their app stores. The app approval time varies between a day to a week depending on the app’s size and criticality.
Now, let’s dive into the differences between them.
Apple App Store offers keyword fields and subtitles that Google Play Store doesn’t.
On the other hand, Google Play offers a short description field that Apple App Store doesn’t.
The ranking factors for Apple App Store and Google Play Store also differ.
Ranking Factors for Apple App Store
Following are the factors that you should consider if you want to rank your App higher in the Apple app store,
- Name of the App
- App URL
- App Updates
- The subtitle of the App
- Keywords
- Ratings and Reviews
- In-app purchase titles
- Engagement
- Downloads
- In-app purchase Description
Ranking Factors for Google Play Store
Now let us see the factors that matter if you want to rank your App higher in the Google Store,
- Title of the App
- App Updates
- Downloads
- Backlinks
- Engagement
- Long and short app description
- In-app purchase titles
- In-app purchase Description
How to Do App Store Optimization?
Now that you know the essential factors you care about to rank your App higher on the two most popular app stores, let us explain how to implement that in reality.
The following are the most important aspects of app store SEO.
Keyword Research
In-depth keyword research is the base of any successful app store optimization.
App Store prioritizes apps that are in line with the popular terms searchers use to perform an app store search.
Hence, it will be beneficial to leverage keywords in your App wherever the app store allows. However, that does not mean stuffing your app description with keywords. You need to keep an eye on the keyword density as well.
But first, you need a reliable tool to perform thorough keyword research.
Using the keyword research feature of the RankWatch tool for this purpose can resolve all your worries.
Just follow the below steps for your keyword research,
- Log in to your RankWatch account and go to the dashboard.
- Go to keyword research and enter the primary keyword.
- Select location and hit the ‘Search’ Button.
- The tool will provide you with an entire list of keyword suggestions along with their search volume, competition, and CPC.
App’s Title and Subtitle Optimization
Once you know the keywords you should target, you must include them in your app’s name or title first.
The app’s title is the first thing a searcher views in app stores, and it is also one of the main ranking factors to rank in both the major app store search results.
Your app name should be limited to 30 characters. So, you need to include keywords within those 30 characters wisely so that they look natural and not stuffed.
Once you decide on the name of your app, you can use the valuable suggestions on keyword usage in the app title provided by the SEO IQ feature of Rankwatch.
Similarly, you can optimize the subtitles of your app too.
Add Keywords in Apple App Store
Apple App Store offers a dedicated field to add keywords you want to rank for in the app store.
These keywords must help searchers to understand what your app is about.
Apple imposes no limitations on the total number of keywords that you can include in this field. However, it must be limited to 100 characters, and commas must separate the keywords.
This keyword-adding section allows you to test creative keyword combinations that work best for you. You can try out a reliable free tool that can suggest keywords to create various combinations.
However, you must remember while including keywords that Apple crawlers do not prefer repeating the exact keywords or phrases.
Analyze Your Competitors
App store search optimization success demands a detailed understanding of your competitors, like any other marketing campaign.
It is essential to analyze the keywords your competitors are targeting for mobile app optimization to plan and design your ASO optimization technique.
RankWatch’s competitor analysis feature can be the ideal tool for you.
- Log in to your RankWatch account and go to the dashboard.
- Add your domain as a new project.
- Click on the ‘Competitors’ tab.
- The tool will show the ranking trends.
- Scrolling down further will help you find other ranking metrics of your competitors like ranking keywords, ranking URLs, average rank, snippets, and many more.
This data will help you plan your aso optimization strategy.
Make Your App Description Enticing
App description plays a vital role in ASO app store optimization as it allows you to describe your app’s purpose and features to searchers.
Google Play allows you to provide a short (80 characters) and a long (4000 characters) description of your app and uses both of them as ranking factors in the Play Store.
Whereas, Apple App Store only allows a long (4000 characters) description of your app and does not use it as a ranking factor.
However, whether the app description is considered a ranking factor or not, it is essential to write an enticing app description, including the targeted keywords, to let the searchers know about the features and benefits of using your app.
You can utilize a word combiner and generator tool for writing compelling app descriptions.
That, in turn, will help boost the total number of app downloads.
Include Appealing Visual Elements
Searchers download apps not only with detailed descriptions but also by judging their appearance. That’s why it is essential that the visuals of the apps should be appealing enough to attract users to download.
However, you must remember the following things while including a static visual or video element in your app to rank in Apple App Store and Google Play.
Apple App Store
- It allows the display of a maximum of 10 visual elements.
- Three app preview videos of 15-30 seconds each are allowed at the maximum. However, it is recommended to use one solid video preview.
- Videos must contain only in-app content.
- You should use different image sizes utilizing all ten slots for different devices.
- Your content must be evergreen. However, it does allow text overlays.
Google Play
- It allows the display of a maximum of 10 visual elements, including one video of a maximum of 30 seconds duration.
- Add different screenshot sizes for different devices
- The video element should be a YouTube URL with no monetization, and ads should be turned off.
- Your visual elements must represent user experience.
Conclusion
Mobile usage is increasing rapidly day by day. Hence, every online business that wants to grow faster needs to have a mobile app.
But with millions of mobile applications available online, creating an app to stay ahead of your competitors is not enough.
You can take advantage of app store optimization as most app owners do not invest enough effort and budget on the same.
However, performing detailed keyword research and competitor analysis using the right tool is ASO’s two most essential foundations. You, too, need to remember the factors that differ between the two major app stores to rank your app higher and boost downloads.
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