ASO (App Store Optimization) is very important for the success of mobile apps and games and also, one of the most neglected parts in the process of their development and publishing.
Most people invest a lot of money and energy in the development process, pay attention to design, and published it on Google Play or the App Store. Then, they expect everyone to be eager to have it on their phone. However, in most cases, no one notices their product because it is only one in millions. Many invest a lot of money in advertising campaigns, but when they stop, there are hardly any downloads. If this trend continues, the chances of return on investment and profit are very small.
The reason is usually that they do not appear in the search results and users who need a product like their cannot find it. It means that they didn’t do the App Store Optimization properly.
What is ASO?
ASO – App Store Optimization is one of the essential success factors of your game or application. This is one of the first steps of your product marketing strategy. In order for it to be visible on the App Store and Google Play Store, you need to optimize the content you are posting. This includes the use of keywords through titles, short and long descriptions, tags (on the App Store), a package name (on Google Play). So you need to use those key phrases that your competition uses, as well as phrases that your target audience enters in the search box to get content like yours.
Is App Store Optimization the Only Ranking Factor for Apps or Games?
Unfortunately not. ASO is just one but the key part that affects how you will be ranked in the search results. You simply won’t rank for a term if you haven’t used it in a title, short and long description, or tags (used exclusively on the App Store). Important factors are the number of downloads, the number of active users, the number of ratings and comments, as well as the level of ratings. It is also important that your users stay for a long time and that they keep coming back to the application or game. There are many other factors that are unknown to us.
Is App Store Optimization the Only Way for User Acquisition?
ASO is just one of the ways to reach new users, and one of the cheapest. Other ways of user acquisition are advertising through Google and Facebook ads, writing press releases, running social media pages, and collaborating with influencers. If you want to show the seriousness of the project, it would be good to create a site or landing page for your game or app. Make a promo video on YouTube, optimize the title and description and place a link to the app/game to help users reach you.
Does ASO Deliver Instant Results?
ASO, as well as SEO (Search Engine Optimization, or optimization for search engines like Google, Bing, and others), is a long process that brings results only after some time (from a week to six months, and sometimes much later). This process includes: researching keywords and phrases (long-tail keywords), implementing them into titles, descriptions, and tags, as well as tracking how you rank for each of them in relation to the competition. The most important thing is that ASO brings long-term results, so do not be afraid to spend time or money on that.
How Do You Know Which Keywords To Use?
It is very important that the keywords are the ones that users search for the most and that there is little competition for them. And how do you know that? You can check it all through tools like App Tweak, App Annie, Sensor Tower, etc. These are special tools that allow you to see the App Store and Google Play, and here you can see how someone ranks on a given keyword/phrase and what are your chances of ranking.
All these tools have additional options where you can track the position of your application, track metrics: number of downloads, retention of users, what percentage of users return… you can also see what percentage of people who see your application become your user. That way, you have an insight into what needs to be fixed: from the call to action to download the application, to the visual part that needs to attract attention.
Keep in mind that most of these options are locked in the listed tools and that you must subscribe to them to have a complete insight into the entire metric. Subscriptions are on a monthly or annual basis and very often they are not cheap at all. You certainly have the opportunity to use these tools for free for a while and see which one suits you best. Investing in these tools can pay off.
How Important is App Store Localization?
Localization is also an important factor, and many do not use it. Therefore, you can be ahead of your competition from the very beginning if you localize titles, descriptions, and screenshots for popular world languages. Optimization is especially necessary for countries where the terms you want to rank for are popular. You can see this through the Google Trends tool.
How to Make Game/App Better than the Competition?
First of all, the application or game must be of high quality and have options that, say, the competition lacks. You will find out by installing competing apps/games and looking at what they did well and what they lacked. It is also important to read the comments of users of the competition. Here you will find out what bothers them and what they like. Notice how they describe those products, which keywords they use. Use exactly their language and the way they describe their user experience and use that for your description.
What's the Difference between Google Play and App Store Optimization?
Google Play and the App Store differ in many ways. Starting with the way of publishing an app/game where the application is live very quickly on Google Play store, while on the App Store you have to wait for approval, sometimes up to a week because they review your product in detail, which must be unique, of high quality and with a unique and relevant description. Then there is the difference in the languages you can insert, etc. When it comes to ASO, the difference in optimization is big.
Headlines
As for the title, the title can be up to 30 characters long for both. It must be unique and must not contain phrases such as: free, best, first, top, and any similar phrase that may mislead the user. It is important that the title contains at least one strong phrase or keyword that describes the game/application in order to rank your product better. The title is of the utmost importance for the search, so think carefully about what it should contain.
How to Choose the Right Name for App or Game?
It is very nice when your product has a unique and sonorous name. But in order for users to find such a name on the market, they need to hear about it beforehand. So, if you are ready to invest thousands of euros in advertising and announce to the whole world that you have a fantastic product with a unique name, there will be good results. I personally recommend that with that unique name or brand name there is always an additional explanation of what your product represents, ie. that you use at least one keyword or phrase that people search for most often and thus help you reach the user organically.
Note: Do not use protected names of games, applications, movies, and series because it is currently popular and people are looking for it, neither in the title nor in the descriptions. Both stores do not tolerate this and can ban you quickly. Even if you delete the disputed name from the title and description, there is a high probability that you will feel those penalties for a long time, it will simply not allow you to rank well.
Short Description and Subtitle
Google Play gives you the ability to better explain your app to prospective users in a short 80-character description. This is an opportunity to use another key phrase that can help people find you more easily, and also a great space to invite people to action. The Call to Action (CTA) does not necessarily contain the phrase: “download the application”, but you can subtly invite them to do so: “peek into the world of fairy tales”, “defeat enemies and become a hero”, “Start the adventure”,”Let your transformation begin”…
The App Store unfortunately doesn’t provide that much space. You only have 30 characters in the subtitle to better explain the features of your product. It is very important that you do not repeat the words and phrases from the title because the App Store gives very little space. In total, with a title and tags, you only have 160 characters to embed keywords relevant to your product. By repeating them, you do not get a greater opportunity for a better ranking.
Description
For Google Play, the description is very important. There you have plenty of space (4,000 characters) to describe your product and attract an audience. SEO in Copywriting skills are very important here. You need to attract the user to download the app/game, to inform him how to use it, and, most importantly, to use the keywords needed for the search through the text. It is important that these keywords and phrases fit well into the text, that it sounds completely natural and that information relevant to the future user is conveyed.
The first paragraph is the most important part of the text. Since users rarely read descriptions, try to describe the app/game in the first paragraph in the first paragraph and invite them to download it. Write in as simple a language as possible, with as short sentences as possible, because people mostly just glance over the text.
Immediately below the introduction to the theses, the characteristics and the way in which the application is used or the game is played are clearly listed. Mostly that part is the only reason they read the description.
Use the rest of the space for additional explanation and a more detailed description of the product and some other keywords. Use synonyms and do not repeat the strongest phrases too many times. Make the text from several smaller units with subtitles, because that way you enable the user to read what is most important to him.
The App Store does not include a description in the search, so keywords have no role in the ranking, but they can help you come out in a search on Google. Try to use the words you put in the tag box and describe in detail the features of your game or application.
Tags (App Store only)
In the App Store console, you have a special field for tags, which users do not see in the store, which is very important for ranking. You have a space of only 100 characters where you enter the keywords you want to rank for. To use as much space as possible, separate keywords only with commas and then do not private spaces between words. Use either singular or plural words, never both forms.
How Does Ranking in the App Store Work?
As already mentioned, there are many parameters that affect the ranking of applications and games. We will now consider only the keyword section. Each keyword from the title, subtitle, and tags is combined with each other. That’s why you try to use keywords that combine meaningful phrases that people search for most often. You rank best if someone searches for the correct keyword phrase from your title, then the combinations of keywords from the subtitle and tags, and only then the combination of keywords that are only in the tags.
How Long Does The App Store Optimization Process Take?
The optimization process lasts as long as your app/game is on the market. The story is not over the moment you write the title, subtitle, and description. You need to constantly monitor your position in relation to the competition and strive to constantly improve what you have already done. Non-stop check your ranking against the competition, test descriptions and titles, track which keywords are currently popular, and use them.
How to Measure the Success of App Store Optimization?
What is the metric (KPI) by which we measure the success of what we have optimized? One of the main roles of optimization is to increase the visibility of our product. That is why it is important for us to monitor the ranking of keywords, ie in which position we are at a given word, phrase, or combination of keywords. It is also important to monitor our position within our category of app/game (puzzle, adventure, lifestyle), where we are in the top free, top paid category, or grossing (app/games that record the fastest growth).
Conversion is the next goal after the visibility of the application. So now we need to turn store visitors who saw our app/game into users. Here it is important to measure the CTR (Click Through Rate), ie to see what percentage of people who saw our application clicked and went to the product page. And the next important metric is CR (conversion rate), ie the percentage of people who came to the product page and became a user.
We often don’t know which factor influences the conversion the most: icon, title, short description, screenshots… that’s why it’s important to constantly test and check which element needs to be improved in order to increase the number of users. We use A/B testing for this. You don’t have to test everything at once, because then you won’t know what influenced the changes the most. So test the icon in one period, then the description, then the screenshots… this way you will most easily come up with the formula that gives the best results and gets your money back.
Conclusion
Based on the experience so far, it can be concluded that in the future this branch of industry will record further growth. The competition is getting bigger every day and it is getting harder to reach the users. Google Play and the App Store are perfecting their algorithms to meet the needs of users and help them get to the desired content faster and easier, often making it more difficult for owners of applications and games. That is why changes in the markets, as well as trends in marketing and development of applications and games, must be constantly monitored.
