05 Aug App Store Listing Optimization Guide : Boost Conversions
Is your app ranking on top 10 listings? Is your app featured in the recommended section on the app store? If the answer is No, you can follow this app store optimization guide to enhance your organic rankings in the app store.
As we all know, uploading the app and get approved is not enough to make it popular. You need some other forces to lift-up installs of your iOS app on app store. And if your app is not featured them on the top list, the only option you have is organic search results.
Apple’s app store is the best way to get your app discovered by thousands of users. But after app submission and approval, most of the apps suffer to get good installs. And you have no option left except paid ads. If you don’t want to spend a big amount on ads, you can follow this guide to enhance your visibility on play store in organic search results and get a good flow of installs.
App store optimization is the technique to optimize the app elements on the app store so when someone search related to your app, your app will show up and you get a new user. Simply it is the process to increase your application’s visibility on any platform (as here app store).
There are many parameters app store algorithm consider when listing apps on the store for each user query. No one knows exact affected terms and parameter considered in the algorithm but we have some solid results and implementations of app store optimization techniques that are affecting the app store listings. And by improving that parameter you can give a boost of installs to your app.
Topics Covered
Why App Store Optimization?
Most of the users search any app directly on the app store by the app name or feature they want. 60 to 65% app installs are keyword driven that shows search is the best way for app discovery.
If you are marketing your app, ASO is the best tool to start without spending any money.
If you are investing in ads and generating good ROI then it is good but the organic listings are the ultimate source to drive the constant flow of free installs. ASO is the ongoing process that takes some time and effort and you need to test everything that is working for your app, but once your app optimized for targeted keywords, it will surely get discovered.
How to Do App Store Optimization
Here are some factors affecting app store organic rankings and how you can optimize it for your apps.
1. Keyword Research
You need to identify your primary keywords for the app what users will search to find your app. you need to do keyword research before launching your app. you can get long-term traffic with targeted keywords. Below are some points you need to consider while keyword research for your app.
- Audience:
You need to identify your targeted app users. Is it college students? Business professionals? Or parents? According to your audience, you can select keywords. Like if your app is office related and the main audience will be professionals, you can select keywords related to that. You need to think with your audience perspective how they will search related to your app and how you are solving their problems in your app.
- Competition On the App Store:
There are some common keywords where the competition is very high in app store listing. If there are already giant company’s apps ranking good, your chances are less to beat them. Find less competitive keywords and optimize accordingly.
- Search Volume:
How many daily or monthly searches fired on your app niche or subject? You need to consider the number of searches for your selected keywords. If it is too low, you will not get many installs. So target regular keywords for your app.
There are some tools online that can help you find related keywords. Keywordtool.io, Sensor Tower, and AppAnnie are some tools that can help.
2. App Title
App title or name is the most affecting Meta in ASO. You will get a limited character to represent your brand and app specialty. They limited app title to 30 characters and only first 25 characters visible on search result so you need to choose your title carefully compact.
As the title is affecting a lot, you must include your main targeted keyword once in the title. You can set it like a brand name then targeted keyword. The title is limited to 30 characters. So you can insert many keywords but make sure you include app name or brand name with minimum one keyword to rank better on that keyword. Make sure app title is unique and informative related to your app. ex. amazon – online shopping portal. This can help Amazon rank on online shopping keyword.
The second thing here to notice is if you will change the title too much frequently it will hurt your app’s ASO. So before launch app, find the best title and once it set, don’t change it if possible. Apps also get some mouth publicity and if you frequently change the title user will confuse to find your app.
3. App Description
You will get 4000 characters in an app store similar to the play store where you get 4000 character space to describe your app with keyword targeted content. You can cover the working and detailed description in this section. When a user comes on your app page the on the store, they able to read the first 3 lines of description without clicking on reading more.
So make sure your starting lines of description is enough attractive to encourage users to install your app and you also include targeted keywords for search engines. Yes, you can get some traffic from search engines like Google and Bing. Users can directly land from search engine results to your app page and there in SERP, starting title used as Meta so don’t forget to optimize it.
Other than targeting keywords for app store algorithm you also need to careful to make it user-friendly as the user will read the app description And features before install or purchase your app.
4. App Icon
The app icon is the first thing that visually affects app installs. When a user searches for any query he will get a list of related apps. If your app is listed on top for that query but icon is not attractive or catchy, the user will select to install another app from the list instead of yours. So you will need a unique catchy and related icon for your app. according to your niche or subject of the application, you can select a color scheme for your icon to grab maximum attention. App icon will improve your CTR of your app page and you will get better installs.
5. Screenshots & Video Preview
Graphics or screen shots you add in app page is very important. It represents how exactly your app is and the user will predict your app quality from the screenshots. Especially if you are offering a paid app, it is very important to provide the best video preview and app screenshots that encourage users to purchase the app.
You can make some theme changes on video preview and use some animation that is explaining the use of your app. Or you can add some gameplay and story if you are publishing a game.
6. App Size
App size also matters in installs. Low size app will more likely to install by users. No one wants a big size app that consumes more data, more size in memory. So try to minimize the app file size. Users don’t want to wait, and small size will download easily with the low network or Wi-Fi speed.
Optimization Each Element By Testing One at a Time.
After publishing your app, you can start testing with app icon, screenshots, and video preview. Other elements are not allowed to edit after publishing an app on the app store.
Start with the icon, our goal is to optimize or increase the CTR and CVR. CTR is when someone clicks on your app from the list. And CVR is the number of people actually install your app. Start changing the icon color and design and test the results. Find the best converting icons as it will drive the CTR.
Then start playing with the screen shots. Try a different set of screenshots and see if it works. The third thing is the app review video. You can give some pre-play of your app/game or the animation story how useful your app is.
These are some basic but very important aspects of ASO that can give you conversation boost on the app store. Whether you spend in ads or not, ASO is the first thing you need to do when you are publishing mobile apps. Do comment if is there any missing points in this guide.
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