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ASO: Brief Introduction & A Guide on How to Do

Till yesterday, your marketing team was crazy about SEO. You went on a vacation, and they are crazy about ASO. Such a duh feeling for you to miss out on the market shift. Wait, the market did not shift but got evolved.

Where SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization, ASO stands for App Store Optimization. What is this new buzzword?

Define ASO

3.5 Million Android apps and 2.2 Million iOS apps- This is the count of apps accessible to people all around. 65% of downloads for new apps come through searches, and 70% of mobile consumers utilize the app store engines to locate new apps. Finally, picking the app or narrowing their search, users often glance at the first five relevant apps in their search results. The question is how to accomplish the goal, which is obviously to stand out.

The strategy for increasing an app’s visibility in an app store is App Store Optimization. App stores rank each app based on various criteria. Effective keywords, real photos, and targeted descriptions will help increase visibility and gain higher rank and downloads. Although ASO and SEO contrast each other- the former mainly pertains to an app store’s search feature and ranking formulas. Similarities between SEO and ASO are found in several areas, which helps a naive attempt to improve the App store rankings.

app store optimization guide

Comparing SEO & ASO

Similar to ASO, SEO requires you to optimize your keywords, backlinks, and conversion rates to rank well; however, SEO only pertains to websites and SERs, not app stores. The aim of ASO is download, whereas, for SEO, it is traffic. While not all of the roughly 200+ elements involved in SEO apply to ASO, quite a few do.

Parameters  SEO  ASO
Define  It is a method of optimization. Its goal is to improve website positioning. SEO is the process of enhancing the quantity and quality of traffic to your website using natural search engine results. ASO is the process of making changes to a game or program to increase its visibility in the app stores’ Search and Explore sections when users search and browse, boost traffic to the listing, and boost conversion rates to encourage the most organic downloads possible.
Space  Web Search Engines  App Stores 
KPIs 
  • Keywords rankings
  • Conversion Rate to visit
  • User ratings & reviews
  • Organic Search
  • Organic uplift
  • Revenue
  • Link profile
  • CTR
  • Bounce rate, time per session
  • Revenue
  • Google PageSpeed
Budgets  Investment in advertising is not necessary for SEO. It indicates that paid advertising does not affect how visible a website is. Aside from that, you must spend money on inbound marketing, public relations, and backlinks to improve your SEO. You will gain more from paid marketing if you invest more in it because non-organic downloads affect exposure and organic download.
Result  SEO is more complex and has a lot of competition because it requires building a website, creating content, obtaining backlinks, and other things. Therefore, SEO results take longer to achieve. You shouldn’t anticipate results from SEO in the first few weeks or months because it’s a mid to long-term plan. Depending on the country, the sector, and the budget… In a matter of days, one can generally notice the consequences of ASO. But there are a lot of factors that affect the outcome. Therefore, one can not state that ASO results are noticeable in a specific number of days.
SEO vs ASO: The difference between search engine optimization and app store optimization

How to do App Store Optimization?

There are currently millions of apps listed on the Apple App Store and Google Play Stores, so if you want to drive mobile app downloads and engagement, you’ll need to get strategic about marketing your app.

  • Appropriate Keywords: LIKE DAD LIKE SON. LIKE SEO LIKE ASO. Keywords are important in ASO as well. While the Google Play store has no specific keyword field, the Apple App store comes with a 100-character word limit. In Google Play Store, the description is searchable with a 4000 characters limit. However, you should research the traffic, difficulty, and demand for those keywords and how many applications are currently using them before publishing your app with the chosen keywords. The idea is to ensure it reads well and makes sense for a human reading it, not only for the App Store algorithm. There’s a narrow line between optimizing your app description and filling it with keywords. You should repeat your most critical keywords in your description five times for the best App Store Optimization. However, be careful not to overdo it because cramming your app with keywords will penalize it, like stuffing your website with keywords would cause Google to penalize your site and lower your rating.
  • Title & Subtitle: The title or the app name is a make or break for any app. It is because it will be the first item a person sees in the search results. Additionally, it ranks highly in both of the top app stores. App names and titles are limited to 30 characters or less. Therefore, you must use those characters wisely. Even when you want to employ keywords to your advantage in your app’s name or title, avoid overusing them or unnaturally using them. Your app name should flow naturally, be distinctive, and skillfully incorporate keywords.
  • Competition Research: While knowing your rivals and their business strategies is crucial for every successful company, it is more crucial in ASO. You should choose the ideal category for your app before adding it to the store. You must regularly check the best-performing apps in your selected category after you have added your app to the app store. Check whether adding a keyword or changing their metadata affects their ranking. Make every effort to rank new keywords before your rivals can. Additionally, you should keep an eye out for rivals who use the same top keyword as the apps with similar features and goals.
  • High-Quality Logo & Snippet: 7 Seconds. All it takes is 7 seconds for the potential customer to decide whether or not to download an app. High-quality app store screenshots make a significant difference because how your app store page appears are an important deciding element. Select an app icon that will be memorable for your brand and simple to recognize. To avoid confusing potential clients, pick colors different from your top competitors. Don’t cut corners on them because most users will review your screenshots before downloading the app. We advise using all the screenshots that the marketplace will let you upload.
  • Regular Re-evaluation: It’s time to look at your statistics, make some judgments, and adjust some things if it’s been a few weeks and you’re not happy with your app’s current app store ranking. You can evaluate things if-
    • You think the keywords aren’t right.
    • The description was not persuasive.
    • You rethink the app category.
    • You want to add a more appealing logo or images.

    To increase one’s ranking, one can do all of these things and more. When you make adjustments, it’s crucial to do so gradually and wait for a while before evaluating their effects. Avoid making all of the modifications at once; doing so may prevent you from knowing the original issue, which may cause your app store ranking to drop.

App Store Ranking Factors

Several important performance indicators have an impact on App Store Rank. Being a top app store optimization company, we are confident that we have successfully uncovered the store ranking algorithms’ underlying principles. This is how we are able to gauge each app’s success in the shops with accuracy.

App Store Ranking Factors for iOS Apps
  • Name
  • Subtitle
  • In-App Purchases
  • Keyword Field
  • Spotlight Search
App Store Ranking Factors for Android Apps
  • Title
  • Description
  • Short Description
  • Google Tags
  • SEO Backlink

 

If you already have an app, make sure it’s up-to-date, maintained, and has a smooth, snappy UX. Positive reviews, which affect rankings, will ineluctably follow. If you haven’t thought about your ASO yet but are investigating the possibilities, make sure you either construct it yourself to a high degree or hire a reputable and talented app store optimization service, which doesn’t come cheap.

With Black Widow Tech, you save your pockets and time. We are here to guide you. Do not hesitate to reach out!
We include every component necessary to create the best mobile app and provide you with strategies to ensure positive reviews and ratings. We also provide you with all the additional tools required for a successful ASO, such as limitless push alerts, automatic rating prompts, and others.