Until now we've covered all kinds of articles about how to rank a website in Google, but in today's post we're going to focus on talking about how to rank an APP using an ASO strategy (App Store Optimization).
Until now we've covered all kinds of articles about how to rank a website in Google, but in today's post we're going to focus on talking about how to rank an APP using an ASO strategy (App Store Optimization).
Because we're at a time when mobile applications have gained enormous importance, playing a leading role in our day-to-day. We all use them (just take a look at the screens of our mobile phones) and, more and more companies and individuals choose to develop a mobile APP for users.
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Keys to definitive internal linking. Apply it in your projects. That's why we've made a post in which we'll tell you everything you need to know about ASO, or ranking for mobile applications. Take note.
What is ASO?
ASO stands for APP Store Optimization, that is, Optimization in APP Store, and its role in online marketing is very similar to that of SEO ranking, but focused exclusively on the ranking of mobile applications. Its main goal is for them to appear in the first positions of the app stores (Apple Store, Google Play, Windows Phone Store…) when users perform a search, increasing their visibility and their number of downloads.
The pattern that ASO follows to rank applications is very similar to that of SEO ranking, but taken to mobile app stores. If in SEO there are the ON-Page and OFF-Page factors, in ASO there are the On-Metadata and Off-Metadata.
One of the main differences between SEO and ASO in our country is that while Google is the reference search engine when dealing with the SEO of a website, in the case of app ranking, two platforms reign above the rest: Google Play and Apple Store.
ASO factors that influence ranking an APP
Once we're clear on what ASO consists of and its difference from SEO, we're going to focus on analyzing the main ASO factors that influence ranking an APP.
ON-Metadata
- APP title: it's important for the application title to contain the main keywords that define it, and for which we want users to find it. We also recommend that it be eye-catching and capture the audience's attention.
- Description: when writing the description in Google Play, it's important to include the search keyword, while in Apple Store, you have to think more about using it as a marketing tool to try to captivate the user.
- Keywords: Google Play doesn't offer a field dedicated to keywords. Apple Store does.
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- Icon: although it doesn't affect ASO ranking, the icon must show your website's logo, and must be attractive yet original to capture users' attention. Always avoid as far as possible the use of white backgrounds.
- Screenshots: the screenshots you've made to show an image of the APP to users play a key role when captivating users. The more attractive they are and the more information they show, the more chances you'll have they download it.
- Category: it's important to get it right when categorizing the APP, since many users search directly by categories.
- Developer name: it's highly recommended for the APP's developer name to use keywords. The age of the developer itself is also important, since the older they are and the longer their trajectory, the better valued they'll be by the app stores.
OFF-Metadata
- Installation: the more people install our application, the better its position will be. Although it'll depend on users, there are different options to try to increase the number of installations: email marketing campaigns, social networks, blogs, reviews, own channels, etc.
- Uninstallation: if many users shortly after downloading it, end up uninstalling our APP, we could have a problem, since we'd have a high uninstallation ratio, and it would be an indication that it hasn't fully convinced the audience.
- CTR: if your CTR (click through ratio) rate is high, it will positively influence the ranking of the application.
- Reviews: reviews and opinions are also very important, although here we can do little, since they depend on the experience users have had. The more you have and the more positive they are, the better.
- Social Signals: in Google Play, the best is to receive "+1" on Google Plus from users, while in Apple Store the most valued are Facebook "likes".
ASO tools you should not lose sight of
If you've launched or are thinking of launching your own APP, and you're willing to apply an ASO strategy to increase its visibility and improve its ranking, these tools will be of great help to you to achieve your goal.
AppCodes
Free, AppCodes is an effective, intuitive and very easy-to-use tool, that lets you find those keywords closely related to your own application. It offers you the opportunity to analyze the keywords your competition is using.
Apptweak
Also free, with Apptweak we'll be able to access keywords recommended according to our APP, in up to a total of 7 different languages. It also allows analyzing other factors such as the icon, the title or the description among others.
Sensor Tower
With Sensor Tower we'll know the total number of downloads our application receives, which serves to make an estimate of the revenue we can obtain in a specific period of time.
APP Snippet Preview
The main advantage of APP Snippet Preview is that it has preview, which allows us to visualize how our application would look, before launching it definitively.
What's the true importance of ASO?
The mobile application market in our country is increasingly large and competitive, since if before we found two or three applications on the same topic, currently we can come across an infinity of options available.
This makes ASO or mobile application ranking, have gained enormous importance, being key when increasing an application's visibility and getting it to be profitable, since in addition to word of mouth, users tend to look for applications directly within the app stores.
To get an idea, according to a study conducted by Google, 12% of users search for applications daily, while 50% perform at least one search per week, which represents 6 million different searches monthly.
Conclusion
ASO – App Store Optimization – has become one of the most important online marketing techniques, to which we must give enormous importance. Simple, effective and economical, the benefits it can provide are countless, allowing us to enjoy a greater number of downloads and, therefore, superior benefits.
Related reading
- How to index your website in Google
- Ranking in Google: technique, content and authority
- Best SEO agency: real criteria
Shall we work together?
If you want to apply this in your company with a team that combines technical SEO, GEO and paid acquisition measured against the income statement, request a no-commitment audit. You can also check real case studies or read the public GEO baselines that Elevam Labs publishes every quarter.
