Do you have any kind of application developed and launched in the app stores? Then you might be missing out on gaining organic downloads of your apps. Ultimately not utilizing an amazing strategy to acquire new customers for your business using these apps.
So if you are new to App Store Optimization but want to learn and optimize your apps then you are in the right place. Glad that you have realized the importance of App Store Optimization and landed here on this article.
There are more than 3 billion smartphones (Both Android and iOS) users in the world. With the trends suggesting growth in the number of smartphone users every single day, mobile applications can be a great marketing channel to sell your products or services.
Most importantly there billions of apps both in the Google Play Store and Apple App Stores that allow people to download mobile apps on their smartphones. So there are hundreds of apps are being developed and launched on these stores making it tough for your apps to reach the potential customers
App store optimization helps you reach the people who might be interested in your application. The fact is that most people discover news apps while searching for any app similar to yours. So performing app store optimization you can reach them all and make them download your app. Of course, your other goals might be selling your product or services but to get a user for your app to download app store optimization is a must.
Otherwise, you are missing out on an opportunity to gain awareness and customers to your business through mobile app stores. Moreover, if your app is convincing enough you can get great reviews and more downloads increasing your visibility in the app stores.
So as you got to know the importance of App Store Optimization, let me guide you step-by-step on how to optimize your apps on the app stores.
While uploading an application in the app store make sure to add the keyword or search term mostly used by the people who might be interested in using your application. Pick it wisely because you shouldn’t change the title every single day which might create confusion for the people who are searching for your app when someone suggests your app name.
Using the right keywords in your title helps in making your app rank higher for the relevant search queries made by a user. Moreover, it helps people easily understand what your app is all about.
Wondering how to find the right keywords to add in the title? Well, one best method is monitoring the competitor’s apps and checking what keywords they have included in the app title. So make a list of competitors and their titles to find and filter amazing keywords that you can add in the title of your apps.
Keyword Research:
Using App Store Optimization tools like The Tool, you can perform keyword research finding their volumes, difficulties, etc to pick the keywords. Remember to pick the keyword with higher search volume and low difficulty so that adding those keywords you can easily rank higher.
Also, ensure that the title is as concise as possible while updating it in the Google Play Store because of the too low character limitation. But the apple store allows you to add up to 255 characters in the title.
Keywords:
Adding the right keywords can bring more visibility for your apps and more downloads as well. You can add keywords for your apps in the apple store but there is a 100 character limitation so add them after only after thorough research picking a few good ones. Of course in Google Play Store there is no official way to add keywords but you can add a detailed description.
Description:
A well-written description not just convinces a reader to download your app but also helps you gain more users to view your app landing page when you use the right keywords while preparing it. Make sure to add some long-tail keywords so that it helps in increasing the search visibility of your app.
As you have a good character limit of up to 4000 characters make it as long as possible utilizing the best possible amount of space. Highlight the benefits or unique features about your app and use bullet points or emojis while explaining them. Ensure to include a good call-to-action that would make them download and become a user of your application.
If you are looking for inspiration for your description then I would recommend you check the descriptions of the competitor apps which have good positive ratings and a large number of downloads.
High-Quality App Screenshots & Preview Videos:
A person landing on your app store would decide whether to download your app or not in a few seconds. Mostly they check the screenshots after reviews to understand how the app interface would look like. If you have a clear user interface get the high-quality screenshots of your app and update them. These can help you convince a person to download your app from the stores.
Also, preview videos explaining more about your application can also help you get more downloads.
App Icon:
App Icon directly impacts the click-through-rates when a search is made by a user. It should represent the purpose to be used. Also, ensure that it is eye-catchy so that people can easily differentiate it from the apps of your competitors. But remember Never have text in the icon.
URL / Package:
URL / Package is the most ignored factor that can increase your visibility. When you add a keyword in the URL/Package it definitely boosts your current performance and increases the number of downloads of your app. But ensure to check it twice before publishing the app because you can’t modify it later.
Analyzing app Analytics:
Analyzing the analytics is a great way to optimize and get more app installs. There are many powerful app store analytics tools like App Annie that can help you understand where your app is present in relation to the other competitors and provide you suggestions that might help your app gain good rankings in the app stores.
A/B Testing:
Though you might have crafted the descriptions, titles, or added the right keywords your app might not get the good rankings for your app which depends on many other factors as well. So I would recommend you change them on a regular basis and monitor the change in performance on a regular basis.
For example, change the keywords added or change the description and see the results yourself. If your ranking or installs increased by adjusting anything then use it and start changing the other aspect such as an Icon, Title, etc. But never change everything at a time because you can’t predict which helped you.
Apart from the above strategies to boost your app’s performance in the app stores there are some other factors that impact the rankings of your app.They are:
Ratings and Reviews:
Ratings and Reviews directly impact the ranking and downloads in the app stores. When people write reviews with more keywords related to your application it would be much easier for your app to get more visibility.
Especially when you are just getting started you might not have enough reviews then it is better to encourage people who have downloaded your app to write a review sharing the experience of using your app.
Rating is the first thing most people check before making a decision to install an application on their smartphone. So the more positive ratings you have the more people you can convince and make them download your app. Even if you get negative feedback to reply to them in a proper way so that the viewer trusts your business.
Downloads/App Installs:
The number of downloads of your app act as social proof for the people who land on your app landing page. People often check reviews, ratings, and downloads before installing it on their smartphones.
If you can get a higher number of downloads within a short time then it would get automatically suggested for many other people looking for a similar app. You can even run app install campaigns on the search engines or on social media platforms to promote your app and inform the target audience about the launch of your app.
This way you can get a good number of downloads easily within a short duration. Moreover, if your app is good enough you can also get the reviews and customers for your business as well with the app install campaigns.
Conclusion: App Store Optimization
App Store Optimization is an excellent method to get more installations of your app in the app stores. With an ever-growing smartphone user base, performing app store optimization you can get more visibility and downloads organically. Moreover, you can convert the app users into the customers of your business selling products or services.
