There are about 3 million mobile apps on the play store with more than 6,000 of them getting launched every day. Of course, not all of them get success and the prime reason for it is inefficient or substandard marketing. Once an app is launched, the main aim is always to increase its download count in the shortest possible time. This can only happen when the app is easily discoverable on the app store.
As per Forrester, about 63% of the apps are discovered while searching on the app store showing the necessity to look for a solution that makes an app easily searchable.
Being a leading Mobile App Development Company in UK, we highly emphasize on creating an effective strategy to boost downloads. The gateway to a higher number of apps installs lies in implementing App Store Optimization strategies perfectly.
So what is App Store Optimization?
Well, App store optimization or ASO is the process of optimizing your mobile app so that it ranks higher in the search results. And the higher it ranks on the app store, the more users will be able to see what your app is all about. ASO includes the use of proper keywords, titles, description and many other things which we will discuss today that makes an app discoverable.
So having learned what ASO is, let us have a look at these 12 ASO tips which can help you get miles ahead of your competitors.
App Store Optimization Tips to Boost Your App Installs
Tip 1: Understanding Customer’s Search Behavior
The first step towards optimizing your mobile application is to understand the customer’s needs and search behavior. For this, you can ask yourself certain questions which are given below.
What language do customers use in general?
Why Customers are searching for an app like yours?
How your app solves a customer’s problem?
How competitors of your niche rank for your keywords?
The answer to all these questions can help you make deep research for your relevant keywords and allow you to devise a strategy to rank higher in search results.
Tip 2: Incorporating Keywords in the App Title
As per research, adding keywords in your app title can increase your rankings by more than 10 percent. Have a look at the graph below showing the same.
This happens as both the play store as well as the app store work on search algorithms which show results based on a users search. Now, if your app title includes a keyword that users are searching for, chances of it reaching to more people become high. For this, you can include one or maximum two keywords as including too many keywords make it look like a spam practice.
Tip 3: App Title length
The app’s title should not be very long. Ideally, for Google play store the title is restricted to a length of 50 characters. Moreover, as a general practice, it is preferable to keep it short and simple.
The simpler your title is the easier will it be for your users to understand. In case you are already having an app on either the App Store or Play store, it is recommended that you have the same title for both the stores as a title depicts your brand name.
Tip 4: Subtitle of the App
Adding a subtitle can increase your app discovery chances by a great margin. Moreover, while adding a subtitle, keep a note that it should sum up in 30 characters which is the limit for adding a subtitle. You can include keywords and important competitive words for making it more searchable and rank on top of the charts.
Tip 5: Description and Keywords
A description contains all the information about an application while laying major emphasis on providing information related to features. Adding keywords in the first few lines of description allows an application to be ranked based on those keywords.
Moreover, it is important not to bombard keywords in the description. As far as the Apple app store is concerned, it is not much of an issue as inserting keywords are not significant for ranking your app.
Tip 6: Use Attractive Screenshots
Screenshots do not affect your ranking on the app store but they are crucial as they are the first visuals presented to a user. It showcases all the app workflow and features in an elegant way.
For iOS mobile apps, you can upload a maximum of 5 screenshots while that for Android you can have up to 8 screenshots. But remember that only 3 screenshots will appear your page which could then be scrolled for more. So make sure you provide the best of the images for screenshots.
Tip 7: Adding a Video is a Great Option
A preview video is extremely crucial to let the users know about your app features in an interesting way. It is up to you whether your app requires adding a preview video for it or not. If it helps users to better understand the app purpose then it is a must thing to do. You can only add 1 video for Google Play while 3 for iOS platforms which includes YouTube videos as well. So it is up to you what’s better for your app’s branding. Ideally, modern search algorithms support an app that has a video.
Tip 8: Pick Right App Category
We have seen many app owners and mobile app development companies not picking up the right app category while launching it. It is essential to select the right category as it affects the number of app downloads.
For this, we suggest you take up the category that provides opportunities to grow in the future. Many big brands like Twitter use the same strategy by listing it under ‘News’ category on the app store. Hence it is important to choose an app category wisely.
Tip 9: Create a distinctive app icon
An app icon is the first thing that a user looks at. So it is important to have an icon that is unique and could be remembered among millions of already existing app on the app stores. For this create a distinctive icon that has beautiful colors, perfectly carved out shapes and elegant designs that creates a great impression on to the user.
As far as the sizes of icon are concerned, their dimension should be 1024×1024 pixels for the App store and 512X512 pixels for play store. So before you think of making an app icon, think of it deeply as it reflects how your brand will be perceived in the very first place.
Tip 10: List Your App Locally
It this competitive market, it is important to make your app reach to a wider audience. There are language barriers as well, so the best way to get your app to a larger number of people is to localize its listing.
Both the App Store and Play store provides its users with an option to list an app based on languages worldwide. This makes a more searchable or discoverable and users from all around the world speaking different languages will be able to find your app and then use it if it’s that good!
Tip 11: Encourage Positive User Reviews
When a user lands on your app page, he/she is sure to read your app reviews before installing it on their Smartphone. It is found that honest and detailed reviews are the most compelling ones.
So once your user has downloaded the app, sending a push notification request to rate the app can surely give you some positive reviews. Furthermore, you can ask your users to refer their friends which will allow them to use pro features of the app.
Tip 12: Use App Store Analytics
App store analytics helps an app owner or app marketer to understand how good the app is going among the audience. Factors like bounce rate, user retention helps one to understand user behavior properly. This, in turn, helps one to make strategies accordingly by fixing the existing issues and working on to provide the user with better user experience.
Let’s Wrap This Up, Shall We?
Implementing ASO tips can look difficult but using the above-mentioned steps it is way easier than think of.
The only thing required is to observe the result of the changes you are doing and continuously making efforts to make your app more searchable.
With special attention to app store optimization rules, and the services of a Top Rated Mobile App Development Company, that implements proper ASO technique; you can expect your app become a top-rated app soon.
In case you have any query or need consultation on your app idea, feel free to contact us.
