App Store Optimization in 2022: Complete Guide to ASO Strategies
Developing a mobile app is one of the most prominent business trends at the present time. From large-scale businesses to newly established startups, app development is an ideal solution for everyone.
However, just developing an app does not guarantee its success. There are various measures and steps that need to be taken to market a mobile app after launching it on the OS market.
These measures collectively form the marketing strategy of an app. Generally speaking, the better your app’s marketing strategies will be, the more revenue your app will generate. One such strategy of marketing an mobile application is ASO, App Store Optimization.
What is App Store Optimization?
App store optimization is the application counterpart of search engine optimization and is the founding stone of an application’s success. It is a strategy that aims to enhance a mobile application’s digital presence and boost its visibility.
Currently, there are a plethora of mobile applications available on the internet. Speaking factually, Android’s Play Store and Apple’s App Store collectively have over 5.4 million mobile apps on their platforms. With such great competition already existing in the market, it becomes necessary to differentiate your product from that of competitors to gain market success.
App store optimization is one such strategy that aims to achieve this objective by optimizing a mobile app in different aspects. This optimization has various benefits on the mobile application in terms of its ranking as well as overall quality.
As mentioned earlier, the concept of app store optimization is similar to that of search engine optimization. While SEO is used for websites, ASO is used for mobile applications. Moving further, let’s take a closer look at the differences between ASO and SEO.
Search Engine Optimization vs. App Store Optimization
Search engine optimization is a set of strategies and techniques that businesses adopt to achieve higher website traffic and a better rank on the search engine. This similar concept, when applied to mobile applications on the app store, is known as app store optimization.
Here are the key differences between SEO and ASO.
Now that you are clear on the differences between a website’s SEO and a mobile application’s ASO, you must be wondering, what are the benefits of app store optimization, right? In the next section, we will be discussing how a business can benefit by optimizing its mobile application for the app store.
Benefits of App Store Optimization
App store optimization is more than just increased ranking and better visibility. When you develop an app for your business, you are looking to deliver a high-end customer experience. Moreover, it is also essential that your business gains in some way from the investment in app development. Here is how your business will benefit from app store optimization.
Higher Conversion Rate
There are numerous ways to generate revenue from a mobile application, such as Google Ads, subscription plans, in-app purchases, etc. However, for these revenue generation strategies to be successful, your app needs to attract users.
This is where the role of app store optimization comes into the scenario. A major part of app store optimization is optimizing the conversion rates of your mobile application.
Therefore, when you implement ASO strategies, you also boost the conversion rate of your application and turn the app store into downloaders. These converted users will then use your mobile app and benefit your business in the long run.
Also, Read About Flutter: The Future of App Development
Increased Brand Awareness
The whole concept of app store optimization is increasing the market awareness of a particular product among the customers on the app store.
Therefore, when you optimize your app for the app store, not only the application but your brand will benefit from increased awareness in the market.
Moreover, now that your app and brand are well recognized by the users, you will gain more popularity, and your app will witness more downloads. This benefit of app store optimization is especially noteworthy for startup businesses that are looking to establish a unique market position amongst the massive competition. While you undertake application development for startups, you can integrate ASO strategies and give a boost start to your business.
More Organic Downloads
A high-quality ASO strategy will boost the organic downloads of your mobile application. This is done by increasing the visibility of the mobile app on the app store in relevant search results.
Therefore, whenever the users will search for a mobile app in a category relevant to your business, your application will be at a higher ranking and will compel users to install it.
Resulting from this, you will have to spend less money on other marketing and promotional strategies. Therefore, ASO is an excellent strategy in the long run for businesses.
High-Quality Traffic
In the present time, what’s more important than generating traffic is generating high-quality and relevant traffic. This is because only the users who are actually in need of your app will install and keep on using it.
By implementing app store optimization strategies, you can ensure that your business application is attracting the right audience from the right market. This is obtained by using the right keywords for the type of application you are offering to the market.
As a result, through ASO, you can not only attract more users but also attract the right users and significantly control the uninstall rates of your app.
Target Global Audience
Localization of a product is the key to increasing its acceptance by the users. Mobile applications are no exception in this matter and have immense scope for localization.
ASO enables businesses to localize an application by making it available in multiple languages on the app store. This strategy is known as app localization and is a crucial part of optimizing a mobile application.
A business can benefit from app localization by targetting users all across the globe and, therefore, maximizing user traffic. Through this strategy, it is easier for businesses to target and penetrate international markets.
This was it for the benefits of app store optimization. We are sure that by now, you have realized why it is a good idea to optimize your mobile application. Moving further, we will be discussing some tips and tricks on app store optimization.
Top 10 Tips & Tricks for App Store Optimization
Use Keywords
The use of keywords is generally associated with search engine optimization. However, let us tell you that keywords are equally important in app store optimization.
Therefore, to optimize a mobile application, you must first research keywords and phrases that are relevant to your application and have a high search volume. By using these keywords, you can increase the visibility of your mobile app on app store search results.
Moreover, you must know that Apple’s App Store and Google’s Play Store have different criteria for keywords. Using keywords in Android applications not only helps in better ranking but also in increasing the conversion rate, which isn’t possible in the App Store.
Select the Right Title
A user will know your app from its title. Therefore, it is highly important that you choose the right title for your mobile app to increase its market acceptance.
One can also use keywords in the application’s title to attract more user traffic and increase the ranking on the app store. Moreover, using keywords also helps in describing the app’s core functionality and allows users to get a clear idea about it.
Another factor to keep in mind while deciding on an app’s title is the character limit. The character limit for app titles on App Store is 30 characters, while that on the Play Store is 50 characters.
Write a Precise Description
An attractive and pleasing to read app description is the key to converting visitors into app installers. This description serves as an outline of your mobile application and enables the users to understand the key features.
Moreover, one can further optimize their mobile application’s description by adding relevant keywords. However, while writing an app’s description, care must be taken not to abuse the keywords. This might be in the form of keyword stuffing or using irrelevant keywords to divert the wrong traffic.
It is safe to say that an application’s description can either make or break the mobile app and is a major factor for users in determining whether or not to install the app.
Choose Right Category
App stores have numerous categories for the application to be listed on. These categories are not only useful for businesses but also for users to find the apps that are relevant to their needs.
Moreover, it is worth noting that the iOS 8 update has further improved the preciseness of the app categorization by introducing sub-categories.
Therefore, one of the best ways to optimize your mobile application for the app store is to list down your app in the most pertinent category. This will help you to drive high-quality traffic to your application and will boost your conversion rate.
Use App Preview Video
Adding a video of your application is a highly popular way to let users know what’s inside your mobile application. This is something that most users look for, as installing and uninstalling can waste their time, data, and energy.
An app preview video is a short clip on the application’s core features, UI design, etc., and therefore is a visual brief of the application.
This strategy is also beneficial for businesses. By giving users a clear picture of the mobile application in advance, businesses can control their uninstall rate and focus on retaining users.
Localize Your App
The market of mobile phone users is spread all across the world. Therefore, to efficiently optimize your mobile app for the app store, you must localize your app as per the targetted market.
To elaborate, having your application listed in only one language (which, in most cases, is English) will limit your app’s reach to a great extent. By using keywords, metadata, screenshots, and other aspects of an app in different local languages, you can target a wider market altogether.
This, in turn, will compel more users to install and use your application and will increase your business’s profitability in the long run.
Add Screenshots with Best Features
Whenever a user visits a particular application’s page, the first thing they look for is screenshots of the application’s UI. These screenshots are what create an initial impression of your application in the user’s mind.
Therefore, it is essential that you make the best use of these screenshots while optimizing your mobile app. One way to do this is to add screenshots of your application’s core features.
Looking at these screenshots will enable the user to determine whether or not the application is what they’re looking for. This will most certainly increase the conversion rate of your mobile application.
Update Frequently
There is immense competition in the app market, as numerous applications compete to make it to the user’s phone. Therefore, to have a healthy conversion rate, your app must stand out from the competitors.
A business can achieve this objective by frequently updating its mobile application. These updates will allow you to introduce new features to your application and will add to your app’s user experience.
Moreover, introducing new updates is one of the best ways to eliminate bugs from an existing application and further optimize its performance. This makes app updation an excellent strategy for not just app store optimization but also for user retention.
Use Right Icon
Along with good quality content and ASO strategies, your app also needs a high-quality logo to attract users. A logo is the face of the application and is what catches the user’s eye on the app search screen.
Therefore, you must focus on creating an enchanting logo for your application that is at par with your app’s theme. We recommend taking an expert designer’s assistance for this matter to get high-end results.
An ideal logo has an optimum balance of color, minimalism, design, and marketing. By keeping these factors in mind, you can create a visually-appealing logo for your mobile application.
Benefit from Reviews
App reviews are crucial to determine whether or not your strategies are generating results. With this being said, as an app owner, you must give equal importance to positive and negative reviews on your app.
While positive reviews provide reassurance on your app’s quality, negative reviews are useful to realize the aspects your app is lagging in. You can then work on optimizing these aspects and further improve your app’s quality.
Moreover, user feedbacks and reviews are one of the best ways to connect with your target market and understand their requirements. This will enable you to strategize your app in a way that it generates the best results.
These were the top 10 tips and tricks to optimize your mobile application for the app store. By carefully following these tips, you are most certain to increase the conversion rate of your mobile application and gain business success.
The Bottom Line
App store optimization is one of the most ideal ways to increase the visibility of your mobile application and gain market success. Moreover, by optimizing your mobile app, you can further enhance its performance and deliver a high-end user experience.
Therefore, app store optimization is a promising way to gain market success in the long run. We hope that the blog was helpful for you to understand the importance and benefits of ASO. By implementing the above-given tips, you are most likely to generate higher user traffic for your mobile app and increase its install rate.
