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Building an outstanding app is no longer enough to succeed in the domain of mobile apps. With over 3 million mobile apps on the Google Play store, the biggest challenge for app developers is to ensure that the right people can easily discover, download, and use the app. To make this possible, your app should stand out and rank as the top app.
Are you wondering what the most common ways to discover new apps are? App discovery research shows that 51% of people download those apps that are used by their friends and family members. Browsing the app store and discovering new apps are done by 48% of people, wherein 34% of the surveyed people opted for the apps recommended to them in the app stores. Surprisingly, only 20% of people check out the apps shown on YouTube ads.
If you are looking to boost your app ranking and rank your app as Rank number 1 on Google Play and App Store, here is the ultimate App Store Optimization Checklist for you.
What is App Store Optimization (ASO)?
App Store Optimization, popularly known as ASO, optimizes your app so that it could be easily discovered in the app store search and achieves higher rankings. You might be familiar with search engine optimization for increasing the visibility of the website in search results. Similarly, ASO is done for mobile apps.
ASO helps achieve the following:
- Boost your app store rankings
- Improve app reviews and ratings
- Increase brand exposure
- Encourage downloads and in-app purchases
- Increase audience engagement and conversions
- Drive more revenue
App Store Optimization Checklist
The ranking of an app depends on several factors. As an app developer, you are required to deal with these factors to get better app store search rankings. Following is an app store optimization checklist that you should carefully follow to ensure that your app stands out against the competition:
In-depth Market Research
Thorough knowledge of your competitive landscape and customer behavior is the first step of ASO strategy. Identify the keywords that are being targeted by apps like yours. Conduct in-depth research to align the right set of keywords explaining your value proposition. You should consider the following in this regard:
- Your customers' preferred language
- Top reasons for downloading and using the app
- Your USP
- Keywords targeted by the competitors
- Your chance to score on the same keywords
- Keywords that differentiate your apps
App Name and Title
A unique name, relevant keywords within the title, and the URL of your app are highly important for app store optimization. A unique name is not only ideal for branding, but it also boosts your ranking score.
Research shows that apps with a relevant keyword in their title score 10.3% more chance to rank higher in the app store. However, you must avoid keyword stuffing, as it will adversely affect your conversion rate.
A powerful app title should be:
- Enticing
- Include your primary keyword
- Communicates about the app
Target Keywords
Choose your keywords wisely, so that they perfectly represent the features and benefits of your mobile app. Note that you need to embrace two varying approaches for the App Store and Google Play Store.
- The App Store
There is a 100-character keyword field in the App Store. The title and the keywords or keyword phrases included in these 100 characters heavily influence the search score. So it is highly recommended to carefully research the keywords and exhaust all of the allotted characters for higher organic traffic.
- Google Play Store
The Google Play Store allows 4,000 characters to describe your app in natural, customer-facing language. Since Google ranking algorithms consider both keywords and conversion metrics, it is recommended to craft a persuasive description for the customer first and customize it by inserting keywords in meaningful ways.
According to the recent Sensor Tower study, to maximize the likelihood of ranking prominently for a particular keyword, you can repeat that keyword maximum of 5 times on an app store product page.
Optimize the visual assets
Your prospects explore a large number of apps to get their desired one. Therefore, you should fully utilize and optimize all the available visual assets to entice your audience. This includes:
- App Icon
- Videos and Screenshots
- App Size
Google Play and the App Store have dissimilar approaches to visual assets. You must follow their mandated standards for the ideal size, geometry, and color scheme of app icons.
Include screenshots displaying the most pivotal features and the latest updates of your apps in the description. Although screenshots are not directly related to ranking, they have a sheer impact on downloads. Rather than displaying the pretty splash pages show the inner pages of the app. You should perform an A/B test of different screenshot sets to drive higher downloads.
Reviews and User Ratings
The users through their reviews and ratings decide the destiny of an app. A constant flow of positive reviews acts as social proof, validates the quality of the app, and positively influences ASO and conversion. It has been noted that apps with a large volume of positive ratings dominate the top rankings. Run multiple rounds of tests to make your app bug-free before you launch it.
Encourage users to review your app as it ensures customer engagement and boosts ranking. It is a thumb-rule to respond to users' feedback, especially if it is a negative one. Negative reviews help identify and solve bugs, resulting in improved user experience. You may use intelligent rating prompts to boost your rating.
Localize App Listing
Does your prospective customer base go beyond the English-speaking world? If so, you should mull over adapting brand communication and language strategies to cater to the needs of each audience segment.
Localize your listing on the iTunes App Store and Google Play Store for customers using keywords in their language in different countries. This helps adoption and conversion. According to MAKE APP Magazine, by localizing app listing, you may boost the download count by as much as 767%.
Conclusion
A well-implemented App Store Optimization strategy ensures better visibility of your app in the app stores and gets more downloads. You must remember that ASO is a continuous process. To succeed in this endeavor, you must be attentive, use analytics, regular check-ins. Follow the aforementioned app store optimization checklist to improve your app’s performance. With careful execution and a little trial and error, you can certainly pass your competitors in the app store's top charts.
