ASO: Everything you want to know about ASO

What is ASO?

ASO is SEO for Apps. The objective of ASO is similar to that of SEO for websites i.e. to rank your mobile applications higher on the google play store or/and on the Apple App Store. The process of ASO is similar to SEO and it starts with Keyword research as we do with SEO.

The crucial part of ASO is to optimize the App Page on the Google Play Store or the Apple App Store.

Once the user lands on the App page the content should justify the application and should build trust so that the user finally takes an action of downloading the application.

Why ASO?

• More than 60% of installs comes directly from the App Store
• ASO is the best possible way to get more downloads without spending a lot of money
• Top 3 Apps get approximate of 60% of downloads and that’s a huge number
• The app below 3rd position get less than 10% of downloads
• Finally, More downloads mean larger user base which in turn gives more money.

How to Start with ASO?

Identify SEED Keyword for your application. A seed keyword is a keyword which you want to rank the application for. For example, if your app is a fitness-based app which focuses on hooking up the user to get fit from home rather going to gym, then you would want to rank for a keyword like Home workout and its synonyms. 

Fundamentals of ASO

Relevance: It is the first fundamental. Your application functionality and your seed keyword should be tightly associated with each other. Moreover, intentions of the app should be clear, this makes the user believe in the app and will result in downloading the app.  

Competitive research: More than 1500 apps are being published daily on the App Store and Playstore. In such a competitive market, it is important to perform competitive research and see what your competitors are already upto. 

Traffic: Identity, which keywords are having maximum search volume and also that keyword with low competition. These keywords should be relevant to your application

Gun for Long Tail Keywords

Long-tail keywords play a bit more important role than in SEO. When it comes to ASO, Long-tail keywords are gold mines. Below are the examples to make this clear  

• The keyword “cardio” would have higher search volume but its intent is not clear
• The keyword “cardio exercise”  would have a bit less search volume than cardio but its intent is more clear than the keyword “cardio”
• Finally, the keyword which as 3 words like “cardio exercise from home” has the most specific intent with a considerable amount of search volume. It is more targeted and has more chances of conversion.
• It is observed that audience on play store or app store search using specific phrases.

ASO Keyword Research Process

• Identifying Seed Keyword based on the objective of the application
• Look out for competitors of your application
• Identify keywords for which your competitors are ranking
• Make a list of them
• Extract the relevant keywords from the list which has low competition only
• Extract the relevant keywords from the list which has high traffic only
• Combine the list and sort them with low competition and high traffic and are relevant for your target audience

How to Write a Killer App Title?

• Place the most competitive high traffic term at the beginning of the title
• Try to use the exact match keyword. For example. If you are application gives a tutorial for a daily cardio workout than use the same Keyword in the title and add a brand name to it. Daily Cardio Workout – Brand name or Daily Cardio Workout: Brand name
• Use the combination of your seed keyword with your brand name in the App title as mentioned above
• Keep the length of the title to 60 characters
• Title Should Look Natural, Don’t stuff keywords

Measure the performance

As it is said things which are not measured they can’t be improved. You should continuously track and update your keywords w.r.t title and keyword section in the App Store

Keep on track of which keywords are not performing and keep deleting and replace with new keywords.

How to identify which keywords should be replaced?

• Keywords which are not ranking in the top 10 can be replaced by new relevant keywords
• Use the App store auto-complete feature to get new keyword ideas
• Use High Traffic LSI Keywords
• Now shortlist keywords which were not used previously
• Finally, You can do new keyword research to see if there any changes in keyword search volume.

Importance of App Updates 

Keep on regularly updating the app. Here are some reasons to do this

1. Keeps the app bug free since you would be solving a lot of app issues
2. Building trust with your audience when you hear them and implement their suggestions
3. Most important App Store and Play Store love regular app updates
4. Maintains ranking of your application

How frequently you should do this?

Well, I would say once every month. 

Localization of Apps

If you are targeting an audience in multiple countries then you should use localization. Play Store allows you to add translations and App Store allows you to add metadata in the local language of the country you are targeting.

The question of how should I start and come to a decision which country or language I should localise for?

• Check the report and examine from which country you are getting maximum downloads
• Apart from English, choose the second-most highest language downloads you have received and localize for it.
• Finally, move to other languages if required

Reviews are Game Changer

Every app which is published on the App Store or Play Store receives positive or negative reviews. It is hard to obtain positive reviews. 

Set up an algorithm inside your app to ask for a review. Positive reviews build trust and encourage the user to download the app. 

You should always reply to all your reviews whether they are positive or negative. Additionally, you should be careful about negative reviews and reply to them asap. For any negative review, take the user to a different channel and solve their problem.

Do let us know about your thoughts and let us know if we have missed anything.