ASO: APP STORE OPTIMIZATION

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Contents

Introduction ................................................................................................................................................................ 3

1. App Store Optimization ................................................................................................................................... 5

2. KEYWORDS.............................................................................................................................................................. 8

3. APP ICON .............................................................................................................................................................. 13

4. APP DESCRIPTION ............................................................................................................................................. 15

5. SCREENSHOTS AND VIDEOS ......................................................................................................................... 17

6. APP CATEGORY ................................................................................................................................................. 20

7. RATING AND REVIEWS..................................................................................................................................... 22

8. UPDATES ................................................................................................................................................................. 24

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INTRODUCTION

With the rapid growth of the mobile phone industry, it provides developers
with some great opportunities to create apps that can earn revenue.

According to Statista, there are about 2.1 billion smartphone users in the
world and up to 2.8 million apps that are available on both Google Play
Store and Apple App Store. This is a huge market for both game and
mobile app developers.

However, a crowded market means high competition. App developers

are struggling to compete their apps with more than a hundred

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competitors. Getting your app to surface above other apps and reaching
the users is one of the biggest issues that the majority of mobile app
publishers are facing today.

So how can you improve your engagement? There are many methods to
increase your traffic. You can try to spend money on marketing such as
advertising your app, getting influencers to promote your app or
engaging social media for more exposures, etc.

Indeed, you can improve your downloads by spending resources on

advertisement. However, once you stop paying for ads, you will get less
users downloading your app. There is a better way to minimize your
expenses and more efficient that you can do by yourself, that is App Store
Optimization (ASO).

The purpose of this series is to demonstrate you about ASO and guide you
through the process of optimizing your app in order to get more traffic
and downloads.

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1. APP STORE OPTIMIZATION

What Is App Store Optimization?

Many app publishers often neglect App Store Optimization. Some might
even say it can be unnecessary sometimes. When an app has been
uploaded to the app store, publishers tend to focus on their marketing
strategies such as social media and paid advertising rather than
optimizing and improving their apps. However, for an app to surface
above among others to and download by users, you need more than just
marketing. App Store Optimization is an important key that can lead your
app to success.

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Every app needs App Store Optimization, it can be a common practice

for you to maximize the potential of your app. It also brings a great
amount of benefits to an app. For example:

 Organic downloads and installs.

 Increased ad revenue
 App stability
 Gain more visibility.

ASO stands for App Store Optimization. It’s a continuous process of

optimizing your app in order to reach higher search rank and get more
users to discover your app in both Apple App Store and Google Play
Store, which includes 7 elements:

1. Keywords.
2. App Icon.
3. Screenshots/Videos.
4. App Description.
5. Category.
6. Ratings/Reviews
7. Updates.

Why is it important?

According to Apple, up to 65% of the downloads come from App Store

Search. This can give you free organic downloads. This shows you that
there are a huge amount of opportunities for you to increase your
downloads and engagements.

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The purpose of optimizing your app is to increase more traffic to your

app’s page in the app store and help you to get more downloads.

Not only does this provide you downloads, it also has a long term effect
on your app. If you constantly optimize your app with ASO, you will keep
getting downloads and improving you app. So instead of paying for
advertising strategy, you can save up a great deal of money with ASO.

So in order to get this consistent source of users searching for apps, ASO is
mandatory for your app. This applies to both Apple Store and Google Play
Store.

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2. KEYWORDS

Since most users find app through app store search, picking the right
keywords for your app is crucial. However, not all keywords are suitable for
your app so you need to have a better understanding first before
selecting them.

There are 3 important keyword criteria that you need to consider:

1. Relevance and specificity.

2. Level of competition (Chance Score).
3. Search Volume: Number of searches.

The most important criteria when it comes to choosing the right keyword is
relevance and specificity. You want to pick the most relevant keywords
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that are related to your app.

For example: Free mp3 downloader app

 Most relevant keywords:

 Mp3 downloader
 Mp3 Download
 Music downloader
 Most irrelevant keywords:
 Music
 Mp3
 Song

There are 2 types of keywords: short tail keywords and long

tail keywords.

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Short tail keywords are the most common keywords, they have a
lot of search numbers and high traffic. However, they usually come
with high competition.

- Examples for short tail keyword:

 Photography
 Photo
 Photographer
 Pictures

Long tail keywords are more precise and specific. They often describe
your app in details. They usually don’t have high search numbers but the
level of competition is very low.

- Example for long tail keyword:

 Photo editing
 Photo effects
 Photo filters
 Selfie filters

So when it comes to choosing keywords for your app. You should try to use
long tail keywords. Because it’s difficult to compete with hundreds of apps
using the most common keywords. Your app won’t be able to perform
effectively. More precise keywords will have less competitors and you will
have more chance on ranking your app.

Most common mistake when it comes to choosing keywords is that

people tend to only look for keywords that have high

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number in searches. You should always consider 3 criteria when it comes

to picking the right keywords for your app.

You should always start small to get a base of downloads. Once you have
built the foundation for your app, you can start with higher competitive
keywords.

It can be hard sometimes to start from scratch when looking for keywords.
Here are some tips that you can use when you’re choosing keywords for
your app:

1. Brainstorming keyword ideas: Make sure to write down some ideas

for your keywords and keep them for future use.

2. Research your competitor apps: Research your competitors, see

what keywords they use. Make a list of what you can find from
them and try which one works out for you the most.

3. Keyword suggestions: You can use some of the online tools that
provides you some suggestions
4. App store autocomplete suggestions.

5. App store reviews: Look throw user reviews for keywords that they
use.

Once you have selected the keywords that you want to use for your app.
You need to know exactly where to put them.

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In Google Play Store, the most important place to put keyword is your app
title. You’re only allowed to have maximum 30 characters in your App
title, so you need to put your most relevant and specific keyword there.
After the app title, you can put the rest of your keywords in your App
description.

In Apple App Store, you can have up to 50 characters in your app title.
Same like Google Play Store, your app title is your main priority to put the
most related keywords. Unlike Google Play Store, Apple App Store has an
iTunes Connect Keyword Field. It allows you to enter 100 characters so you
should make the most out of it. This will give you more chances of getting
downloads.

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3. APP ICON

App Icon is another important key that leads your app to success. App
Icon is the face that represents your app, it’s what users see on their
mobile devices and home screen
.

So in order to make a great App Icon, first you need to do some research.
Take a look at your competitors and observe how they make their icon.

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When making your app icon, you need to make sure that you meet up
with these standards:

App icon should be simple.

You need to follow the guidelines from the App Store.

The icon should be consistent with the design of your app.

Try not to put any words into your icon

The icon should be identified easily at the smallest size.

Icon for games are colorful, vibrancy and have a lot of details. They also
usually have a lot of characters in the game as their mascot.

When it comes to utility apps, they often use their logos or a picture
showing what the app does.

Make sure you keep testing your Icon. You can try some of these websites:
https://www.storemaven.com
http://www.appsparky.com

In conclusion, in order to create a best icon for your app, you should do
some research on other icons for some ideas, make it simple and follow
the guidelines from the App store. Remember to keep testing your icon
until you get the most suitable candidate.

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4. APP DESCRIPTION

App description is another important key element when it comes

to app store optimization. It is where you describe your app, show
the user what your app is about and you can put your keywords in
the description. So in order to grab the attention from the user and
get them to download your app, you need a good description.

Both App Stores give you 4,000 characters limit so you should
make the most out of them.

You need to grab the user attention within the first three lines
because they are the first 3 lines that are directly visible. So you
need to put the most valuable information for your user there to
let them know what they are downloading and what offers you
are giving them in your app.

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Google Play Store takes keywords from the description so you

need to put them in your description. However, keywords are
not taken from the description in the Apple App Store, but you
should put some of your keywords in the description.

Once you give the audience an overview on your app, you need
to break down the benefits and features and explain more in
depth for each one in the description. Use bullets or symbols like
+,-, * to break up the text and make them easy to read.

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You can also use some emoji in your description and use “sales
letter” format when writing your description.

5. SCREENSHOTS AND VIDEOS

The majority of users will decide whether to download your app or

not depending on what they see in your screenshots. It’s the first
impression that you need to make for the user when they visit your
app page.

Great screenshot can bring you a lot of downloads and can be

very convincing if you know how to design it well. It shows the user
the benefits and features of your app. So when you are designing
your screenshots, you should follow some of these practices:

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 You should only highlight 1 benefit or 1 feature in 1 screenshot and

add banners with text to explain each one of them.
 Put your best app features first.
 Use all of your screenshot slots.
 Localize your screenshots content.
 Use the right dimensions.
 Call for action.
 The screenshots should be simple and clear.
 Update your screenshots.
 Keep on testing your screenshots.

For example:

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When it comes to preview video for your app, you only have a
limited amount of time to get the user attention. The user can also
close the video tab at any time while it’s playing, so you need to
make sure that you show your most valuable information within
the first 5 seconds of the video.

These are some tips that you can use when making your
preview video:

Highlight the best benefits and features of the app first.

Your preview video should have a good pace, it shouldn’t

be too fast or too slow.

Often change scenes to keep the audience excited.

Make sure to professional voice dubbing and music.

Stick to app store guidelines.

Turn off the sound of the video by default.

The video should look good on both small and big screens.

Do some research on your competitors.

Put a call to action into your video to encourage people

to download your app.

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6. APP CATEGORY

What are app store category?

App categories separate and put apps into their suitable divisions.
This makes the process of searching for the right app that fits the
user needs much easier.

As a publisher, you need to select the most relevant category for

your app to ensure the user can easily look for it.

Why is it important to select the right category?

Picking the right category for your app can be a great

advantage. Simple as it is, if you choose a category that has less

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competition, you will have higher chance for your app to get
better visibility and user will find your app much easier.

You only need to do some research on the top apps in the

category. You can have a look at the top chart on the app store
and research your competitors, learn from the data that you can
find such as the number of downloads, the use of the top
keywords that they are using and their reviews. Based on these
information, you will see which category has high competition and
you can work on choosing a less competitive option.

Not all type of apps have the options to choose different

category. But if your app has that flexibility, you should try to start
small and pick the less competitive market in the app store. This
method will give you a better chance for your app to surface
among their others.

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7. RATINGS AND REVIEWS

Most publishers tend to forget about how important ratings and

reviews can be. When users searching for an app in the app store,
the first 3 things that they are going to look at on your page are
name of your app, the app icon and the ratings and reviews. Both
ratings and reviews are important aspects when it comes to helping
you to get more downloads and improving your app.

Even though you can’t change reviews, you can learn and get
some insights from your users. Studying your reviews is a best way
see your user experiences, how they think about your app, what
they love and hate about it and what they are looking for in
upcoming updates. Also, you can find details about bugs and
some issues in your app that they encounter.

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Not only you should study your reviews, you can also have a look at
your competitor reviews. This can help you to find some
advantages and new features that users are looking for. This
process can also give you some ideas for potential keywords to use
later on.

You should encourage users to leave feedbacks on your app. Don’t

be afraid of negative feedback, you can improve from them. With
positive feedback, you can use them in the app store so you can
have positive reviews on your app’s page.

Once you gather from your reviews research, you can have a
better understanding about your users experience and find out
what you need to improve in your app with future updates.
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8. UPDATES

Update your app frequently can bring you a lot of benefits. You can
show your potential users how much you take care of your app. You
also can satisfy your current users by improving your app
experience with updates that fix bugs and adding new features.

How often should you update your app?

To know exactly when to update your app, you should do some

research on your competitors first to see how often they update
their apps. This will provide you some details on how often users in
this app category expect an update. You can look into your
competitor’s app information and see their latest update.

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The second thing that you need to consider is your app

development process. You can get a lot of information from your
reviews and ratings. If you have a lot of bugs and issues that need
to be fixed then you should schedule to update frequently. If you
have an app that just needs to improve on the features, you just
have to focus on adding new features depending on your user
requirements and improving user’s experience.

The goal of this process is to keep your current users satisfied with
their experience so that they can keep using your app and to show
other potential users how much you care about your app and your
users. A well-organized update routine allows you to address bugs,
fix inside app issues, add more contents and features for your users.

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Thank you for reading our App Store Optimization E-Book.

Check out our website to learn more about App Store Optimization
and to get free ASO consultation: https://gamob.com

Contact our Account Manager to know more on how to optimize and increase
your revenue from your app.

Andrew Nguyen:
Whatsapp: (+84) 94-280-1743

Skype: live:huyys1703

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