Introduction
Creating your app is just the beginning of your journey in the world of mobile apps. The problem is that the majority of apps don’t take off without a great marketing effort. With the Apple app store alone hosting over 3.5 million apps, it can be challenging to stand out and reach your app’s full potential. With global mobile app revenue reaching $133 billion in 2021, it’s crucial to make your app visible and discoverable to potential users. That’s where App Store Optimization (ASO) comes in.
What is ASO?
First of all – what is ASO? Simply put, ASO is the process of improving your app’s visibility and discoverability within app stores. This is important as potential users browsing app stores are the warmest audience, most likely to download our app. From personal experience, when I look for an app on the app store, 90% of the time I either:
- Know what problem I want to solve and I will go to the app store search with a query that is likely to match me with an app to solve my issue, or;
- Know the exact name of the app I want to download.
The Importance of ASO
One of the greatest advantages of improving ASO is that it can help your app appear higher in app store searches. Due to the intent in a search, appearing high up on searches will drive a lot of warm, organic traffic to your app. Apple themselves give some great information on how to improve your search rank.
Five Key ASO factors
To improve your ASO, focus on these key factors:
- Relevant keywords: Keywords are words or phrases that the app store associates with your app. For example, if someone is searching for a banking app, they may search for terms like “banking,” “mobile banking,” “credit cards,” or “finance.” The app store builds the association between these terms and your app from its title, subtitle, and description. Target niche keywords first and then expand to broader, more competitive keywords as your app gains a greater presence in the store.
- Engaging app title, subtitle, and description: A compelling app title, subtitle, and description can improve your conversion rate, which tells the app store that your app is in demand.
- Enticing app images: App images can also play a significant role in increasing your conversion rate.
- Good app reviews: Good app reviews communicate the quality of your app to both the app store algorithm and potential users. A high rating can encourage more downloads, while a low rating can deter users from downloading your app.
- Attention-grabbing app icon: A professional app icon with contrasting colors can significantly improve your app’s visibility and conversion rate in the app store.
Examples of ASO in action
For inspiration, take a look at some of the top-performing apps in the store and examine their app images, description, and title.
Let’s take a look at some examples from the app store. Food is a very competitive keyword as it’s very broad, so you can expect that apps ranking at the top of this search have implemented strong ASO strategies. You can see that all of the top results for this search include the word “food” in their title. By including extra relevant keywords in the title, it further strengthens the app’s ASO performance for these keywords. In addition, the icons of these apps incorporate vibrant colors that make them stand out and capture the user’s attention more effectively.
“Food”, as I’ve mentioned, is a very broad keyword, and your app may struggle to compete with the big players by using it. Instead, try looking for a more niche category that you may be able to make more of an impact in.
Searching “Vegan Recipes” on the Apple App Store you’ll see that many of the top results don’t match exactly what you’re looking for. This shows there’s a lot of potential to rank highly with this keyword.
If we look at the 15th app in the list(Myvegan) we can see what could be improved. This app has “vegan” and “recipe” in its title, which is a good start. It also has 139 ratings with an average of 4.9 out of 5. However, its description could use some work. It’s a wall of text that doesn’t make the reader want to continue. More importantly, the app doesn’t use the keyword “vegan recipes” in its description, even though this is the app’s main feature (it’s even in the title!). By including the keyword “vegan recipes” a few times in the description and making it more visually appealing, this app could improve its ranking in the search results for this keyword and drive a lot more organic traffic.
Conclusion
Optimising for the app store is a critical factor in achieving app success. With millions of apps available, standing out in the crowd can be challenging. But with a solid ASO strategy, you can boost your app’s visibility and increase the likelihood of being discovered by potential users. By focusing on relevant keywords, an engaging app title, subtitle, and description, and gathering positive reviews, you can give your app the best chance of success. Remember, appearing high up in app store searches can drive a lot of organic, warm traffic to your app, so don’t overlook the power of ASO. Keep these tips in mind and you’ll be on your way to reaching your app’s full potential and achieving the success you’ve been dreaming of.
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