Increase Mobile App Downloads with ASO (App Store Optimization)

Throughout the last year, there have been more than 218 billion mobile app downloads. In addition, nearly 4 million mobile apps have been published in 2020.
That is why ASO or App Store Optimization becomes a long-distance race in which all apps in the market compete and whose ultimate goal is to stand out above all that huge competition.
The goal of App Store Optimization is to increase the visibility and improve the download rate of a mobile app through optimizations made on the product and on the Apple App Store and Google Play Store tabs. Before defining the best optimization criteria, let's see what exactly ASO is.

What is ASO (App Store Optimization)? SEO for Apps

ASO Positioning is also often interpreted and searched as SEO for Apps. This conclusion makes all the sense in the world, because App Store Optimization is simply the natural or organic positioning of applications in the main download channels, which are Apple App Store and Google Play Store.

Thanks to App Store Optimization, it is possible that a mobile app appears among the main results of the keywords that we are interested in positioning so that the app gets more downloads and also more retention. All this is highly positive for several reasons, including increased downloads without additional investment in mobile marketing or more sales made through the mobile channel.

 

ASO ranking factors

To begin with, it is important to understand that the user experience in Google (SEO) or in the app stores (ASO) are different. And, digging deeper, we will see that even the way of positioning in Apple App Store and Google Play Store is different.
But why is this? It's very simple: users have a very specific search intention in the stores and Android users have a very different behavior than iOS users as a general rule. Of course, there may be overlaps in searches for more generic or viral apps.

 

On-Metadata ASO factors

These factors are directly configured from the developer console of the App Stores and are also the most important when it comes to ASO optimization.
The on-Metadata factors are:
1. Title or app name
2. Description
3. Short description
4. Category
5. Developer name and history
6. Icon
7. App screens
8. Video preview
9. App size (only in Google Play)
10. Keyword field (only in App Store)

Among the listed factors, there are some that stand out in importance when it comes to positioning. Some of the most crucial factors are the name of the app, the icon, or the package name (on Android).

However, that does not mean that the rest of the elements are not important. For example, the whole visual part, if it is well worked, is extremely important in order to attract the user's attention and increase the conversion rate (app download in this case).

Off-Metadata ASO factors

The off-Metadata factors are:
- Download numbers
- The app's ratings in the stores
- The comments left by users with their ratings

The off-Metadata factors are closely related to the quality signals of our mobile application. Hence, it is extremely important to work the product well, avoiding having too many errors or crashes within the app. The latter will provide the user with a bad experience and will most likely result in a negative review.

Within this type of factor, ratings stand out above all else. This is because, if the app has a good rating, it will inspire confidence so that new users will want to get the product.
On the other hand, the comments in the reviews also help to position the app because they are likely to contain keywords related to the app.

Keywords and App Store Optimization

As with SEO, the stores put their algorithms to work based on keywords, showing the best result for each one of them.
That is why it is extremely important to have a well studied and defined keyword strategy. You will have to invest the necessary time in researching and defining the best words to position your application.
In addition, you should know that the order of the keywords and the place where you put them is very important. As it happens in SEO positioning, where an "H1" is more important than a paragraph text, you should know where to put the most important keywords in the mobile app file.
For example, the words you include in the title and subtitle of the app will always have more value than elsewhere in the file. That is why it is recommended to use the most important keywords in those spaces.

 

User-experience-focused design

When creating a new mobile app, it is extremely important to have app development experts who can focus all their attention on creating a user-friendly product for the potential user. Hence, several profiles are required, among which the following stand out:

• UX/UI professional: this will help you design the best interface for your mobile app, in addition to making sure that the product will have unbeatable usability.
• ASO Professional: an expert in App Store Optimization will help you to focus the development of the app to its positioning in the stores from the beginning. In addition, it is very important to consult this professional before starting to technically develop the product because there are certain positioning factors that can only be edited before publishing the app, such as the name of the developer.
• App developer: this will be the technical profile in charge of making the mobile application a reality once all the details of the project have been outlined. In many cases, you will need professionals specialized in specific programming languages, such as Objective-C, Swift, or Java.
• Tester: once the app has been developed, and before launching it to the market, it is important to make some checks and make sure that the mobile app works in the most stable way possible. The best thing to do is to hire a company that can take care of the whole process and that has a series of specific profiles to carry out the testing. If this option cannot be carried out, you can also search directly for the most interesting profiles and devices so as to perform the testing individually. Always try to test your app on as many target devices as possible before launch, and leave some development time available to make any necessary changes or bug corrections.

In short, App Store Optimization is a tool available for everyone, but only a lucky few really know about it. Because of this, those who know it are able to achieve a larger number of downloads of their mobile applications and, of course, higher-quality downloads (just like everything else related to the organic positioning of any given product). At CREMA™, we are specialists in ASO positioning, so we can help you get more traffic and more quality downloads for your mobile app, both on Android and iOS. Contact us and we will help you boost your mobile app downloads.