ASO for applications

Hello! My name is Dmitry Kizema, and I am the owner of a business that develops mobile applications and their following monetization.

Today we will speak on the ASO for an app in the App Store and Google Play.

This will be a short guide for beginners, covering all aspects of ASO.

ASO is the process of improving the visibility of an application in stores. ASO helps:

• push more visitors to the app page
• turn them into users.

Optimizing your application in the markets is the base, and you won’t get any profitability or user purchase results without it.

The work on application optimization can be divided into several stages:

1. Working on semantics
2. Correct name
3. Work on the application description
4. Screenshots
5. Icon
6. Localization
7. Working with reviews

Let’s take a closer look at each stage of ASO. 

Working on application semantics

This is the most critical stage in working with markets. I would even say that this is 80% of success in promoting your application. Collecting successful semantics includes:

• keywords and their combinations invented during brainstorming;
• competitors keywords;
• related keywords. Users may search for an application using a different terminology than expected. Use words related to your primary keys;
• suggestions in the search engine of the store.

Based on this data, you can assemble the proper semantic core, which will give the application a positive indexing in Google Play & App Store.

I recommend using App Radar, Gummicube, PreApps, AppFollow, ASODesk, SensorTower, AppAnnie, Mobile Action to collect the core and pay attention to the Google Adwords Keyword Collector tool itself.

App name

The name of the application is what the user sees first. The name must match its search query for maximum conversion from transition to download.

This is the most indexed part. When composing this material, the name in Google Play and the App Store consists of 30 characters. At the same time, only the first 15-20 are displayed in search of the App Store.

You need to use the most relevant key query in the name, preferably two of them — if they don’t exceed the character limit. It is the collection of the semantic core that will help highlight the most relevant key phrases for you, which should be used in the name;

Application description

An important comment — the application description should be written for people and not for search robots.

This is the second most crucial parameter in Google Play, and it is not indexed in the AppStore. Applications usually have both short and long descriptions. And the first is the most important because it is in the indexing priority.

The short description should consist of about 252 characters, and the rest will be cut with the “details” button. The desired length is about 120 characters.

 How to optimize it? The main thing is to use the maximum number of keys, but at the same time, ensure readability.

A full description is vital for Google Play, and the semantic core you collected at the first stage is the structure of this description. Therefore, I will give some tips on the correct format of the description:

1. The first 1-3 sentences of the description should describe the idea of the application as clearly as possible and tell what problem it solves. The maximum length of this part is 255 characters. Furthermore, you need to use the most important keywords in this part of the description;
2. Avoid using numerous keywords. 1-2 occurrences of a phrase in the text are enough for it to be successfully indexed by a search engine;
3. Use lists and text formatting;
4. Using the most important keywords at the end of the text is just as important as at the beginning.
5. If the application has superiorities, they must be reflected.

Application screenshots

Everything is straightforward here. This is an essential element of the visual and needs to be done with high quality. A simple tip — monitor your competitors. This will answer the question of what kind of visual should screenshots have and what information should be performed there.

Application icon

The icon, just like the name, is the first thing a user sees in a search. Therefore, the main rule for choosing an application icon is constant tests.

Our team usually makes 5 app icons. We are testing all 5 icons in parallel to see which one will be better. Testing icons gives the most surprising results because what you may like, the user may not like. And it often happens that icon you don’t like wins.

Localization

I won’t linger on this topic for a long time, I will just give some advice.

• The more GEO you localize, the better it is for organic traffic;
• Make localization well, or don’t make it at all. Since poor localization can generate a wave of bad reviews from users.
• Localization of markets without localization of the application itself is useless.
• If you want to localize the application description, collect your own semantics for each language.

Working with reviews

It makes sense that people would download an app with positive reviews. This affects the promotion of the algorithms and your image among users. 

When an app receives negative reviews, its rating drops, reducing conversions. When the rating drops from 4 to 3, the download rating decreases by 50%. The lower the rating, the less traffic and the more expensive it is. Be sure to observe this indicator daily. Make this monitoring a rule.

Here are a few more tips for working with reviews:

• If the rating drops, fix the reason. Be sure to read user reviews and edit what they don’t like.
• If the rating drops through no fault of yours — use paid reviews to neutralize bad ratings.
• Respond to every review politely and respectfully.
• If possible, use keywords in your answers that you could not use in the description. Reviews are also indexed.

Let’s sum up the ASO of the application

In this article, we checked out the 7 primary factors for optimizing your app on Google Play & App Store. Following my recommendations, you will definitely be able to succeed in promoting your application.

One article cannot perform all aspects of ASO for mobile developers. The promotion of mobile applications is generally a separate universe. 

I hope my recommendations will help you.