As a senior app store technician, I often receive ASO consultations from many new users on the ASOWorld platform. For many developers and promoters, the ranking algorithm and optimization techniques of app stores are relatively unfamiliar areas.

When facing specific market goals, they are actually very confused and do not know where to start. Here I will explain the optimization process one by one, and disassemble the main points for you through the entire optimization process.

Preparations before application be launched

1. Pre-promotion of the brand;

Brand pre-promotion refers to the promotion works about the brand and products before the app is launched on the app store during the application development stage. Common and effective channels are social media promotion, streaming media promotion and player invitation software evaluation. The basics of the preliminary preparations are completed, allowing your application to seize the opportunity of the first launch, to make the list in the application store in one fell swoop, and have the opportunity to get recommendations in new applications and popular categories. Such opportunities are unavoidable for new applications, and their effects are predictable.

2. Keyword research and keyword package preparation.

According to data from ASOWorld, about 65% of users in the app store find the app they want through search. Search is a bridge connecting demanding users and applications.

Users express their needs through keywords, while application promoters use popular search terms to locate customer needs and understand real market trends and directions. The importance of keyword research is self-evident. In the process of market research, it is also very important to prepare value keyword packages.

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How to do keyword research? How to prepare a keyword package?

1) Google keyword trends (URL: http://trends.google.com/);

Here, you can use general industry terms to see the search popularity of users in the target area or the world. Observe the life cycle of this industry keyword through the trend of the search curve in the time period, whether it is a periodical and seasonal demand or a long-term stable rigid demand demand. Through related topics and hot words, you can learn about recent related hotspots and see if they are relevant to your product and use them.

2) Keyword recommendation tool supporting Google Ads

The keyword tool supporting the advertisement will have search popularity and value prediction. It can also check the regional expression according to the target area, that is, in a specific place, what words are most people talking about.

3) Third-party keyword research tools

In the current app store promotion process, use more Appannie keyword tools, upload your app, you can see the current status of the keywords promoted by competitors in the app store, the ranking status of the keywords in the app store, etc. . Unfortunately, their services are very, very expensive, and it is difficult for many individual developers to pay for membership services.

ASOWorld’s technical team is also struggling to develop and iterate our keyword functions. Currently, users registered on ASOWorld’s platform can use our keyword recommendation tool for free. When you use our keyword tool to filter keywords, the same See the competition, promotion value, etc., and the plan is a free service, so stay tuned.

4) The promotion keywords of competitors

It is also a very useful channel to dig out valuable keywords from the copywriting that competitors intensively use to express their products. In addition, the keywords for their advertising promotion are generally considered to be keywords with relatively high conversion rates.

ASO basic optimization work at the initial stage of application release

1.Optimization of on-metadata in the app store;

1) Optimization of title, subtitle, keywords and description;

According to our test data, for a new app, the optimization of on-metadata in the app store is very important for the previous keyword coverage. The Google App Store is relatively simple. Including keywords in the title, subtitle, and description, plus a certain amount of app installation package installation and keyword reviews, can quickly make a new app rise to the top and have basic keyword coverage.

For the metadata optimization of the Apple App Store, there will be more related categories. Include keywords in the application title, subtitle, keywords, and description.

Use advertising, social media, and streaming media to introduce a large number of installation packages to install, or choose to pay to purchase application installation packages and comments that contain keywords to achieve fast Rushing to the list, gaining early application visibility improvement and keyword coverage, entering a positive life-cycle, introducing more natural downloads and value users.

2) ICONS, screenshot introduction and video optimization

ICONS and screenshots can help users quickly make a first impression of application functions and attract users' attention. I met a customer whose application is for discounts and rebates. His question is how to make his application cover European and American users.

My suggestion is that his screenshots can reflect the iconic logos of major European and American e-commerce platforms, such as the icons of Amazon, so that users can understand at a glance what kind of problems your application solves. In addition, keywords such as your application name should use keywords that the target users care about and are familiar with.

The introduction of videos and screenshots can clearly convey your function, and can also increase the download conversion of users. A good conversion rate is an effective factor for your app to get a good ranking.

2. App store off-metadata optimization.

After the basic optimization is completed, the ranking authority weight given to the user experience by the app store algorithm is very high. In order to allow users to find the most useful and most popular applications, the algorithm gives a lot of weights to app downloads, app installs, retention rates, app ratings and app reviews.

According to our data analysis of thousands of real cases, a new application, after the on-metadata optimization is completed at the initial launch, the most effective app promotion strategy is: 300~500 app package installs / daily + about 50~70 app ratings(4~5 star ratings is prefer to) + about 50 app reviews containing keywords, keep this promotion plan for 7~10 days, so that your new application can quickly improve its ranking to the top. If your product has regional restrictions, then make sure that your app installs and reviews are from local or your targeted country.

The optimization focus of the app in the middle of the app store promotion

1. Keyword coverage;

What is keyword coverage?

Keyword coverage - The keyword coverage we discussed here refers to the opportunity for your application to be displayed by visitors through different keyword searches within a certain period of time. 

For example, if a user finds your application through a certain target keyword or long-tail keyword searching, we will call that your app is covered by this keyword, and your app will get an opportunity to display this keyword.

So your App with high keyword coverage means you have high visibility, more keywords be covered means more organic traffic and users you may acquired then.

What factors affect keyword coverage?

Keyword coverage depends on several factors. The most important thing is the App Store on-metadata optimization of your app and the off-metadata optimization as main source of search traffic (which keywords users mainly search for, find and download your app). 

These two factors cyclically affect the search keyword ranking of your app in the app store. To increase keyword coverage, you need to optimize one or both of these two factors. In addition, to make your user’s reviews contain your keywords will also help your keyword rankings.

2. Keyword search ranking.

When your application is covered by some long-tail keywords (small competition, modified keywords or short sentences), some natural traffic enters your application page every day to view and download your application, but the daily volume It is more limited, and you have achieved initial success. Your next goal is to further increase traffic, you need to have more keyword coverage, more users need to find your app and download your app.

How to improve your keyword coverage and keyword ranking?

To fight for the search ranking of main keywords (industry keywords with high traffic), you need to have a large number of users find your application through search keywords every day and complete the download and installation. In addition to a small amount of organic traffic, choosing paid keyword downloads is also a good choice.

What is the difference between keyword installs and package installs？

Keyword installs - refers to the behavior that users find your application by searching keywords, and then download and install it.

Package installs - refers to the behavior that users find your app through your app link or app ID in the app store, and then download and install it.

Proposal for mature apps promotion:

Keyword Installs + 4~5 app ratings + positive app reviews. Keep daily total keyword installs quantity about 2000, and limit the single keyword under 500 each day. 

To keep the country targeted keyword installs within the local users distribution, and make US, India, Russia and China more than other countries. 

 

Sum Up

App store optimization is long-term work that requires patience, and store algorithms are constantly changing and adjusting. The research of ASOWorld's technical team has never stopped. Our strategy comes from thousands of successful cases and experiences.

For more details to optimize the promotion strategy, please pay attention to our ASO blog.