Updating App Metadata: Why and How Do You Need to Update Your App Metadata Timely?

App store optimization is an ongoing process. If you want to maintain consistent downloads and high keyword rankings, you need to continue to work on improving. This makes updates one of the ASO best practices that can help apps compete over time and as trends change.

How can updates help your app? Each new update can provide improvements, new insights or tests for your optimization, which we will explore.

Why do you need to update your metadata timely?

You don't know how high your app will rank

At the start of an ASO effort, you don't know which search queries are relevant to the app. Some may push the app up; others may remove it from the results list. Without a few updates, there is no way to know where the app will appear.

After the first update, your app may fall at the lower end of the list and be unreachable by users. Since this will not maximize traffic, you will need to update to make corrections. Keywords may be placed in the name of the app, which hopefully will bump it to the top. Or you can remove some keywords or move them to less important fields.

It's also important to try different keywords, use names and descriptions, and see how well the visual elements work for the search.

Changing user preferences

Users' tastes and needs may change. Sometimes this is due to new technology, sometimes it is due to new events. It is important for developers to initiate new updates to keep up with current events.

User needs change significantly when users start working remotely due to in-place refuge. Team communication and collaboration apps have seen significant growth in the App Store and Google Play store, making this an important trend to capitalize on. Due to current trends, educational apps can focus on "back to school" or "distance learning" terms.

It's worth remembering that trends go up and down over time. As the world adjusts to current conditions, other apps in the category begin to regain their previous positioning.

Developers need to be prepared to initiate new updates as they adjust to changing trends, rather than trying to keep up after the fact or relying on things to return to "normal" quickly.

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Seasonality

Trends that change seasonally can be more easily predicted. That's why it's important to consider seasonality when launching new updates.

Seasonal updates to apps should focus on proximity to needs and events. Shopping apps that are updated as the holidays approach can initiate seasonal updates, such as "Black Friday" and "Christmas gifts".

To learn more about seasonality, you can check "Seasonal App Store Optimization: Optimize your App in Holiday During December" of our previous articles.

Seasonal updates can use the same learning gained from previous updates. If A/B testing determines that users respond well to a particular color scheme or design, the new update can continue to use that design while integrating seasonality.

Once the season has changed, the next update can build on the success of the last update and adjust accordingly.

Competitors drive you out

Have you ever done an update or two and then stopped? You may be pushed out by a competitor who continues the ASO. Remember, the App Store makes optimized apps available 72 hours before their placement in search is updated. Therefore, if competitors update regularly, they will rank higher in search than you.

To learn more about Competitor Research, you can check "Competitor Research: How To Improve Aso Skills & Marketing Strategy From Your Competitor" of our previous articles.

How do you update your metadata?

The best performing apps in the app store are those that are constantly evolving (reflecting user feedback, technical changes, feature additions and improvements). They are also the apps that are constantly changing, evolving and reflecting audience feedback and requests.

Apps that are updated more frequently tend to receive more positive and frequent reviews. Regularly updating your app increases the relevance of your product to your audience and allows your brand to respond to changing audience needs and competitive changes through app improvements and enhancements.

Creative set updates

New updates can find creative that appeals to a wider range of users. If you test a new creative variant, you may find one that brings more conversions than your existing mix. Sticking with the previous version means giving up the opportunity to increase conversions, but you can only learn this by designing and testing new variants.

App developers can and should A/B test new creative variants to see what users respond to best. Each test provides valuable insight into what gets clicked and downloaded the most, from screenshot copy to background colors.

So what do you do when you have this information? You can, of course, apply it to the next update of your ad material. The next iteration uses the insights you gain from testing to include creative sets that convert more users, resulting in increased store and profit growth.

Refusing to start a new update will only drive down the potential cost of conversions for your app. Will you be happy with what you have when you know you can reach more users?

To learn more about creative optimization, you can check "ASO Hack: What Kind of Icons and Screenshots Are More Attractive to Users?" of our previous articles.

Keyword remarketing

In addition to increasing conversions, iterations can help you target your most valuable keywords. After your app indexes your targeted keywords, you can see where you rank and which ones you can replace.

Why keep a keyword if it doesn't provide any value? Targeting new keywords will only expand your possibilities. Each iteration provides new terms that your app can rank for and grow, while helping to prevent it from losing its current positioning.

Targeting new keywords at each iteration can help the app in a number of ways.

• Rotating old keywords that rank low to locate new keywords you can improve
• Refreshing the indexing process to avoid stagnation
• Updating trend changes or starting to proactively rank for upcoming events

To learn more about keyword optimization, you can check "How to Conduct Competitive ASO Keyword Optimization Analysis" of our previous articles.

Since apps can only position so many keywords in a single update, it takes multiple updates to build relevance and rankings for multiple terms. With enough updates and growth, apps can start ranking for hundreds or even thousands of keywords.

There are 3 goals you need to pursue: 

• Higher keyword rankings
• More relevant keyword core
• Increased search traffic

App marketing categories retargeting

The goal here is to increase keyword ranking, i.e. the number of queries in which the app appears. You must categorize the keyword cores and understand in which semantic categories the app dominates. It takes at least two to three updates to find all search queries.

Keyword research and retargeting

These are about improving the ranking of the app keywords in relevant, narrow query categories, when it is most beneficial to promote them.

We continue by:

• Analyze the semantic categories chosen.
• See which ones have growth potential.
• Drill down into those categories to improve rankings there.

For example, we noticed that the app started popping up more frequently for certain queries. We responded by focusing on the queries in that group and asking as many questions there as possible. We looked for synonyms, dug deeper into search techniques, expanded the core, and redrew metadata in a way that suggested the highest number of installs.

In addition to ASO tools, you can research and examine the number of keywords targeted in Apple Search Ads and test their relevance. Aligning your App Store metadata with your Apple Search Ads will improve your app's relevance score in Apple's view, which can also improve the effectiveness of your marketing campaigns.

Maximize app installs with keyword remarketing

These aim to make the app as visible as possible to the relevant user base. The number of relevant queries for which the app is in the top 10 needs to be increased.

The most valuable queries are those that move the app to where users can see it, such as the top 50. To accurately determine keyword relevance, you need to prioritize difficulty over traffic. This means that sometimes you have to target less popular terms to ensure visibility. Of course, this should be balanced with paid user acquisition efforts.

Keep in mind that we are also working on some part of the keywords. We should choose the queries that will produce the best results and focus on them.

Tracking keyword results

To effectively measure the impact of new metadata, it is important to start monitoring keyword results by adding them to the keyword tool and tracking any changes in keyword rankings that occur after that time.

Starting with only priority keywords can also help prepare for the next iteration of keyword optimization. Consistently tracking, monitoring and analyzing keywords and their rankings is non-negotiable. It is the only way to ensure that your app remains stable through the constant ebb and flow of app search.