You’ve heard of Search Engine Optimization, or SEO. You’ve probably heard of PPC, and CRO. They’re all part of a broader acronym called search engine marketing (SEM). But there’s a new three-letter kid on the block who you might not have heard of – ASO. Here’s a quick intro and why it’s important for you.
App Store Optimization (ASO)
ASO is App Store Optimization. Essentially, it’s the process of making your app come up first when people search for things in an app store, like the App Store, Play Store, or Windows Store. It’s like SEO, but instead of a website it’s an app, and instead of a search engine it’s the app store search function.
There are two reasons why ASO is even talked about.
First, there’s the nature of the app marketplace. It’s extremely commoditized, and prices are often rock bottom. The result is that people tend to go download and install whatever app they see first, since the price is so low there’s no point in putting in the effort to download the
best one. After all, if it’s wrong, you can just install the next one down the line. So being near the top of the pile for search results is what’s going to get you downloaded.
And second,
63% of app downloads are downloaded though the search function in the App Store. Basically, when people want an app, they don’t look it up on Google or go to their favourite app developer’s site. They open their respective marketplace and search for their solution with keywords. That’s why ASO is critical.
For example, imagine you were downloading a tip calculator app. There are literally thousands to choose from. But really, they’re all the same – they take your bill and calculate whatever tip percentage you set for it. Some divide it up by how any people are eating (definitely a nice feature), but essentially they’re all the same. So people are just going to do what’s easiest, which is click the first one they see. And the first one there probably has the best ASO.
ASO techniques
So what does ASO actually look like? Well, a lot of the tactics are going to be the same as SEO. These might include things like using Google Keyword Finder to find keywords, or black hat keyword optimization. (For example, putting the name of a popular competitor as one of your own keywords, so when people search the other company they get your app as well.)
But there are also plenty of ASO-specific tactics as well to help app companies optimize their offering. For example…
Front-loading your Google Play description
The first 167 characters of your app description get pulled to form the meta description in the Play Store.
Brand naming your app
But only if you have big brand recognition. Plenty of searches will be for a brand, not an app solution. For example, if Loblaws had a supermarket app, they would be better off calling it ‘Loblaws Food’ instead of ‘Supermarket Shopping App’.
Make all your keywords singular, not plural
Unlike SEO, the App Store puts a 100 character limit on keywords. You need to make every single keystroke count, so make ‘sharks’ singular and save yourself a character.
There are plenty more techniques out there, but this is just a sample to give you an idea of what ASO actually is. Now, let’s move on to why you should care.
Why ASO is important
If you’re an app developer or have any stake at all in an app, we shouldn’t have to convince you of the merits of ASO – it’s going to lower your cost per install, since ASO is for the most part free, and it’s going to increase the number of downloads. If you can increase your downloads enough, then you can establish a positive feedback loop as you become more visible on things like the most popular app list. This will lead to
more exposure, more downloads, more reviews, and a better ranking when people search you. So that’s all going to be good for you.
But what if you don’t have an app? You can still learn a lot from ASO.
Just like ASO borrows tactics from SEO, the reverse is also true. For example, one way to find ideas (especially around common misspellings) in the App Store is to start typing and read the auto-predict options that come up. These are based on what people are actually searching, and it’s an extremely easy way to find valuable (and perhaps unheard of) keywords. You can do the same with SEO by entering a few of your essential keywords and see what comes up.
So there are definitely things web owners can learn from ASO.
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Wrap up
ASO, like
SEO, is concerned with increasing the visibility of your product in search engines, predominately through strategic keyword use. And like SEO is essential for anyone hoping to get a website ranked in Google, ASO is essential for getting anyone hoping to sell an app in an app store.
But it’s not just app developers who should be paying attention. There are oodles of good ideas coming out of ASO around keyword generation and maintenance, ideas that can be quickly applied to websites as well.
And that’s why you should care about ASO. It’s a treasure trove of new techniques and inspirations, just waiting to help you drive site traffic and conversions. We reckon that’s pretty important.
