In the last decade, online world has largely shifted from being desktop based to being mobile based and Mobile Apps are the tools being used to execute all mobile based actions. With over 1 billion smartphones available and over 200 million apps in the App store, it is very important to have sufficiently high app store rankings against keywords so as to generate maximum traffic towards your app that will lead itself to greater downloads. Similar to Search Engine Optimization (SEO), App Store Optimization works to generate higher rankings in the app store’s search index.
Is ASO important at all?
According to Google and Forrester, almost 63% of apps get downloaded due to the simple keyword search carried out by its users. This indicates towards the huge market potential available in the app store and therefore considerations to achieve high rankings merit attention. Without ASO, an app risk’s losing bulk of the market share despite having great applicability and / or interface. App developers need to focus about ASO right from the beginning stages of app development so as to effectively counter their competitors. With the ever-increasing quantity of apps beings published, downloaded and reviewed it is very important to keep an active eye on the trends and market behavior and then to adjust your own business plan to counter any negative trends in-time.
Implementing ASO
Much like SEO, App store optimizations function in the same manner i.e. strategically examining and improving on various factors like the right keyword selection for the App title as it is the first thing that a user is going to see and search. Developers and marketers should spend time investigating and researching the right keywords so as to create a strong first impression that is creative and unique enough to attract a user and concise enough to deliver the gist of the app. Similarly, a catchy app description with very concise and to-the-point information is vitally important in conveying what the app is all about is as less a time as possible. Coupled with this, the number of downloads your app gets and the quality as well as quantity of reviews it gets, is equally important in promoting an app. Higher number of downloads with positive reviews helps in the decision-making process of potential customers and improves an app’s search engine rankings. MobileDevHQ, Nielen and Apptentive tested top apps available in Apple and Android stores and conclusively concluded that apps with keywords in their title had an average 10.3% higher rankings and that greater number of downloads lead to even higher search engine rankings.
App Store Optimization requires constant monitoring and tweaking to generate consistently higher rating in the app store search index. ASO expert teams help in evaluating an app for potential keywords that can result in higher rankings in the search index. Getting known to potential customers is the greatest challenge that an app faces however, with expert and active help, it can be easily solved leading to greater number of downloads, higher market share and improved online traffic.
