Recently, we here at Kahena have had some great opportunities to explore
the world of mobile marketing, specifically App Store Optimization or
“ASO.” We’ve been scouring the internet for all news about this exciting
new field, and thought we should begin giving back to the community by
sharing our own observations and experiences. Though this ASO series
will go more in depth (and a little experimental) in future posts, let’s
first get the basics down.To get more news about
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ASO has major similarities to SEO, but there are some key differences
essential to getting found in app stores. The most obvious similarity
lies in the fact that both SEO and ASO involve manipulating an algorithm
to get your app or your client’s app ranking higher for relevant
keywords as a means to the end of conversions (in this case, app
downloads).
The biggest difference between the two fields is in public opinion. Most
business owners view SEO as an integral part of their online strategy,
while players in the apps game often don’t realize organic app store
search is also a huge driver of downloads in the app market. Instead,
these players focus on PR efforts or on word of mouth. Don’t get me
wrong: PR and viral campaigns can and frequently do have a great effect
on any marketing campaign if done right, but ASO has quickly become an
integral part of the app marketer’s toolbox. In fact, Nielsen found that
63 percent of Android and iOS users have found apps using search within
the app store, a larger percentage than any other factor, including
word of mouth and in-app promotions.
Considering there are currently at least 700,000 apps in both the iTunes
App Store and the Google Play Store, and that apps are responsible for
56 percent of all activity on Android smartphones, developers and app
owners can’t leave success up to their PR team alone.
Lack of Information
Another reason we decided to write this post is that there just isn’t
much literature on ASO beyond highlighting its importance and some
“buzzword articles” on whether ASO is the new SEO. Therefore, here is
our crash course in ASO as the intro to what we hope will be a long and
detailed journey (read: “awesome blog series”).APP STORE Optimization
means that the search engine specific rules that SEO ninjas are used to
might not apply. In fact, some of the things you discover about ASO may
not make sense at all in light of Google algorithm updates (eg., the
iTunes keyword example below). Part of this is that the field is so new
and is probably going to change rather significantly as it grows more
popular. In addition, each of the stores has different rules about when
and how changes to titles and descriptions can be made and even how the
search results are displayed.
1) The Google Play Store is the default app store for Android devices
and largely mimics aspects of the Google search algorithm. As you would
expect, Google uses their search experience well – Google Play is the
biggest driver of organic app finds and, in turn, downloads.
2) The iTunes App Store is the built-in app store for all iOS devices.
It still uses a keyword field which is the ASO equivalent of the
now-defunct meta keywords SEO tag, and also features a largely
download-driven algorithm. In contrast to Google Play, changes to any
field (title, keywords, screenshots, descriptions, etc) in iTunes
require an update to the app and a review by Apple’s team of reviewers.
Now, having said all that, here’s a curveball: app pages on iTunes and
Google Play’s websites show up in SERPs and can lead to downloads as
well, and these rankings are of course subject to the Google algorithm.
In fact, the mobile apps world was recently disturbed by Google’s
temporary demotion of iTunes app pages for app-specific queries (see
Google’s response in the update at the end of the above article. More on
their response can be found here).
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