Learn ASO from scratch: 10 minutes to help you fully master ASO!
Learn ASO from scratch: 10 minutes to help you fully master ASO!
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I. What is ASO?
ASO is actually an acronym for “App?Store?Optimization”, which means “App Store Optimization” in Chinese. In a narrower sense, it is the process of improving the ranking of an app in the various app market rankings and search results. It is similar to SEO, but there are also differences.
The importance of ASO
Tune, a famous analytics company in the United States, conducted a study on iOS users in 2014, and according to the data at that time, more than 47% of iOS users were discovering apps through the App Store. Of course, in the past two years, this value is still increasing significantly. Moreover, the market for promotion outside the App Store is tightening.
In addition, users are increasingly inclined to search for keywords directly, as Nielsen, the world’s leading market research firm, has further confirmed – more than 63% of users will search for keywords to discover and download apps.
Against this background, more and more developers are turning their wars to the App Store, and the role of App Store Optimization (ASO) is becoming more and more important.
The main purpose of ASO
App Store search is actually the most efficient source of traffic. Studies show that 73% of mobile app installs are obtained by searching from the App Store. With the weakness of other channels, ASO is becoming more and more important.
There are many purposes of ASO, one of the main purposes is to maximize the “exposure” of the App, and “exposure optimization” can be divided into two areas – “Keyword coverage optimization” and “keyword ranking optimization”. “Keyword coverage optimization” means that users can find the App by searching more keywords; and “keyword ranking optimization”, commonly speaking, means that we should strive to rank our App as high as possible under the keywords.
IV. The main factors affecting ASO
From the current App Store ranking rules and search algorithm, the following factors affect the ASO effect: app title, keyword domain, app description, icon, app screenshot and preview video, download volume, user reviews, active users, etc.
1. Application title
At present, Apple’s background allows the title section to be set up to 255 bytes, with each Chinese character taking up 3 bytes. In terms of search weight, the title is larger than any other place such as keyword field. Therefore, if you can add some core keywords in the title, it will have a very good effect on improving the coverage and keyword ranking.
2. Application description
The application description, like the application icon and screenshot, has little effect on search optimization, but it also affects the downloading behavior of users, and the downloading volume is one of the important factors of ASO.
3. keywords
The number of characters allowed to be added to the Keyword section is 100, 1 Chinese character is equivalent to 1 character. The weight of this part is second only to the application title, if you have a good keyword program, you will be able to cover more core keywords and bring more traffic to the application.
4. icons, screenshots and preview videos
Although they do not play a role in search optimization, but for the download conversion rate (that is, we are commonly known as “absorption effect”) is still a very big role, after all, we are in a very visual society.
5. Download volume
Although Apple has been adjusting the ranking rules and algorithms of the App Store, there is no denying that the number of downloads and activations is still a very important factor in ASO. However, it is important to note that real users and valid IDs are the way to go when it comes to ASO through downloads!
6. user reviews?
6. user reviews?
The number of positive reviews of the app, in addition to promoting the conversion of user downloads, compared with the same level of competition, the app with better reviews also tends to rank higher in search. Therefore, some developers would rather violate Apple’s ban on reviews, and risk being downgraded or taken down. Here, I want to remind you, do not take this risk, or the consequences are very serious!
7. active users
The amount of active users, the proportion of active users, etc. for the search ranking is also influential, and Apple for the healthy development of the ecosystem, but also continue to strengthen the weight of DAU.
V. Available exposure
Recently, Apple has updated its developer backend and introduced more detailed videos and articles on its website to show developers how to showcase their apps to App Store users and get better access to accurate users. In fact, Apple provides developers with a lot of exposure in order to improve the discoverability of apps: premium recommendation pages, keyword search result rankings, leaderboards, popular searches, and so on.
With 1.8 million apps in the App Store, it’s no longer easy to stand out from the tens of thousands of apps out there. As the App Store’s status has increased and other promotion markets have tightened, ASO has naturally become a competitive weapon for developers. This is a brief introduction on how to optimize the factors of ASO and seize the exposure of App Store.