What is App Store Optimisation?
The concept of ASO or App Store Optimisation is used to define the set of techniques and strategies that professionals use to position a mobile application naturally within app stores, both on iOS and Android.
App stores have millions of apps, and most users don’t go beyond the first few search results. With ASO, we seek to improve the visibility of our app among users who are actively browsing the store looking for new apps or who are actively searching within the search engine, with the aim of positioning ourselves better, standing out from the rest of the apps and thus increasing the number of organic downloads.
What professional profiles are needed to work in this field?
People with multidisciplinary knowledge combining digital marketing, AB testing, data analysis and the functioning of mobile app stores are required, mainly Apple’s App Store and Google Play.
This requires knowledge of certain tools such as Google Play Console and App Store Connect, as well as specific ASO tools available on the market, such as Appfollow or App Annie, which provide us with many relevant insights into the actual positioning of our app within app stores and which we use to configure our ASO strategy and monitor its progress.
Why is ASO important?
For me, the importance of ASO can be defined in two main points: discovery and effectiveness.
On the one hand, as I mentioned, ASO seeks to improve the visibility of our app within app stores. If we improve positioning and visibility, we will achieve organic discovery that will generate new users for our quality app, as they were using keywords directly related to our app in their search, or they discovered our app listing and saw that it has a feature or can access products that really interest them.
On the other hand, we have effectiveness. To get users to know and want to use our app, the main thing is to develop and execute a marketing plan that includes a communication social networks, on our website, emails to our database, etc. This strategy is essential, but it will be incomplete if we do not work on the app’s presence in app stores. And this is where ASO also comes into play.
A good ASO strategy allows all users who come to our listing on Android or iOS to see useful and effective content that convinces them to install our app. If the user lands on our listing after clicking on an ad, for example, and sees an attractive icon, clear screenshots and a persuasive description, they are more likely to download the app. Therefore, it is essential for the communication plan to be truly effective.
What are the key factors for ASO?
We can divide the key factors that are worked on in ASO strategies into two broad categories:
On the one hand, there are on-metadata factors, which are all those that we can control directly, such as the app title, subtitle (App Store) or short description (Google Play), and the long description that appears on the listing. Visual elements such as the app icon, images or video, and the keywords we decide to include in all the texts.
On the other hand, there are off-metadata factors, which are those that depend on user behaviour and other external elements. These include user ratings and reviews. These are important because apps with better ratings have greater visibility, and positive comments build trust, while negative comments, if responded to by the app, also demonstrate a closer relationship between the developer and the user when problems arise.
Another important point in these off-metadata factors that app stores take into account to improve positioning and visibility is the number of downloads my app has, as apps with good sustained growth are favoured, as well as retention and usage, where they assess how users behave after installation.
How important is the visual aspect in this type of optimisation?
The visual aspect of the app is one of those on-metadata factors that we can work on and control directly within the app listing: the icon, images and video. Working to optimise these visual elements as much as possible is one of the most important parts of ASO, as they directly influence the decision to download the app and, therefore, the conversion of the listing.
If a user lands on our listing and the images and video they find show the key features with explanatory text and an attractive design, the chances of that visit translating into an actual download increase significantly. The opposite is also true: if these elements are not optimised, the user may decide not to download and opt for another similar app.
To optimise these visual elements as much as possible, app stores allow us to run AB testing based on previous hypotheses developed in the ASO strategy.
How does ASO differ from other types of positioning such as SEO?
In reality, ASO for apps is the equivalent of SEO for websites.
SEO seeks to increase traffic to a website by improving its visibility in search engines, while ASO seeks to increase downloads of an app by improving its visibility within app stores.
