ASO

Techniques & Trends

May 29, 2014

Speaker

Artyom Diogtev, Head of Branded Content, SMM, PR, ASO at ComboApp & GoWide Inc.

Artyom is a deeply engaged social media expert who specializes in creating innovative online promotions for mobile products and websites.

Contact: adogtiev@comboapp.com

Twitter - http://twitter.com/Artie_d

Why ASO is important

Apart from traffic generation, ASO is the most cost

effective and efficient way to get more downloads for

an app.

According to 2013 data by German mobile analytics

firm Adjust (former Adeven) ~600k apps out of a

total of 900k apps are zombies, meaning they

never showed up on Top charts.

The Nielsen and Forrester recent research shows

that 63% of mobile app users discover app via

Search, followed by social sharing and Top Charts.

For Google Play - 75%

MisconceptionsA. It’s an easy, couple hours job.

B. It’s one time effort.

C. It’s possible to secure a ranking for a

certain keyword by means of ASO only.

D. Ability to correlate app ranking for a

particular keyword with downloads

number increase in advance.

Goals1. Find the keywords that will bring installs.

2. Secure long term discoverability for an

app.

Expectations1. For keywords in low demand you can

expect a relatively significant increase in

installs.

2. For keywords with high demand only big

volume of traffic will increase app ranking

enough to get more installs from search.

Factors that influence app ranking (App Store)

Example - “System Status” search query

1.App title

2.App keywords

3.App category

4.Company name

5.Keyword competitiveness

6.Total downloads number

Factors that influence app ranking (Google Play)

1.App title

2.App Description

3.App Google Plus ratings

4.Total downloads numbers

5.Reviews

6.App uninstall number

7.Inbound links

Keywords• A combination of logic, common sense and data from ASO tools

• Essentially your brainstorming process should be based on answering

these 3 questions:

• What does the app do?

• Who uses this app? • What category does the app belong in? • Single words and words combination

• 100 symbols limit for a keywords set. Coma is the only delimiter that is

being required to separate different keywords - don’t waste symbols!

• Competitive apps keyword research

• Use only single forms, don’t use articles

• Look up for misspells to use

• Do not include your company name your app will be searchable by it by

default.

• Localize keywords for each local AppStore

• Do not repeat keywords. The App Store ranking algorithm doesn't

recognize keywords combinations as such. E.g. instead of using

keywords combinations such as activity monitor,memory monitor use

activity,memory,monitor.

Keywords palabras clave

Stichworteключевые слова

關鍵字

App Name

It reflects on an app’s purpose, what does it do

or in a case of game, it’s meant simply to

trigger emotional reaction.

!Naming a game is completely different story

from naming a utility app.

!According to the iTunesConnect terms each

word in an app’s title is considered as a

keyword. Therefore smart keywords inclusion

into an app’s name is a good way to expand

the number of terms an app will be associated

with.

!Do not stuff app’s name with as much

keywords as possible.

!It is about a healthy balance. Up to 50 symbols.

Right way

Wrong way

Tools

Each of these ASO tools have its pluses and minuses. The common thing about them all to remember is that none of these tools operates with analytical data provided by Apple itself. Just like with Google, the exact app ranking formula is being keep secret by Apple. There is no AdWords Keyword Suggestion Tool equivalent for the iTunes App Store to obtain data about real keywords popularity on the App Store. Among these 4 we prefer SensorTower because its better interface, App Store app review tool, Category Ranking charts.

As collateral tools we recommend:

1. Online forums where app is discussed

2. Wikipedia articles, describing specific game type

3. Google AdWords Keyword Suggestions Tool

4. Googles “Searches Related” suggestion tool

5. Quora and similar services to discover related terms

The metrics that these tools provide:

1. App ranking for a keyword

2. Number of apps ranked by a keyword

3. Competitors keywords research

4. iTunesConnect installs vs. keyword traffic correlation

Ongoing ASO

1. To get the most of the ASO technique you need to add it to your regular marketing activities

list. On a monthly basis you need to revisit an app’s competitors list, reveal new ones.

2. Using tools like SensorTower research new keywords.

3. Adjust your app’s keywords list accordingly.

4. Track app’s ranking by its targeted keywords weekly

Future

AppAnnie Keywords / ASOSensorTower Review Analysis

Yet, we do not expect Apple to open up keywords popularity data anytime soon. !ASO evolves since both App Store and Google Play grow and it requires ranking algorithm to be improved. !Chomp was acquired by Apple on February 2012 and we yet are waiting for its impact on the App Store Search.

Application Search Platform

Thank you!