By Craig Weinberg, VP of Mobile Strategy, 3Q Digital, and Gary Yentin, CEO and Founder, AppPromo - http://www.mmaglobal.com/files/a_complete_guide_to_aso.pdf Do you remember how you found your last app? More likely than not, you searched for it, and you probably searched an App Store. In October 2014, a study from TUNE found that App Store search remains the biggest driver of app discovery, accounting for roughly half of new app installs on both iOS and Android. The data has likely shifted since then, but rest assured that app store discovery is a critical lever in the mobile game. The bad news: app store discovery is not easy: on both Google Play and iTunes, there are over 1.4 apps clamoring for your attention. The good news: app store optimization (ASO) best practices aren’t yet widespread; chances are, there’s room to gain a significant edge on your competition if you put into play the insights we’ll break down in this whitepaper. Much like SEO but not nearly as mature, ASO is a gradual gain that, when done correctly, can afford your app a higher natural/organic rank in the Google Play and iTunes stores and better overall discoverability for new and existing users. This whitepaper breaks down the important universal, and SEO-like, elements to ASO. We’ll also review Google Play and iTunes – the two main players in the App Store game – and how optimization varies for each. Unlike SEO, where optimizing for Google (more and more synonymous with optimizing for the user) is the name of the game, app store optimization requires different strategies for each platform, and we’ll go into those below. Let’s get started.
Isn't ASO all out of date now on the App Store now that paid search has kicked in. Or am i incorrect?
This is like always, very basic and nothing concrete. I have done all of that and it has zero influence in my downloads. I had to laugh when looking at their first example screenshot: Pretty much one of the worst ASO examples they could have used. 3 times the word "Free" and 2 times the word "Games" between the title and the company name. Both are valuable real estates for keywords and they throw it away just like that. (note: the game Bike Race has changed the title since they took the screenshot and they repeat now 3 words lol). Also, changing the title several times is probably the worst thing you can do. I actually remember that we have a guide already here on the forum by someone experienced and he said that as well. Never change the name of your game. At least not when you already get downloads. If your downloads are equal to nothing it might be worth a try. I'm pretty much sure that ASO nowadays is death. I mean, it helps obviously to sell your product when someone gets to your page but to attract people from nowhere it is pretty useless. Correct me if I'm wrong.
I think ASO will always be valuable, and needed. Unless you are prepared to pay for the advertising in the App Store, then yea it won't matter.
I'm a little bit amazed.....I agree with Cristoph on the title of the app... rule #1 of ASO.. never waste space ... so why repeating free 3 times? and also... not a very good keyword to use nowadays. Making ASO is not about a simple formula... it requires crosschecking info of several tools, deep research and everyone has their particular style. I disagree about ASO being dead... from all my clients, the ones that don't make ASO get much less % of sucess. And, if you have a trained eye, you can see that even all big apps (even google maps) make ASO & make constant app marketing campaigns to keep the ranking on their keywords.
This guide from App Annie is much more complete and even Color Switch is mentioned with the icon. So get it now! App Store Optimization: The Definitive Playbook Download: https://goo.gl/YQu8Mh
I would imagine a lot has changed since half of these guide's were written. I wonder what they suggest for Apples new App Title guidelines...
Indeed, yes... With the new algorithm and rules, now ASO techniques must be different, like for example, paying much more attention to the related category keywords, choosing carefuly the keywords in title and many other small details. I'm working on a new guide based on this.
