What is the ASO?
You surely know the SEO (search engine optimization) which allows Google to find more easily your site or your blog. With the arrival of Smartphone and tablet applications, Google has proposed a store to download and buy applications. The ranking of these applications is not random. Searches are made according to keywords and you have to optimize your application data as much as possible to hope to appear in the first search results. In other words ASO (app store optimization) is SEO in app stores.
Do SEO rules apply to ASO?
Indeed, the rules of SEO allow to boost the traffic and the referencing of your application. As a reminder, here are some basic ideas to improve the ranking of your site:
- Your title must be optimized and have a maximum number of characters.
- The definition must correspond perfectly to the content of your site while including certain keywords.
- It is better to use an SSL certificate to secure the data on your site and reassure your reader.
- The titles must respect a hierarchical structure according to the H1 H2 H3 H4 tags and so on.
- Other sites should link to you.
- Your articles and your content must also reference external content with external links.
These are just the basics of SEO, they will just let Google know that you are working with a quality site and that you are taking care to meet the standards and expectations of search engines. However, there are other factors that come into play that you have absolutely no control over. For example, the amount of time a reader spends reading your articles or your content. The fact that he will scroll down your page shows for example that the content is interesting. If your reader clicks on a link after a certain time of reading your article that would correspond to the marking of an interest in the content you make, this is also a key element that indicates to Google that you make quality and consistent content within your site.
I will explain in more detail everything you can do to maximize your SEO, far beyond the simple tagging and site optimization work I will teach you though. If you’re interested, I invite you to take our special SEO training that will catapult your site into the top results of Google with hard work and perseverance. You will have all the keys to get free and intense traffic.
Thus, other factors much more precise than the writing of a title or a description comes into account in SEO and also in ASO.
What you need to do to optimize your ranking on google play
Now I’m going to give you some tips that will definitely help you gain dozens of places over your competitors in the Google Play ranking. You should know that 80% of Android users’ traffic is distributed to the first three places of a search result on the store.
Optimize the description and title of your application as much as possible
You are allowed 50 characters to define the title of your application. The big question is whether it is important to have the name of the company that produces the application in the title. For me, the answer is obvious: don’t put the name of your company in the title of your application at the very beginning. You can put it at the end of the title if you still have some space. To give you an example with the YAVOK application, it would be called, following the strategy “Digital Marketing and SEO”. I admit, it’s not very pretty but believe me, it plays a considerable role in the ranking of the application. Anyway, users can see the icon of the application that will represent your brand as well as the company that produces the application. Besides, you can make up for it with the short description of 80 characters to place your company’s name.
The positioning of the keywords inside the title is also important. If you make a cooking application that offers recipes, and the most searched keyword on the store is “recipes” instead of “cooking”, then it would be better to call your application “recipes and cooking – company name” than “cooking and recipe – company name”.
In addition, you also have a long description of over 4000 characters. This one is not to be neglected to boost the referencing of your application on the store. Make sure that the first 20 lines are really user oriented in order to bring them value and answer their questions and do not hesitate to complete with combinations of keywords that are the most searched.
However, you should always take into account that Google will know very well if you are screwing it with a series of keywords that do not make sense. To do this, just imagine that you are explaining orally how to use your application, what its content is and what it will bring more than the others. You will then get a text that makes sense and that will answer the questions of the user, thus the most searched keywords and thus optimize your position and your ASO. Of course there are little tricks to know the most searched keywords. I’ll talk about it a little further in this course for the application SEO.
Translate into different languages and triple your traffic
This is something that most of your competitors will forget or will not be able to do. However, showing that you have translated the application, even if only by its description and title, will show Google that you take care to deliver information and work on the quality of your content. Moreover, it will capture all the users who search on the store with their native language and who could be satisfied by using your application.
For example with the application “Yavok”, we could make the translation in French and English. The interior of the application would also contain French and English. However, many Spanish, Portuguese, Brazilians, Europeans and others speak and understand English and could use this application. But a large part of them will continue to search on the store using words from their native language. That’s why even though we only have the app in French and English, we have translated it into German, Portuguese and Korean. We can then save a lot of space and chances to be seen on the store while hoping that they can use our application by understanding the basics of English. With this technique, we simply tripled our traffic.
This is also the strategy Peii Henry use for his 2 Shopify e-commerce on the Viking Niche : FR menviking.fr and english, Viking-store.com
It is therefore in your interest to translate your application into several languages. You will always find a friend or relative who can help you. In the worst case, you can buy a translation service on the Internet or use upwork.
The quality of your application comes first
I’ve talked to you before about the length of time an article is visited and read, the click-through rate to a subsequent article on your blog as well as potentially, the fact that a reader comes back to the site on a recurring basis. In SEO, this is a sign that shows Google that you have quality content and that it can trust you by showing you in the first search results.
For an application, it’s exactly the same! You will be able to follow in real time :
- The number of installations per day.
- The uninstall rate.
- The countries that download your application, and the Android and mobile version.
- The number of bugs and crashes you have per day.
- The ratings and comments given by your users.
You can imagine that logically, Google has no interest in putting in first place an application that is poorly rated. Similarly, an application that crashes all the time would not give good reputation to the Google Play store. It reflects the quality of your application, if the content matches the user and if your work has been well done.
Thus, it is crucial that your application is robust and stable to sustain all the work you do in SEO. There is nothing worse than a wave of bad ratings that would almost permanently destroy your ranking. On the other hand, if you release a new version and you get much better ratings, it’s an excellent sign to drastically increase your ranking. By making sure you have a quality application that crashes as little as possible and that users don’t uninstall, you greatly optimize the chances of appearing in first place on the keywords you are interested in based on description.
To do this, many applications encourage the player to come back with notifications or by letting them know that they can get free content by logging in every day. This is a great way to keep a user coming back, avoid uninstallation and also turn them into customers. In addition, you can regularly ask for feedback on the application and rate it with a pop-up in the application or through emails. You will get many more positive ratings and increase your chances of climbing the rankings even more.
Backlinks are very effective
In SEO, there is nothing like a government, education or press site talking about you with a backlink pointing to your site. It is then exactly the same to try to get your application to rise. Google Play pays more and more attention to the quantity and quality of clean bins pointing to your application. To do this, nothing could be easier. Ask your partners to talk about you and have them insert an external link on keywords you are interested in pointing to your app’s link. You will create a formidable linkage if you can also ask that applications themselves point to your application in their description.
I’ll give you one last little bonus for your ASO: if your Google Play account creates several quality applications, it is certain that their ranking will be a virtuous circle that will propel them to their first place.
How do I find the keywords I’m looking for on the store?
There are three interesting ways to search for the most searched keywords on Google Play. I really encourage you to combine these three techniques to make sure you get the right information.
First of all I invite you to make a real survey around you prospects, customers and enthusiasts that you will find on social network groups like Facebook. Ask them how they behave on the store and what searches they do.
Secondly, you can simply type a word that interests you into the Google Play search engine. It will automatically suggest the related word pairs that will give you ideas for writing the description and title of your application. There is nothing like the long tail to get your first customers and manage to position yourself on queries that will bring you less traffic but much more targeted.
Thirdly, there are tools like Keywordtool that allow you to find the most searched word pairs on the store based on a basic word. It is really efficient and will save you a lot of time instead of applying the second solution. A little tip: the results are given in descending order. This means that the first result you will find corresponds to the word that brings the most traffic. Second tip that we can work together in my ASO training, it is very interesting to visit the last pages to acquire traffic very quickly, more qualified and from the long tail.
Check list to optimize your SEO in the stores
Of course, this article will allow you to gain a few places with these ASO techniques. On Yavok, we offer real training to boost your ranking on the stores. Whether it’s Google Play, iTunes, Shopify, wordpress or others, here is the training with an incredible checking-list that will allow you to secure the first, second and third place of the most influential and important keywords in your field.
