App store optimisation

On average, organic app installs result in 80% of total revenue.

While it will take a bit longer than paid advertising to generate results, it doesn’t require a huge investment. More importantly, paid users spend less, so with ASO you will be acquiring high quality users.

Once you reach the top position and the desired rankings on the app stores, ASO will be the main traffic source of relevant traffic and the channel that will generate the highest ROI.

Similarly to a website’s title tag, this is a key element. The title should be kept as short as possible and include, if possible, relevant keywords.

The icon of an app can make a huge difference. You will have about 3 seconds to capture users' interest when they glance through the list of apps. Make sure the icon of your app clearly and creatively expresses what your app does. This is more important than you might think and should have lots of thought behind it.

This, again, is very similar to the meta description tag of your website. Explain clearly and effectively what the app does and include, if possible, relevant keywords in the description. This is also a key factor when it comes to ASO.

We all like to see what an app looks like before downloading it. We are visual beings, so use this wisely and display some attractive screenshots of your app in action. Use screenshots that show your app functionality while highlighting the best parts of it. Remember, we all tend to judge a book by its cover!

Reviews are probably the most important factor when it comes to conversion rate optimisation. According to estimations from experts 25% or more of your app ranking is based on this factor alone. You want as many users to leave favourable reviews of your app. The more positive reviews your app gets, the higher the conversion rate. Also bear in mind that you want as many reviews as possible but not if these are negative: you should create a way for your customers to connect with you inside your app, so that they will have a place to vent and talk directly to your developer.

Similarly to reviews, this is a very important aspect for app store optimisation: not only from an ASO perspective, but mainly from a conversion rate perspective. This is a vital factor due to the invaluable importance of user-generated feedback. Apps with good ratings rank higher on app stores. Keep in mind that if we see that 300 people gave 5 out of 5 stars, we tend to assume it must be a great app, and we are extremely more likely to download it.

The Google Play store allows you to upload a YouTube video of your app in action. Use this space as another sales pitch and highlight all the parts of your app that you want users to be aware of.

This again applies to Google’s Google Play store. Google divides the apps into 2 main types: they are applications or games. Select the appropriate type for your app.

Select the most appropriate categories for your app. There are so many searchers who jump straight into specific categories when they are looking for something. Apple allows a secondary category if your app fits into 2 categories, but try to always treat the primary one as your most important category.

The total number of downloads is an extremely important factor in app store optimisation, but you don’t have complete control over this. It also affects the searcher: the more downloads your application has, the higher the chances new users will download the app as well. In order to improve the total number of downloads, you should implement a combination of all the other optimisation techniques described in these lines through a well-designed ASO strategy.

Traditional link building will also help when it comes to ranking higher on app stores. Google’s Google Play uses authority and link equity to determine rankings, meaning links from popular and authoritative websites will boost your search rankings on app stores.