App Store Optimization

Growth in Smartphone Ownership

http://techcrunch.com/2015/01/27/apple-q1-2015/

Hardware Sales

http://moz.com/blog/top-three-inbound-marketing-strategies-for-mobile-apps

Cumulative App Downloads from the Apple App Store in Billions (June ‘08 – ’14)

Smartphone Users FREQUENTLY Download Apps

Most Users Find

Apps in the App Stores

Most Users Find Apps in the App StoresMost Users Find

Apps in the App Stores

App Store Optimization vs. App Search Optimization

“What makes an app rank well in the App Store (iOS) or Google

Play Store (Android)?”

2 Components To App Store Optimization:

Meta Data

• Title

• Category

• Description (Google Play)

• Keywords (App Store)

[TEXT]

35%Performance & Engagement

• Downloads (Volume and Velocity)

• Star Ratings and Reviews

• Freshness

65%

APP TITLES

App Title

App Bundle DisplayName (“Label Attribute” on Android)

iTunes ConnectTitle (matchesApp Bundle Name)

Important Keywords in the App Title(App Store Especially)

Rankings Increase

with Keywords

in the Title

Kayak is installed on this device

Spotlight for iOS will Crawl App Titles - Even On Installed Apps -

Google’s New “Apps” Universal Highly Correlated with Exact Match Keywords in Title

Google Play Store Titles

App Store Titles

Be Descriptive

Don’t be Spammy

CATEGORIES

Categories Provide

Keyword Value

(Especially the Primary Category)

Pandora ranks #1 in the Music category, but only #8 in the US store.

Categories Provide A Less Competitive

Ranking Environment

With a Well

Chosen Category, We Get These

Users, Too

1. Identify Categories

2. Collect Data

3. Graph Results

4. Repeat

1. Identify Categories

2. Collect Data

3. Graph Results

4. Repeat

1. Identify Categories

2. Collect Data

3. Graph Results

4. Repeat

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

1 2 3 4

Ove

rall

Sto

re R

ank

Category Rank

SocialNetworking

Music

Most competitive

Least competitive

1. Identify Categories

2. Collect Data

3. Graph Results

4. Repeat

Categories

1 category 2 categories:- 1 primary- 1 secondary

KEYWORDS (APP STORE ONLY)

Keyword Research

• Competitor Research (SensorTower, MobileDevHQ)

• Google Keyword Tool

• Your Google Analytics Data

• “Related searches” on iOS 8

• Translations (http://bit.ly/localized-keywords)

Picking Keywords: Traffic vs. Competition

Traffic vs. Competition

YES!

Traffic vs. Competition

YIKES!

Remember: On Mobile,

a Higher Ranking is

Even MORE Important

“The App Store equivalent to

the second page of Google is any

app ranked greater than 15”

-MobileDevHQ

Traffic vs. Competition

Keyword Research

• Competitor Research (SensorTower, MobileDevHQ)

• Google Keyword Tool

• Your Google Analytics Data

• “Related searches” on iOS 8

100 Characters of Comma-Separated Keywords

Don’t do this:

the, quick, brown, fox, jumped, over, the, lazy, dog

Do this:

the,quick,brown,fox,jumped,over,the,lazy,dog

Don’t…

…add extra spaces after commas

…repeat keywords in the Title

…repeat keywords in the Categories

…repeat keywords in the Developer Name

DESCRIPTIONS

Description crawled for keywords

Description NOT crawled for keywords in App Store search

Descriptions – App Store vs. Google Play

Descriptions ALSO

Crawled in Google Web

Search

Note that the descriptive title contributes to the App Store listing ranking in Google!

These are Web Pages, So Avoid Duplicate Content!

Include Google Search Terms in Description

• APP NAME

• APP DESCRIPTION

• iOS/ iPad/ iPhone

• Android/ Android Phone/ Android Tablet

• Relevant search terms

• Relevant brand variations

• List content in the app

+ “app” or “game”

DOWNLOAD VOLUME & VELOCITY

Apps With More

Downloads Rank Higher

Download Velocity

Use Paid + Organic Together to Drive Downloads

“For every 2 PAID downloads, your app will

generate on average 3 ORGANIC downloads.”

Ian Sefferman (@iseff)

Use Paid + Organic Together to Drive Downloads

“For every 2 PAID downloads, your app will

generate on average 3 ORGANIC downloads.”

Ian Sefferman (@iseff)

*

*downloads acquired from paid channels,not download bots or install farms

Don’t be Spammy

RATINGS AND REVIEWS

75% of the top 1000

apps have 4+ star rating

The higher you move

up the rankings

ladder, the more app

star ratings matter.

When Apple started factoring ratings & reviews in the search algorithm. High rated apps got a ranking boost, low rating apps suffered a ranking loss.

Volume of

Ratings/ Reviews

Also Important

Google’s New “Apps” Universal Highly Correlated with Star Ratings in App Stores

3.5 +

Start Getting More 5-Star Reviews!

Technical & UX Improvements

Tech/ User Experience Change Goes Live

App Changed Rank from 1,112 to 262 Very Quickly

App Moved into US Over-All Ranking Instead of Just Category Rankings

57

Asking for Reviews

Music App Day One App iTV App

If a user selects this option, Tinder does not ask them to review the app

Preventing Users from

Leaving Negative Reviews

Even BETTER: Let Unhappy Users Seek Help Anywhere BUT the App Store

Source: http://dancounsell.com/articles/prompting-for-app-reviews

Pick the Right Moment

• Never ask on launch

• Pick a moment when the user has completed their primary task with the app

• Pick a moment when the user feels accomplished

FRESHNESS

Update Apps Frequently to Maintain Your “Freshness” Booster

Update Apps Frequently to Maintain Your “Freshness” Booster

THE FUTURE OF APP SEARCH

App Store Optimization vs. App Search Optimization

Right now, Google is Pulling the App Meta Data for the Apps Universal

Google Play Store Titles

App Store Titles

Most Users Find Apps in the App StoresMost Users Find

Apps in the App Stores

Most Users Find

Apps in the App Storesin Google

Google is Indexing Android Apps(with Deep Linking)

And Google May Be Gearing up to Index iOS Apps with Deep Links Soon

Justin Briggs (@JustinRBriggs)

The Future of App Search May Look More Like a Mobile Web Search with Deep Links…

The Future of App Search May Look More Like a Mobile Web Search with Deep Links…

Best Plan for Success…

Optimize for App Stores

Optimize for Apps Universal

Optimize Mobile Web

Add Deep Linking

Today’s Talk

Store Titles & Ratings

Mobile SEO

bit.ly/app-indexed

Danke schön!

Emily Grossman, Mobile Marketing Specialist, MobileMoxieTwitter: @goutaste Email: emily@mobilemoxie.comfacebook.com/mobilemoxie