If you are a content marketer that’s been tasked with improving the engagement and visibility of an Android app within the Google Play store, listen up and listen carefully. This article is designed to provide you with some of the latest tricks of the trade to enhance exposure in app searches and achieve the highest possible conversion rate for organic app downloads.
Competition for all kinds of Android apps is rife in Google Play in 2019. App stores like Google Play and Apple’s App Store are experiencing exponential growth right now. Whether it’s free play casino slot apps, brain training apps or productivity apps to improve the organization of business tasks on the move, it can be difficult for new and innovative apps to get the digital exposure they need to succeed. That’s why app store optimization (ASO) has become such a powerful marketing technique among content marketers and copywriters. A successful ASO strategy is based around a three-pronged approach for your app:
Essential keyword research
At the core of any profitable ASO content strategy is sufficient keyword research. It’s important to undertake extensive keyword research before you publish your app. For the newest, unknown apps it can be hard to sneak into the leading app store results using competitive or even mid-tail keywords. Finding long-tail keywords that are hyper-relevant to your app are key to getting things off the ground. While there will be less searches for long-tail keywords and phrases, your app will have a much better chance of appearing in search results when using terms that are specific to your product.
There are plenty of free keyword suggestion tools out there that will help you to brainstorm those long-tail keywords. Software, like TheTool and AppKeywords, can help you to build a picture of the search phrases and keywords that your target users tend to input into search engines. TheTool is particularly effective in highlighting mid and long-tail keywords that have less difficulty or competition to rank than others. Those deemed to have “low” or “medium” difficulty that also have a reasonable number of searches are a good starting point.
A/B testing of on and off-metadata
Another key factor in your app’s new ASO content strategy is the testing and optimization of your on and off-metadata. On-metadata relates to details about the app developer, including their name, description and even screenshots of their software. Off-metadata relates to content that’s outside of a developer’s control, such as user reviews, ratings and download volume.
A/B testing of your app’s on-metadata is vital to find out the types of listings that resonate best with your target users. Google has devised its own A/B testing software within Google Play to allow content marketers to experiment with various listing elements. In fact, your app should always have an active listing experiment running in the background, otherwise you’ll never know whether you can improve your conversion rate.
Adding keywords into the developer name field might improve rankings. Alternatively, tweaking the app’s URL to include targeted keywords, or adding emojis in the app’s short description could be enough to catch the eyes of users.
Continual monitoring and refinement
If you stand still with your app’s ASO strategy, you’re never going to succeed. The mobile app industry is continually evolving and so too are Google’s Play Store algorithms. You must regularly track and refine your optimizations. Filter out keywords that did not perform, regularly search for new search terms and chart your app’s downloads and chart rankings to help you find content elements that achieve the best conversion rates for your Play Store listing.
Although user reviews are part of the off-metadata that you cannot control, keep a close eye on this feedback. There may be search terms and phrases used that you could replicate in your app’s listing to catch the eye of others. Better still, take the positive feedback from user reviews and look to incorporate some of this into your app’s short description.
Undertaking an ASO strategy is a continuous process. Don’t be afraid to tinker and test new things and be sure to stay up-to-date with all the latest developments of the Google Play Store to keep ahead of the curve.