The mobile app and games market is a billion dollar industry with more than 8 million apps and games across iOS and Google Play. How can you differentiate yourself to get visibility enough to get a piece of the pie?
ASO (App Store Optimization) is essentially app store SEO and is a continual process of testing and improving app stores visuals, product descriptions and arguably most importantly - keywords.
App Store Optimization is defined by two factors:
On-metadata factors: This is what you, the developer can control on the backend, such as: Icon, Screenshots, Feature Graphic, App Name / Title, Subtitle, Keywords Field & Promotional Text, Short & Long Description, URL & Package (Google Play only), Video and App Size.
Off-metadata factors: You can not directly or immediately change off-metadata but in can be influenced to improve. Examples: Volume of installs, volume of ratings and reviews and the average rating and IAP purchase velocity.
Optimization isn't as easy as a click of a button and there definitely isn't a one size fits all approach to it either. ASO is hard to master but a great place to start is with your keywords.
Why are keywords so important?
Visibility.
Your app needs to be seen. In a sea of hundreds to thousands of similar apps with similar icons, color schemes and naming conventions - you need. to. be. seen.
Keywords get you that initial visibility from prospective players. Not only do you get improved app discoverability but that in turn increases your organic installs which leads to improved conversion rates.
Where to start?
Keywords
Create a pool of potential keywords ranging from obvious to experimental. The larger the pool, the better, and make sure to curate translated lists for each country your game is localized in.
For example, I’ll use TerraGenesis - a brilliant terraforming simulator under the Tilting Point portfolio. TerraGenesis is a game set in a realistic space setting with some light sci-fi elements. We use obvious keywords such as “Moon” “Mars” and “Space” - we also use experimental keywords based on current trends such as “Destiny” “Fortnite” or “SkyView”. I have had great success optimizing the keywords for this game.
Once you create a pool of potential keyword candidates, it’s time to analyze and prioritize. This is the fun part!
Glossary:
Keyword Rank: Apps position in the search results
Results: The number of apps returned for the word
Traffic Share: The proportion of this apps total search traffic generated by this keyword
Search Volume: Index of popularity based on search volume
Difficulty: How difficult to rank in the top 10 or this keyword
You’ll need to analyze traffic and the difficulty to realistically rank for certain keywords and make educated decisions and balance your obvious and experimental keywords for best results. Start with keywords that get high traffic with medium to low difficulty. Trying to target only high-volume obvious keywords can be extremely challenging and detrimental to your app until you optimize other aspects of your ASO. If you’re having trouble measuring traffic vs difficulty - take a look at your competitors keywords performance and use that as a jumping off point.
There many tools out there to help you analyze keywords, with many of the best being in-house proprietary tools such as the ones used at Tilting Point. Other great options are:
For experimental keywords - put your marketing hat on and look into your core and potential audience overlap to find potential keywords your audience may be looking for on the app store that could lead them to your product. You can lead a horse to water but you can’t make them drink - but you can make them download your app if its relevant to their interests!
Locking in keyword candidates is half the battle. It’s no secret that both App Store and Google Play have different algorithms and are intentionally vague on how to rank in search rankings.
So, how can you rank first for your prime keyword? TerraGenesis ranks first on App Store for the difficult keyword “space” beating out huge contenders such as the SkyView app, Scopely Star Trek Fleet Command and even the NASA app!
App Name & Subtitle
This has the most substantial ranking power across both App Store and Google Play, which is why you will often see odd “keyword stuffed” game names. Don’t do that! Not only do app stores disapprove of keyword stuffing, it can make your brand feel aesthetically disjointed and confusing.
Google Play: Google Play historically offers more room to play offering up 50 characters for your apps name and 80 for the subtitle/short description. Utilize this! Next to your apps brand name include the prime keywords you’d like visibility for - but make sure it fits your games brand! Use your runner up prime keywords in the app subtitle/short description.
App Store: App Store only gives you 30 characters for your app name and your apps subtitle - so you’ll need to be strategic! Keep in mind not only will the keywords you use affect your visibility in search, but also your CTR and CVR. For your app store subtitle - showcase it’s best features using keywords not already in your title. Don’t double dip here!
Example (App Store):
We wanted to rank for “space” as it’s a high traffic keyword. “Settlers” had a great traffic x difficulty and is a great cross-audience word as the TerraGenesis audience also plays Settlers of Catan. “Terraform” “NASA” and “Science” were also important keywords for us to rank for - and they also describe the game succinctly.
Product Description & Keyword Field
Google Play: The product description for Google Play is extremely important as Google Play doesn’t give you a designated keyword field to plug in individual words - you have to artistically pepper them into your product description. Best practices suggest that you should have a good density of keywords (3-4%) in your product description. Make sure you use prime keywords several times, place them within the first several sentences if possible and ensure you’re utilizing a call to action! You have 4,000 characters for product description - you got this!
App Store: The App Store affords you 100 characters in the primary keyword field - don’t use spaces and again, don’t double dip keywords! Keep in mind many English words become much longer when localized. Apple does indeed mix all these keywords for you to create long-tail keywords for you as well as exhausting all possible combinations for search terms. Do not add the same keywords used in your App Name or subtitles as these words do not stack! While its known the keywords in the product description don’t help you rank the same way as Google Play does - it is still important to ensure the above the fold copy is exciting and interesting!
Keywords are just a piece of the ASO puzzle and you need to be vigilante in researching, analyzing, testing and staying ahead of trends; but the right keywords will make all the difference in getting your app seen! Give keywords several weeks to rank before trying new ones. Have fun with it and remember to think outside the box.
I worked as the marketing manager on TerraGenesis for a year and a half. It is one of my favorite games in my professional portfolio and I would love if you gave it a chance.
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