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That's one of the first things that someone who is new in the app business, but already familiar with SEO (Search Engine Optimization) would ask, and a very good question to give a start to your app growth. The answer is yes, it is known as ASO - App Store Optimization and it uses a very similar logic to SEO, but they are completely different at the same time.
Both ASO and SEO aim to increase the free organic traffic to your app/website. SEO targets websites to increase the page views while ASO targets mobile applications to increase the instals.
The main goal of App Store Optimization is getting your app more visible in the App Store or Google Play Store by increasing your app's keyword rankings, but there are so many different elements that will affect the success of your app. I'm going to stick to the ones that are parallel to SEO in this post, in other words, affect the search results in the stores. See below the most important factors that will get you good keyword rankings in the order of priority both for App Store and Google Play Store.
After the release of iOS 11, Apple included some new areas on App Store which will affect your keyword rankings. Combined with the old ones, here's the list:
App Title: App title is still the most important section for your keyword rankings. The keywords you use in your title are going to have significant effects on your keyword rankings, and you should use your most powerful keywords in this area. As the App Title character limits are decreased from 50 to 30, your title has become more important than ever now!
Subtitle: This is a brand new section in App Store. Subtitles will appear right below your App Title and again will be 30 characters long and you'll have the advantage of drawing attention to your app with a good subtitle. Since the keywords you use in your subtitle are indexed by Apple, it's pretty important to use high-visibility potential keywords in your subtitle while making sure that your text explains your app in the best possible way.
Keyword Field: You still have 100 characters to put the relevant keywords in iTunes keyword field which will affect your keyword rankings in App Store. That's the third indexed section in App Store, so the rest of the high potential keywords should go to your keyword field. As this section is not visible in App Store, you can use your secret keywords or the competitor brand keywords here. In order to get the tips about what kind of keywords you should put on your keyword field, have a look at this blogpost.
In-app Purchases: Apple used to have IAP in the past as well, but now there are very important points you should be aware of! Now, the IAP are visible up to 20 entries under the pricing tab in your app info page and the names of your IAP are actually indexed which means you have a chance to rank for the keywords you used for your IAP. If you have some in-app purchases in your app, make sure that the name reflects the purpose of the IAP and is a good-potential keyword to increase your rankings.
Those were the four sections which affect your search results and keyword rankings in App Store. Let's move on to Google Play and see what's different.
As in App Store, Google Play uses similar techniques for keyword rankings, but there are some changes in the algorithm and which sections affect your search results.
App Title: This is basically the same as App Store app title. It's the most important factor for your keyword rankings and Google made it easier for the app developers and increased the character limit from 30 to 50 lately.
Description: There are two description areas in Google Play Apps: short description and full description. Short description is very similar to Apple's subtitle section but it's limited to 80 characters and it's the second most important part that will affect your app listings. Since it's the visible part of your description and has more weight on keyword rankings, it's very important for those keywords to grab the attention of user while ranking in higher orders. The full description contains 4000 characters and should be used for providing information about the app features. Here's a little tip for you: If you can convey all the details with less number of keywords, that will drive better results, and you should use your best keywords multiple times in your long description.
Get more information about how to write the best Google Play description for more downloads here.
Reviews & Rating: That's something unique to Google Play Store. Your reviews and ratings will affect the search algorithm, hence your keyword rankings. The best idea is to get as many positive reviews and comments as possible which will include your target keywords.
App Store Optimization is a huge topic which should be studied with all the details in order to get the best results. Only the sections which has a direct relation with keyword rankings are included in this post but you can find a lot more in Mobile Action blog. Moreover, if you sign up, you'll get the best insights to find the best-performing keywords for both your iOS and Android Apps!

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