ASO stands for App Store Optimization
Apps have become one more tool in our day-to-day life, totally integrated into our lives and accompanying us everywhere we go. In the beginning, as in almost all sectors, there were few applications, and they were usually aimed at databases, that is, to search for places, whether they were hotels or restaurants.
There are currently loads of mobile applications, and each one of them will make your life a little easier, whether it is a mobile application that analyzes your vital constants to offer you a complete study of the exercise you have done, in addition, that tells you where you parked the car parked, or another that allows you to start the vehicle from your smartphone.
There are so many applications (8000 new apps uploaded every day to the application stores) that it creates the need to differentiate itself from other applications. The way to access them is through the application store search engine, it is not searched in google, but rather it is searched in the app stores. It is crucial to optimize the App so that your App is in that search. This and others are the goals of the ASO or SEO for mobile applications.
Table of Contents
Understand the meaning of ASO
ASO was introduced with the purpose of optimizing a mobile application to improve its visibility and its downloads in the app store. In summary, ASO is the method of optimizing an application in order to appear in the top results when the user searches the app stores.
Like any SEO procedure, ASO includes the choice and optimization of keywords. In this way, these keywords that a user uses when searching to find an app are listed. The aim is to appear above the competition in search results.
The most famous or essential app stores on which to apply the ASO are the following:
- Apple App Store
- Google play
- Amazon AppStore
- Windows phone store
Know what ASO is not
- Buy automated facilities
- You are not putting the first App Name that comes to mind
- It is not doing SPAM
- It is not playing to position yourself with the brand of another
- You are not buying valuations
Differences between ASO and SEO
Both ASO and SEO aim to position. We could say that this is their main similarity, but outside of that, they contain their differences. We will list the most characteristics:
The first and clear difference between SEO and ASO is the place in which they are responsible for positioning. SEO seeks to make a page appear in the first results of Google, Yahoo, Bing. Even YouTube or any other search engine, while The ASO aims to position in Google Play, App Store, and other digital application stores.
The behavior of search engines has some elements similar to those of application stores. However, the positioning algorithms of the stores give different options. Since they not only depend on generating a better position for certain keywords as it happens in SEO. That brings us to one of the big differences between ASO and SEO: ranking factors.
What are the Factors of ASO
ASO On Page
It is used to define all the variables that we can control, and that can be used to better position a website or an application. Most of the key elements are the same but have a different name and location:
- Keywords: in both, you have to try to make the keywords appear in the title and content. The difference is that in SEO, this is done through the title and the text to be written on the web, while in ASO, the title, description of the App, and its category are used.
- Title: in both disciplines, the title is an essential element to position. In ASO, because you cannot link to a particular application, it becomes much more important to select a title that increase app downloads.
- Screenshots and icons: in SEO, images help position an article and can generate traffic through Google Images. In the ASO, screenshots, and icons, despite not having a direct influence on the positioning of the App, are in charge of attracting attention and increasing the number of downloads.
- Links: while hyperlinks are of fundamental importance in SEO, they do not have any relevance. They do not influence.
ASO Off-Page
The ASO Off metadata factors are as follows:
- Landing App: To give more visibility to the mobile application and, therefore, get more links, downloads, and virality, the ideal is that the application is indicated on the website through buttons and links to the Apple Store and Google Play. In addition, the application should have reserved space within the navigation system of the website.
- Link building: Once you create an app, upload it correctly to the App Store, taking into account the factors of the on Metadata part, and once an on-site presence is created with a specific landing, you have to start with a Link building and virtualization strategy to enhance the impact of the application. Therefore, the ideal will be:
- Create inbound links to the landing of the App so that they are indexed and have more popularity.
- Reviews: A point of improvement for the positioning of an app within the App Store. Impacted by the number of Reviews or Opinions that can be obtained. Empowering users to leave their opinion is a task that must not be forgotten. It should be taken into account in the actions that are carried out on the App itself and in Marketing actions.
- Comments: Like user votes, comments will be very important for the positioning and conversion of your mobile App. Always use negative comments to improve and correct possible errors.
- Number of Downloads: A piece of information that alone can lead to the direct download of the App. The higher the number, the better.
- Google plus: A point of improvement for the positioning of an App within Google Play is also influenced by the amount of plus +1 received and shared. It will, therefore, be very important to work on Google + and all aspects related to Google +: