How to Do App Store Optimization to Rank High in 2021

What is ASO (App Store Optimization)?

App Store Optimization (ASO) is the technical strategy to improve the visibility of the app within the app stores. This leads us to the next question, Why is it important? To answer this, you need to understand that there are millions of apps on app stores and if you launch an app of your own, what are the chances that it will appear in the top spot?

That's where ASO comes in. ASO not only boosts an app's visibility on the app store but, if done strategically, it can also improve the CTR of your app. In this blog, we will look at ASO Strategy To Rank High in 2021 and boost your app visibility

Naming your mobile app

Be creative while picking a name for your app as it is what every user sees first. But make sure that creativity doesn't come at the cost of relevancy, meaning - your app title must be relevant to your app.

Few things which are must remember are, your app name must be unique without exceeding the recommended character limit which is, 50 characters long on Google Play and 30 characters long on the Apple App Store.

One bonus tip here is to include your main keyword in the app name to make it more rankable.

Keyword research for your mobile app

This is where most app creators make mistakes. Keyword research is vital for your app to be visible to relevant users. Successful keyword research involves including keywords set that you want your app to be found with.

The keyword strategy is mostly based around these answering questions such as What are the main features of your app or game? What is the category of your app? What are similar apps called?.

You can also use AI-powered keyword research tools to do mobile app keyword research.

Write relevant app description

Like SEO, meta description in ASO plays a crucial role in letting the search engine or the app store know what your app is about and its main features. The app description is not only relevant for the users, but also for the app stores’ ranking algorithm.  It’s especially important for Google Play. The description is one of the main areas where Google finds the keywords to rank your app for. While writing a description for your app, try to incorporate your keywords in sentences naturally so that your description relevant to both the readers and the app store algorithm.

Get the right app icon by A/B testing

Designing an app logo is not a one-shot thing mostly. It's a process that requires redesigning a bunch of times, if not a lot of time, always. Because the design team and the creative team, might not agree upon the logo.

But this does not weaken the fact that your app icon is what catches a lot of attention and can be one of the main reasons people click on a search result, that's why it's a crucial part of overall mobile app development.

The solution to finding the one icon that works for both, your app and potential users is A/B Testing - to create more icon variations and find out which one got the most clicks.

Create engaging screenshots and videos for an app

Do you know what makes an app highly downloadable? It's a preview. Before downloading the app, it's the image and video sneak-peek that create an impression on the mind of the prospect user.

Now, you want that impression to be positive and lasting. For that, app screenshots and videos give you an opportunity to demonstrate the functionality of your app or mobile game. Use them to show off the best parts of your app.

App Localization

After finalizing the visuals, the next step is to list your app in local and global geographies. For this, you will have to adopt a localization strategy and translate your existing metadata, keywords, or screenshots into other languages.

The idea behind this is, users perceive an app in their native language as more trustworthy and thus, they’re more likely to download it, plus your app will have a reach across the globe.

Ratings and reviews

Reviews drive business in any sector. The more positive reviews a product, service, app, game, website...garners...the more the number of users it fetches. As per a report, approximately 80% of mobile users read at least one review before downloading an app.

This stat itself is enough for you to consider for a successful ASO. So it is crucial to give rating functionality, plus having more positive, genuine reviews to make your app highly downloadable