Many developers tend to adapt their games and applications for their native language and international English. However, limiting yourself to these two options is a mistake, especially considering that it is tricky to break into the first lines of search results in the US.

It’s important to remember that the main consumers of Android products are in Asia. — Asolytics Team

Therefore, to master new sales markets, you can look for a less competitive environment and aim at other languages.

ASO localization means exploring a new region. Don’t think you only need to translate the app descriptions and interface. To make a really well-adapted product, you will have to immerse yourself in the cultural and religious features, understand current trends, and study your competitors’ activity in this direction.

Android Localization Benefits

When creating any product, you expect it to start bringing you income after a while. So, its Google Play Store localization is a step towards increasing profits. Thanks to it, you will be able to bring your application or game to the top of search queries in the regions you count on, that is, increase its visibility and accessibility.

When internationalization and customization are done well and professionally, it raises user loyalty, improving the conversion rate from views to installations. This way, you can expand your customer base and reach the maximum number of consumers. The store currently supports 50 languages (77 including dialects) and is available in 143 countries. If you want, you can localize your product to literally any language, even if it is not supported by Google Play. Besides, the localization of an app itself, taking into account the cultural and religious characteristics of a region, contributes to an increase in the retention rate.

While there are many obvious localization benefits for your business, there are still products for which it isn’t required. If you build a food delivery or taxi app, chances are it will function in a particular region. To adapt such an item for other languages ​​and countries is simply illogical. In other cases, if you create an app that is not georeferenced, localization is a mandatory step to go global.

Google Play Features

Google Play offers developers slightly more optimization opportunities than Apple App Store. Here, the effectiveness of ASO is influenced by: title, short description, and description. An item title is limited to 50 characters. It should be original and include a relevant search query.

On Google Play, special attention should be paid to the product description, as the platform’s internal algorithms index it. You are required to write a quality description that contains keywords. There is no separate field for keywords, so they should be in the body text. Since all the information you write is visible to readers, you cannot use competitors’ brand names. At the same time, watch out for keyword density. With a maximum allowable description of 4000 characters, their volume should not exceed 2%.

Google Play analyzes both user feedback and developer responses. Therefore, you can include keywords in your answers. The main thing is to make sure that they fit into the context organically and not interfere with the general idea. Also, keep in mind that Google’s algorithms study each user’s behavior. Search results are ranked based on the actions of each person.

Mobile App Localization Tips

The goal of ASO strategy, in general, and localization in particular, is to increase conversions, provide uninterrupted downloads, reach the largest audience, increase profits, and reduce the cost of acquiring new customers. Here is how to do localization in Android to ensure that all your work brings a positive result.

1. Analyze the market and target group
   The key to good localization lies in analyzing the market you plan to enter. Understanding culture, traditions, religion, and modern trends will positively affect your product promotion. You should know that, for example, white color in Japan and India is associated with mourning, while throughout the world, it’s a symbol of peace and tranquility. For such regions, graphic elements should be modified accordingly.
2. Localize all page assets
   It is wrong to think that a simple translation of all texts is enough. Localization includes both the adaptation of a title, description, captions, and keyword ranking app, as well as screenshots and videos. One set of visual symbols works well in one country and not very well in another. If you go to the global market, you need to replace the screenshots, for example, take photos of people of a different nationality or use another graphic style. You can add up to eight screenshots in Play Market, but users will only see the first ones due to narrow screens.
3. Adapt the app itself
   Localizing a page in Google Store is the first step towards adapting a product for a new market. You should also localize the Android application or game itself. In general, experts recommend planning expansion at the initial stage of development. By building on the idea of ​​product internationalization, you can avoid major problems in the future. Remember that when translating texts from English into, for instance, Portuguese or German, the total volume increases by an average of 15-30%. Some words may simply not fit on a small interface button.
4. Work with natives
   No matter how deeply you explore new markets, understanding cultural differences is likely to be challenging. That is why it is worth involving native copywriters and marketers in your work. They probably know slang, laws, and generally accepted norms well and have the necessary tools to analyze the Android target audience in their region. You can make your product visible and available for a specific market using any local app localization service.
5. Improve the original
   The quality of localization directly depends on the original’s quality. The original product should be top-notch to engage foreign consumers. Make sure there are no logical, stylistic, or grammatical errors in it. When compiling a technical specification for translators and marketers, paying special attention to the desired style, tone of speech, forbidden words, and much more is essential. Specialists involved in adaptation should be able to convey exactly the meaning and style of the original.

Master Android Localization to Enter New Markets

The benefits of localization for your business are clear. Now you can start choosing a market. You could pick the most popular languages in Google Store and simply adapt your product for them. However, this approach is irrational, and you still need to do some preliminary research. To select a priority market for localization, you need to analyze its profitability and study the mobile app industry statistics. Some languages ​​not only give a large audience but also show high purchasing power (for example, the so-called FIGS group). You can start exploring new markets from them and then move on to Chinese, Japanese, Brazilian Portuguese, Russian, and so on.

When you decide on the direction(-s), you can proceed to a detailed app analysis, the study of language features, and the collection of a semantic core. When developing an ASO for a new market, an integrated approach is essential, as it takes into account the culture, traditions, mentality, interests, residents’ lifestyle, and even the activities of your competitors. Suppose all the preliminary preparation is carried out with high quality. In that case, you will be able to interest new consumers since you will speak the same language.

Google Play Requirements to Text Elements

In this section, we will dwell on what restrictions Google Play imposes and what guidelines are relevant at the moment. For a comprehensive understanding of how the leading app stores work and how they differ, also check out our ASO Keywords Guide: Make App Store Assets Work.

The store for Android devices does not publicly disclose how its system works. The following assets are known to have the highest weight:

• Title: according to the latest Google Play Store title character limit guidelines, its length should not exceed 30 characters. It is the essential element of a listing as it is always visible to users and is considered first by internal ranking tools.
• Short description: Google Play limits its size to 80 characters. With it, you can briefly describe the essence of your product or its primary feature. Be sure to include a relevant keyword in it.
• Long description: its maximum size is limited to 4000 characters. This platform does not have a separate field for keywords like App Store, so you need to use them in your description text.

It’s worth noting that Google Play indexes reviews and developers’ responses, so keywords can also be incorporated into them. However, they are not as crucial for algorithms as the elements listed above.

Keyword Research: ASO Methods for Google Play

Statistics show that organic queries bring developers the most installs (more than 60%). Here are some professional tips to boost your mobile app keyword rankings.

1. Learn your target group
   Understanding the characteristics of a particular market and target audience is the key to finding relevant ASO keywords. It’s important to understand what expressions consumers might use to find your item. If your product already has some reviews, analyze them and determine which terms and phrases are most often found in them.
2. Don’t neglect auto recommendations
   When you type a phrase in the search bar, Google Play offers several auto-fill options. These requests cannot be completely relied upon, but the most influential ones are worth considering and using. Keep in mind that this platform generates search results depending on users’ regions, and from 2022 it also takes into account the specific type of device. So, check the autocomplete for all available gadgets.
3. Keep an eye on the competition
   See how competitors present their apps and what keywords they use. This way, you can understand what problems products in your category solve and identify the unique features that make you stand out from your peers. Perhaps you will find catchy Google Play short description examples from more experienced competitors or, conversely, define low-competitive phrases and terms to fill gaps.
4. Do not use high-frequency words only
   High-frequency queries are those that people mostly use. While they’re trendy, they’re also very competitive. You should use mid- and low-frequency keywords to avoid getting lost in the crowd. They may not be as popular, but there is no high competition. It is vital to balance these two indicators when collecting the semantic core.
5. Focus on product functionality
   Some popular terms and phrases are tricky to manipulate. So, instead of filling your page with them, focus on those keywords that most accurately describe your product functionality. This way, you will show exactly what customer problems you can solve. Besides, analysis of functions will help you get rid of irrelevant and overly general phrases.

Google Play Page Optimization Tips

By now you have done a thorough job of analyzing the market, target audience, and competitors and collected all the relevant keywords. The next step is to use them in the main text assets. Here are some helpful tips from our experts.

1. Strive for brevity and conciseness. Short app titles are easier to remember than long difficult-to-read phrases. Include your product name and the most relevant keywords in the title.
2. According to the latest Google requirements, you cannot use emojis, emoticons, and other special characters in titles and short descriptions. Previously, when optimizing a Google Play short description, ASO specialists could use them. Now, products that do not meet the platform requirements are removed.
3. Don’t use caps when creating the Android application title. However, it is acceptable if the name of your product or brand is spelled that way. And you definitely do not need to use repeated characters like double exclamation marks.
4. When writing a short description, it is unnecessary to use all the free space for keywords. It will most probably have a harmful effect on your conversion. Google recommends making it as informative as possible to help customers decide whether to download it.
5. The rather severe restrictions described in the previous paragraphs do not apply to long descriptions. On the contrary, HTML formatting, special characters, and emojis are encouraged. Structured text is much easier to read.
6. It is unnecessary to use all 4000 characters of the long description. The most optimal volume is 2000-2500 characters. Moreover, since most customers tend not to read these texts thoroughly, you need to summarize the main idea in the first sentences.
7. Unlike App Store, keyword repetition is allowed on this platform. However, keep an eye on the density. The maximum allowable content of words in the description text should not exceed 3%.

As we have said, Google has an extensive set of search tools at its disposal. In addition to optimizing the specified assets, you can also use relevant keys in your developer name, URL, screenshot texts, and responses to user reviews. The latter is crucial for your top app rankings by category. The Play Store sort by rating feature allows customers to remove low-ranking items from the search results. Build relationships with your customers and provide first-class service so that you don’t fall out of lists.

Keep Up With Market Changes and Adjust ASO Strategy

Google Play gives developers and publishers many opportunities to optimize the application page. With the right choice of keywords and proper implementation of them in text assets, you can make your product visible, attract more users, and improve your mobile app download statistics.

At the same time, it is important to understand that even the best strategy needs to be flexible and dynamic for your product to stay on top. Fortunately, Google Play allows you to change the metadata at any convenient time. Therefore, if you understand that trends or needs of the target audience have changed, you can quickly adjust. Use this article as a guide to action. Together with our other materials on ASO Strategy, it will give you a complete understanding of the basic principles of the world’s major app stores.

Like the store for Apple devices, Google Play does not publicly disclose all of its ranking mechanisms. However, it regularly makes changes to requirements, about which it informs users. Many patterns have been identified by developers and publishers empirically. In this article, we will share with you information about the main Google Play Store ranking factors and features of working with this platform, as well as the latest changes in the guidelines.

Factors Google Play Store Ranking Algorithm Considers

In its arsenal, the Android store has many more mechanisms for analyzing and evaluating information that can even index the developers’ email addresses. True, we can hypothetically judge the role and weight of each individual factor and test the effectiveness of optimizing elements through testing and in practice.

The most significant assets for the best Android apps are the following:

• app title;
• localized page;
• ratings and reviews;
• short description;
• long description with keywords;
• installs and uninstalls;
• icons and screenshots;
• backlinks.

These factors have something in common with elements with the most weight of App store pages in many ways. However, the principle of their evaluation by internal tools is somewhat different, and therefore your optimization approach should be different.

How Google Play ASO Ranking Works

The ranking rules on both platforms are similar to a certain extent, but of course, there are important differences to keep in mind when optimizing your page. You can learn about the nuances of the Apple market in our article about Store ranking. As for Google Play optimization tips, read about it below.

Title

Your product title is one of the first things customers see. It should clearly reflect the essence of the game or application and contain the most relevant keyword. As a rule, the title is the name of your item + a keyword. According to the latest platform requirements, now it should not exceed 30 characters.

Please note that recent Google Play policy updates require removing products that use tricks in their names (and other assets) to mislead customers. For example, you cannot utilize caps, insert emoji, and include words and symbols like “top,” “#1”, “download now,” “no ads,” and so on in the title. Apps that imitate names, icons and other elements of major brands (such as Instagram or TikTok) are considered undesirable because inexperienced users may mistakenly download them instead of the item they want.

Short description

In Google Play, unlike the App Store, there are no concepts of a subtitle, keyword fields, and in-app purchases. But on this platform, there is a short description of 80 characters, which allows you to tell a little more about your application, for example, its primary function or purpose. It is indexed, so use it to add keywords.

As with titles, Google Play prohibits the use of words and symbols in short descriptions that can mislead users. When choosing keywords, try to convey the central message of your product first, and not just use the most relevant but not suitable queries to promote the item. It does not contribute to your rise in rankings but can ruin the first impression.

Long description

Another distinctive feature of Google Play is that a description is also indexed, and therefore you should include relevant keywords in the text about your application. The maximum allowable length is 4000 characters. You don’t have to use all of them if your product has little functionality. The optimal size is 2000-2500 characters. Strive to convey the main essence in the first lines, describe the uniqueness of your item, and talk about the essential functions.

When compiling this asset, adhere to the platform’s recommendations regarding keywords. You can repeat the most relevant ones (especially in the first and last sentences) as long as they do not violate the general meaning of the text. Also, keep track of their total number. It is not recommended that the key density exceed 3-5%. Google Play is cracking down on spam. Unlike titles and short descriptions, you can include emojis and use HTML formatting in your description. Structured text creates an excellent first impression; users will be able to quickly skim through it and understand what your product is about.

Reviews and ratings

We have already said that Google Play has a much more extensive data analysis toolkit than App Store. So, you should also pay attention to feedback on this platform since the algorithms of ranking reviews are used here. Try to optimize your response messages. In our blog, you can read more about ASO reviews. Use keywords, but only in such a way that they fit organically into the text and do not interfere with solving customer problems. It will help you get additional indexing.

Keep in mind that this platform offers users the feature to sort Google Play apps by rating. Ratings and reviews are so-called off-metadata that you cannot directly influence. However, you can improve your ratings to get into the top by carefully managing user feedback, optimizing other metadata to closely match your application, and working through bugs and glitches.

Installations and removals

User actions are always taken into account when ranking. The overall install rate is important, so you should try to attract as many customers as possible from different sources. Google Play also takes into account the first opening of the application, the overall frequency of openings, and the length of each session. Those users who regularly use your product have a better influence on your position than those who simply install it on their device and do not remove it. Unlike App Store, a large number of uninstallations on this platform can negatively affect your state, so it is crucial not only to attract users but also to retain them with a quality service.

Visuals

You can quickly capture customers ‘ attention with listing visuals, such as icons, screenshots, and promotional videos. According to current guidelines, they should give a clear idea of ​​what the game or application is about, be informative, and, as in the case of the title, not deceive users by drawing their attention with flashy nonsensical phrases. By the way, some studies confirm that Google Play indexes even texts in screenshots.

Backlinks

This point is another significant difference between Google Play and App Store. This platform considers external links from other sources to your application page when ranking. It means that in addition to the ASO strategy, you should, of course, use quality SEO methods as well. Although backlinks are not the most important app ranking Android factors, they are helpful nonetheless. So you can attract more users, which means you can raise the rating of your product.

Features of Google Play ASO

The big advantage of this platform is that if you want to make adjustments to your metadata, you don’t have to update the product itself. You can rewrite the description text or replace the screenshots at any time. The main thing to remember is that since the Google Play artificial intelligence analyzes huge amounts of data, indexation time can be quite long. Most likely, you will notice the impact of the changes made in one to two weeks. To speed up this process a bit, you can use the proprietary Google Ads service. By the way, app updates themselves don’t carry as much weight as they do in App Store.

Using machine learning, Google analyzes user behavior. It means that it remembers what they download, what they look for, and what they browse. That is why the search results are different for each person (even for different devices). Although the difference may be small, on average, 2-3 positions, it is still there. On App Store, the search result is always the same.

When working on assets, be sure to take into account the current Google Play Store search optimization trends and guidelines. For example, if you are just about to publish your application, it is vital to choose the right time to do so. Practice shows that the number of downloads increases dramatically on weekends, especially from the game and entertainment category. Therefore, the best strategy is to start advertising any day from Monday to Thursday. There is also an increase in application downloads from November to January because, during the Christmas holidays, people often give each other gadgets and various devices.

Influence Algorithms With ASO Ranking Factors

Google Play uses a huge variety of algorithms to analyze information on application pages and takes into account various factors. It gives you more tools than App Store to optimize your data and get your product to the top. Proper design, combination, and testing of elements will positively affect your product visibility and increase installs.

Be sure to follow the news from the company and follow the latest official recommendations. If any asset violates them, you risk being removed from Google Play. Regularly review your ASO and SEO strategy and develop and test new methods of influencing the store’s internal algorithms. We hope that after reading this article, you will understand the platform’s features and be able to develop an effective strategy. However, don’t get hung up on one concept; you need to change it regularly throughout your product’s life cycle.

While many people think that localization means simple text translation, it is not entirely true. You need to know the rules to properly adapt your product to a new market. Moreover, it is also important to understand the specifics of working with each platform. After reading this article, you will learn in more detail how to implement ASO localization for Apple App Store and its aspects you need to pay attention to. We will also share with you professional tips so that the promotion of your application or game in a new region is successful.

Reasons for App Localization and Translation

Adapting a product to other regions is an essential step towards its popularization. Don’t underestimate its importance and assume that most users are fluent in English these days. A well-localized app or game should have different terms, even for mostly English-speaking US and UK.

You should start customizing your item by localizing pages in App Store. It will make it more visible to end-users and increase the install conversion rate. Plus, translating a page is a great way to figure out if you need to localize the application itself. You can monitor the search and download rates, and if, after the app localization process, its popularity among consumers has increased, it is worth considering translating the game or application. To better understand this topic, we recommend that you familiarize yourself with the ASO vocabulary.

The App Store is available in 40 languages and 175 countries, thus, using professional app localization services, you will increase the popularity of your product in new markets and, accordingly, raise your profits. As modern research shows, the use of keywords that are relevant to a specific region significantly increases the download rate. Also, a high-quality translation will save you from the likelihood of negative reviews due to the lack of adapted descriptions and a decrease in the app’s rating, so pick and change AppStore language wisely.

App Store Features

The App Store indexes app and game pages differently than Google Play does. The title, subtitle, and keywords written in a separate field affect the optimization of your product. The item title should contain not only the name of your application itself but also the key request. Use a subheading to provide additional information and optimize your page with extra keywords. Keep in mind that keywords in the title and subtitle should be different.

The keyword field is 100 characters long. Readers do not see this information, and it is needed exclusively for the internal platform algorithms. Just list all relevant words and phrases separated by commas.

Mobile App Localization Pro Tips

You should know the difference between standard translation and localizing a product for a new market. Localizing an app or game is a much more extensive technique. The app localization best practices described below will help you master it.

1. Get ready in advance
   Of course, App Store has languages that are the most popular. However, simply adapting your product to each one can be risky. First, you should research and determine which languages ​​are found among your users and in which countries your product or analogs are most in demand. You should also roughly estimate the potential benefits of entering new markets.
   
   At the stage of preliminary preparation, it would also not hurt to analyze the activities of competitors. Find out exactly how they adapted their products, what they changed in descriptions, screenshots, and interfaces.
   
   The preparation stage also includes planning for the expansion of your business. To do it, you need to develop such a product that can adapt to new languages without the need for significant engineering changes. This stage is called internationalization (I18N), and after that, you can start localizing.
2. Adhere to requirements
   App Store has clear requirements for app pages. You need to take them into account when preparing translations. For instance, your title and subtitle should not be longer than 30 characters. However, keep in mind that not all of the text is visible in the search results, but only the initial letters.
   
   Also, the product description can be up to 4000 characters. Experts disagree on whether to use all of them. Strive not to write as much text as possible, but to fit the full meaning in it and convey with its help the unique features of your app to engage users. Very few customers read descriptions to the end, so key sentences should be placed at the beginning. Of course, the localization of Android applications has its own peculiarities, and we have prepared for you effective tools for android localization.
   
   You cannot translate texts literally. It should be remembered that other languages ​​may have long words and combinations, due to which the total volume may increase by 15-30%. For example, it applies to Spanish, German, Russian, Korean, etc.
3. Hire professionals
   Thanks to modern technology, there are many online tools for app store optimization localization at your disposal. However, using them is not the best option for creating quality adaptations. It is best to hire translators with copywriting experience and local marketers for such a task. Turning to professionals for help, you can be sure that the adaptation process will consider the peculiarities of a new region: religion, culture, grammar and vocabulary of a new language, local laws, and so on. With the help of native marketers and translators, you will not violate local rules and laws or offend users’ feelings.
4. Test your translation
   Before launching the final version, you should test all the elements that have been translated. Quality control is also quite time-consuming, but identifying errors and fixing them will save you from negative user reviews. This way, you can test the logic and context. Besides, an additional mobile app localization testing phase will help identify differences in data provision approaches in different regions. For example, the date format in China and Korea is different from American standards.
5. Keep track of your product rate
   High-quality App Store localization as part of ASO also implies regular monitoring of the situation. You should keep track of the number of installations and uninstallations of your product. If the product is removed frequently, it’s an indicator that the app has not been well adapted and the content does not meet customer expectations. By tracking these indicators, you can identify regions that need additional attention from your side. Improve localization to increase user retention.

It should be remembered that other languages ​​may have long words and combinations, due to which the total volume may increase by 15-30% — Asolytics Team

Make Your Product Visible With App Localization

Adapting your app for other regions is an opportunity to go global, fully reach the target audience, increase user loyalty, and improve your app revenue statistics. Of course, localization is a process that requires an investment of money and time. However, with a competent approach and careful analysis of new markets, you can minimize potential risks and present a truly useful product to new customers.

Since adaptation is always an additional cost, you should evaluate its feasibility. Some apps may not be translated. For example, online banking, which is in demand only in a specific region, or other local services that will not be used abroad. At the same time, any games should be adapted. Few of such projects have a narrow geographic focus.

Summing up the above, it should be said that product localization is an important and useful stage of your global ASO strategy. A close and detailed acquaintance with the culture and the new market characteristics is the key to your success there. To make users interested in your application or game, adapt all the elements of the App Store page.

Our knowledgeable Asolytics team continues to update you on what is buzzing in the ASO world right now and introduce the latest insights about how to make the best use of your text elements and creative assets within an app store. This simple manual intends to teach you about optimizing your product page visuals for App Store, making your app or game more visible and downloadable. To learn how to optimize visuals for Google Play, read our guide Google Play Visuals Optimization: Icon, Screenshots, and Videos.

Keep reading to find out the answers to the following questions:

• Why does proper visual presentation in the App Store matter?
• What makes the App Store Optimization process so essential?
• How to design a product page so that your app is viewed, downloaded, used, and rated highly?

Why ASO Matters a Great Deal?

Statistically, it takes a semantically and visually optimized product page less than 3 seconds to catch the user’s attention and encourage further exploration. It is these few seconds that often impact the decision to install. At that, the competition among App Store products with similar characteristics has never been more intense, and you will need to do a stellar research and analytics job and tap deep into your creative resources to make your product stand out from the crowd.

For your app store product page to increase conversions and be able to compete with top iPhone apps, it needs to be visible, easily discoverable, and attractive. That is a lot to be expected of a single page, yet it is how app store marketing works, and we have to abide. Luckily, Asolytics experts are here to walk you through all the aspects of the visual optimization process for App Store product pages. We will talk about the different graphic elements of the app page, explain which ASO techniques help drive most installs and provide recommendations in the graphics requirements department. Buckle up, and let us get the fun going!

Key ASO terminology:

• ASO (App Store Optimization) is a set of measures to improve the search discoverability of apps and games in mobile stores. ASO makes the app more visible to users, boosts downloads, and — most importantly — increases the product’s app store conversion rates. We have prepared for you a detailed article on what is ASO, after reading which you will be able to qualitatively optimize your applications.
• Creative assets are a collective of graphic elements — a game app icon, screenshots, and an app video preview — used to visually present your mobile product to the app store user and encourage them to install the application.

As mentioned above, the three most crucial aspects you should focus your visual ASO optimization efforts on are icons, screenshots, and videos. Let us now look at what they are, which requirements different app stores impose on these graphics, and how they affect conversion.

App Icon

An icon is the first graphic element of the product page design that users interact with; for that reason, it plays a central role in creating a favorable initial impression. The icon must be vivid and memorable to set your product apart from the rest of the competition. Visually enhancing it will give you the best chance of gripping the user’s attention on the fly.

Genuinely cool game icons are not just attractive and unique — they also aid the user in understanding the purpose and value of your app or game without the need to open the full description and read about these. When working on an app icon, make sure to keep these suggestions in mind:

• Lay focus on a single object

Keeping it simple and engaging is key. Help your user understand what your product offers by focusing their attention on just one function, a distinct advantage of the app, or a single main game character.

• Do not insert text

Since icon size for app store is fairly limited, reading whatever text you put on them might be a problem for the user. Besides, plastering the app name on the icon makes it look needlessly crammed and poses significant challenges for further localization.

• Utilize vivid and contrasting colors and shades

Make your app icon’s central object contrast with the background to help it pop. Pick a dark backdrop for a light- or medium-colored object and vice versa. Remember that a transparent background robs you of whatever little creative asset space you have.

• Make your app icon easy to recognize

A game or app icon that has users guessing what they are looking at is no good. Do your creative best to design an icon that can be linked to your brand or game without much effort.

Below are some tips and requirements for creating great app game icons for the Apple App Store.

Tips for Apple App Store: when you are following the iOS icon guidelines, the aim is to develop an appealing aesthetic consistent with your brand identity, main game features, or the primary functions of the app.

• Size: 512*512 pixels/1024*1024 pixels.
• Format: PNG, JPG.
• Shape: Square, no rounded corners.

App Screenshots

Screenshots that take up to 75% of the listing visuals of your app store product page are among the most valuable visual assets in the developer arsenal. They play an essential role in helping users decide whether the game or app is worth downloading. Thus, carefully analyzing and tweaking your app store screenshots can have a massive influence on the app conversion rate of your app product page. Here are some tips to be guided by when producing mobile game screenshots:

• Convey the central idea of your app or game in the first screenshot

Your screenshots must be relevant and truthful and display the best app feature or the most impactful game scene. Ideally, users have to be able to tell what the app does and what value it offers just by looking at the first AppStore screenshot.

• Make screenshots into a compelling story

Connecting your screenshots with a single, gripping storyline is a more efficient technique than using a series of stand-alone pictures. You can experiment with the basis for such storytelling – for example, try splitting images that convey the same message or consider using the same background design for all your screenshots.

• Keep the captions brief, on-point, and readable

Any text you choose to include in your screenshots should be visible, concise, and appropriate. Small fonts and sentences that are too long might kill the app-user bonding moment at the very start.

• Localize your graphics to build a better rapport with your international audience

Translate the text of your screenshots, plus do some research on your target audience to make sure your screenshots are appropriate for other cultures and traditions.

Please read about some more store-specific guidelines and requirements for generating incredible app and game screenshots below.

Tips for Apple App Store: in portrait mode, the app store shows three screenshots in the search results, while only the first horizontal screenshot will appear in the search results when landscape mode is selected. If you plan to use a landscape screenshot for your mobile game, make sure it captures the most prominent trait of your product.

• Size: 1-10 screenshots of sizes 6.5” (iPhone XS Max/XR), 5.5” (iPhone 6, 7, 8 Plus), and 12.9” (iPad Pro 2 and 3). For other device models in need of a different app screenshot size, screenshots will be downsized by the platform automatically.
• Format: PNG or JPEG portrait or landscape images.

App Preview/Promotional Videos

When looking for a new app to install, some users thumb through the screenshots, while others opt to study the available video in depth. An engaging short video demonstrating how your product works and how it is different from others can offer the user a more immersive and interactive experience. App Store preview videos are particularly useful for mobile game developers. With their help, users can better understand crucial aspects of the product, see if it is within their preferred genre, assess its entertainment potential, get somewhat familiar with its mechanics, etc.

Here is something to keep in mind when working on an app preview for App Store:

• Let your video build a coherent and meaningful story

Offer your users a picture of the journey they will take if they install your product. Show your users which milestone achievements they should expect along the way and what the final goal of the journey is.

• Keep it engagingly simple for your users

Using your video to communicate a simple, well-cut, and helpful message to your viewers is always preferable to packing it with elaborate and overwhelming visuals. Your goal is to make a digestible video product that addresses two simple questions: What does the app do? Why do I need to install it?

• Focus on showing the advantages, not listing the features

Spell out the main benefits of your product for the user instead of simply naming its key features and letting them guess.

• Do not refer to specific events or hot topics

Do not mention any timewise recognizable events in your video to avoid having to re-make it once the business of the day has changed.

Tips for Apple App Store: in the Apple App Store, developers can post short videos of up to 30 seconds long, giving a detailed overview of what users will experience if they download the app or game. iOS app previews can target only one region, which is why it is best to create an engaging animated video without any text to reach out to a broader audience.

• Length: 15-30 seconds.
• Resolutions: landscape or portrait, device-specific – regular iPhones (1080*1920 or 1920*1080), iPhone X (886*1920 or 1920*886), iPad (1200*1600 or 1600*1200).
• Extensions: mov, m4v, mp4.

For more details on how to create app store assets for iOS apps and games, check with the Apple App Store official website.

Most Common Mistakes to Avoid When Optimizing Your App Store Visuals

Here are some of the most common mistakes to avoid in your visual app store optimization strategy:

• Not localizing your creative visuals for multiple markets and audiences. By not utilizing localization into different languages, you deprive yourself of access to a significant portion of your audience.
• Failing to make regular changes. ASO is not a one-time activity but systematic and continuous work on improving the application visibility and downloadability of your product within an app store. To make your promotion efforts a success, you have to monitor the latest trends, enhancing your app accordingly.
• Introducing too many changes at once. This way, you will never understand which of the actions taken have been unsuccessful and which have helped improve your target KPIs. It is best to introduce one change at a time and make a comprehensive assessment of its performance before moving on to the next activity.
• Building your decisions upon incorrect data. Double-check your input optimization data and use multiple data sources to get a realistic and weighted estimate you will base your marketing campaigns upon.
• Ignoring A/B tests. Testing your creative assets is critical to identifying what works best to drive conversions. To use an external solution efficiently, learn How to A/B Test Icon Your App.

In Conclusion

• The App Store product pages are your brand’s chance to boast its uniqueness, creativity, and usefulness, as well as attract the attention of new users, convincing them to download your mobile game or app. If the specific store regulations do not limit your ability to be creative when designing your product page, build an unusual and engaging customer journey for your users.

• Your creative visuals must ultimately serve one goal – communicate how your mobile product will change and improve the lives of its users. You might be proud of having perfected your interface and implemented some fancy features but, for the end-user, it is the entireness of the experience that matters the most, so focus on that.

• Some of those involved in App Store product page optimization underestimate the importance of improving the visual side of things. Instead, they often prefer to concentrate their best efforts solely on keywords, which leads to their ASO strategy failing to achieve its purpose. Make no mistake: in mobile app marketing, looks are just as crucial. Using the recommendations provided by the Asolytics team, you are guaranteed to make your next ASO campaign a blast!

Mobile games and apps promotion strategy involves optimizing many resources on your product page in major digital stores. If most developers have certain knowledge and experience regarding titles and descriptions, not many know how to work with in-app purchases. In this article, we will talk about them. You’ll learn how IAPs differ from platform to platform, what value they can bring to your business, and how they can be optimized.

What Are InApp Purchases?

All products published on app stores can be divided into two main categories: paid and free. With the first ones, everything is pretty clear. You pay for the download once and use all the available functionality as needed. You do not need to renew your subscription or purchase any additional features. All developer-released DLCs or enhancements are automatically installed on your device.

When it comes to free with IAP products, the situation is somewhat more complicated. You can use them without spending a dime, but your experience will be better and more complete if you purchase some of the items on offer. You do not pay for downloading and installing such apps, but you get limited functionality or a large number of ads, for example. To empower yourself and get rid of annoying ad videos, you need to pay for an IAP. How do in-app purchases work? You simply buy the items offered to you through the built-in store, and they automatically become available in the main gameplay (for games) or interface (for applications).

IAPs on Apple App Store

What does in-app purchase mean on iPhone? After updating the system to iOS 11, Apple offered developers and publishers the opportunity to add and, most importantly for promotion, optimize IAP. Now the platform has a clear division of these elements into four main groups:

• Consumable items are the most common in games. They can be extra lives or upgraded gems that will come in handy as you progress through the levels. Once they run out, you can buy new ones.

• Non-consumable items do not have an expiration date or a limited number of uses. The most accurate example is additional features in an application, such as assistive tools in a photo editor. You just need to pay for them once to use them constantly in the future.
• Auto-renewable items are, for example, subscriptions to some service, such as Apple Music. You are regularly charged (once a month or year), and you can use it during the term in any amount. As a rule, money from a linked account is debited automatically on the appointed day. You have to cancel your subscription manually.
• Non-renewing items can look like access to time-limited promotions or events, such as a new season in a game. As the name implies, you need to renew your subscription to such content manually.

App Store guidelines on IAPs

Before creating additional content for your product, be sure to review Apple’s current recommendations and Human Interface Guidelines and ensure that your banking and tax information complies with platform requirements and local laws. Your IAPs should fit well with the main application and improve the customer experience.

Apple App Store gives developers a chance to create extra content for each localization. It provides you with not only additional opportunities for iOS app monetization and optimization but also allows you to offer really in-demand things to a specific region. At the same time, for each country, you can add an unlimited number of IAPs, but you can only promote 20 of them. Each of them should have an individual game app icon, title (up to 30 characters), and description (up to 45 characters).

After creating additional levels, cosmetic items, or advanced functionality, you can add them to the platform using App Store Connect and Xcode. To enable your customers to make secure purchases, use StoreKit. After adding IAPs to your product, you can track their implementation using Server Notifications: purchases, status changes, cancellations, and so on.

IAPs on Google Play

Usually, Google Play is somewhat ahead of App Store regarding content optimization capabilities on the app page. However, IAPs are the exception. The Android marketplace is a bit behind in terms of using these assets. However, you can also add additional items to your main product here. Of course, to do it, you should have the appropriate permissions, and your products need to comply with mobile app security requirements.

Google does not give such a clear official classification of IAPs as Apple does. However, in general, they are the same. Here, you can also offer your customers subscriptions, extra levels, or premium features. Please note that downloading paid products and purchasing IAPs is prohibited in some countries. You can find the full list by region on the official Google Developer Portal.

Play Store guidelines on IAPs

In-app purchases are added through the Play Console. Give your extra content an ID as per the Google InApp Purchase tutorial, a game app icon, a title (up to 25 characters recommended, but 55 characters maximum), and a description (up to 200 characters). Once activated, the new item will become available in your app. If necessary, you can add several products at once. This additional content defaults to the same language as the main product. You can change these settings if necessary.

How to Optimize IAPs

On Apple App Store, users can see available in-app purchases directly in the search results, not just on the application page, as on Google Play. App Store users can see iaps on What’s New screen. Thus, your product takes up more space on the client’s screen, which means it attracts more attention. With an IAP, free app developers can not only get additional income but also promote their product on App Store, increasing its visibility and raising the conversion rate.

Since additional items appear on a direct request, they should be intelligently optimized. In this case, if a user stumbles upon one of your IAPs and is interested in it, they will end up on your main product page one way or another. Add relevant keys to titles and descriptions, respecting character limits. Keep in mind that when optimizing App Store assets, it is not recommended to repeat keywords because the algorithms will only consider those mentions with the highest weight. This rule also works for IAPs. Use various expressions and phrases in titles and descriptions.

You can also set up purchases so that they appear to different users in a certain sequence, like most popular iPhone apps do. For example, if a customer has already purchased some of your products, it will not appear in search results. It will be replaced by another IAP that has not yet been bought. Additionally, you can narrow the circle of clients who will be able to find your additional items. For instance, new users will only see your application or game. Those who have already downloaded the main product will see all available purchases.

Pro tips for IAPs use

To ensure that your optimization activities have a positive impact on product promotion, follow these recommendations from our experts:

• Don’t be too intrusive with the IAP proposals. It is crucial to choose the right moment to show the appropriate notification. For example, you might offer a subscription after an ad video to get rid of all ads.
• Give your customers a choice. Each person should choose whether to buy a pack of in-game currency or earn it by their own efforts, for example, by regularly launching your game.
• Do not exclude trials, with the help of which users can try out all the available app functionality. It is an excellent opportunity to showcase everything you have to offer and entice customers to get an IAP.
• Don’t carry too much content into purchases. The free functionality should be wide enough so that your product can be used for basic purposes. Otherwise, users will simply go looking for free analogs.
• Make the process of purchasing additional items as simple and accessible as possible. The less customers have to worry about how to purchase in-app purchases, the more likely they will complete a transaction.
• Offer users a choice of tariffs with different features and costs. As practice shows, the correct ranking with several plans will lead to a user purchasing the more expensive one.

Boost Your Revenue With In-App Purchases

Implementing IAPs is a good monetization strategy, and in the case of Apple App Store, it’s also an additional opportunity to increase the visibility of your core product. You can offer purchases both for games in the form of season passes, cosmetic items, and extra levels, as well as for applications, for example, to remove ads or enhance functionality.

Before running IAPs, make sure they meet current platform requirements. When developing a strategy for their implementation, be sure to consider our recommendations. Don’t be too intrusive, and don’t make paying a necessity; otherwise, you’ll just alienate customers. For users to find all your items through the search bar, embed relevant keywords in titles and descriptions.

We hope that, after reading this article, you will be able to understand in detail the features of working with in-app purchases. As statistics show, the total users’ spending for IAPs in free applications is higher than for purchases of paid services. Make in-app purchase optimization part of your global ASO strategy to attract new customers, increase discoverability, and raise conversion to installs.

Although there are quite a lot of mobile app stores now, the largest of them are App Store and Google Store. They are followed by less popular services from Windows and Amazon. To successfully promote your product on each platform, you should carefully study the factors that affect the ranking. In our Asolytics ASO Academy, we look at the first two stores, as they are the first to bring you income. Also, we provide detailed information about ASO vocabulary for users and specialists.

In this article, we’ll take a deep dive into the nuances of how the App Store algorithms work, how to influence them, and how to market an iOS app. When studying the material, keep in mind that the company does not publicly disclose the basic principles of how its ranking system works. Much of what is currently known is derived from experiments, and any changes to your content require extensive testing.

Assets Affecting Ranking

In ASO terminology, there is on- and off-metadata. It includes a URL, subtitle, description, promo text, icon, keywords, developer and app names, and screenshots. You can influence these parameters directly. The number of installs, reviews, and ratings belongs to the second group, and they can only be affected indirectly.

Some ASO factors from both categories have an impact on how your app ranks on the store:

• localized page;
• app name and URL;
• ratings and reviews;
• subtitle;
• keywords;
• in-app purchases;
• updates;
• installs.

How Ranking App Algorithm Works on App Store

Although Google Play and App Store are visually and in many ways similar to each other, they use different systems for analysis, ranking, and indexing. Below is a quick App Store optimization guide and methods of influencing its internal tools to bring your item to the top. Also, be sure to read our article about ASO ASO Ranking Factors to get comprehensive info.

Name

The name of your product is the most significant of all factors. It has the biggest impact on where it ranks in the SERPs. That is why, according to the recommendation of the App Store developers, name generation should be approached with the utmost care. It needs to be unique, no longer than 30 characters, and include a relevant keyword. Here it will have the most weight for internal search engines. The name should reflect the essence of your application, be short, memorable, and attractive to users. To be sure you know how to create appealing app title, check out our App Title and Subtitle: The Complete ASO Manual.

Subtitle

You have 30 characters to write a subtitle. This asset is also one of the most important ranking factors, so it should contain the second most relevant keyword. All users see it, and therefore it should be of high quality. With the help of a subtitle, you can tell a little more about your product. This part is ranked by systems weaker than titles but stronger than keyword fields.

Keyword field

Working with iOS app keywords is very different from Google Store. Here you have a small field of 100 characters where you need to fit the most relevant keys. Keep in mind that this store does not have such powerful search tools as Google, and therefore does not take into account service words, is unable to pick synonyms, and does not distinguish word forms. If you have multiple similar keywords, you need to list them all (synonyms, plural forms, etc.). Of course, 100 characters are not enough to mention all the terms; pick their most relevant forms and list them separated by commas (no spaces).

Also, keep in mind that you don’t need to use the same keyword in several places when doing iOS app store optimization. Internal index algorithms will only take into account the mention that has the highest weight. Don’t write phrases consisting of more than two words. The store’s tools identify single words and combine them as they see fit. The total number of combinations can reach tens of thousands. In general, the system does not work well with structures longer than three words; the best size is one or two ones.

The text in the keywords field is not visible to users, so some developers try to include the names of major competing brands. It can really lift the product in the search results, but you’ll be blocked if moderators find that you have gone for such a trick. Choose relevant keywords carefully because you can only change metadata on App Store when you upgrade the product. To edit only a keyword, an iOS app update is unacceptable; you should make significant changes to the item itself.

In-app purchases

In-app purchases (IAP) are another way to increase the visibility of your product. On App Store, you can add up to 20 different options: subscription, extra game levels, cosmetic items, service, and more. Each IAP is displayed in the search results and has its own name (30 characters), description (45 characters), and an icon. Use them to embed relevant keywords.

Localization

Localizing the app page and the app itself is a sure way to conquer new markets. App Store has a concept of primary and secondary localization. For example, American English and Spanish are used in the USA. Depending on the language settings on users’ devices, they may see different pages with different metadata. Indexing algorithms use information from both the main and additional app localization. Before launching the product, find out which locales are used in a region and adapt accordingly.

User actions

The high number of downloads and launches indicates your application quality. If the product is in demand by users, App Store’s internal algorithms will determine it as popular and show it more often. The more traffic your product gets from various sources, and the more per keyword installs, the higher it will rank for search queries. Deleting a product from devices does not strongly affect your condition as in Google Play.

Rating and reviews

The number of reviews on App Store affects the position in the search results. However, unlike Google Play, their texts are not indexed. Ratings have a positive effect on conversions, which in turn increases product visibility. If you ask your customers for feedback, it will be a big boost when paired with the right Apple Store search optimization tool. The app will rank higher for search queries. As practice shows, even ten reviews on a new item can raise it a hundred lines higher.

Updates

Constantly making changes to your product indicates that you regularly work on improvement. Right after the update release, the application will rise a few lines higher. Along with the update, you can adjust the metadata on the app page. By the way, on App Store, you can see the results of indexing the very next day after the renewal.

iOS ASO Features

We have detailed the features of each asset on the App Store page.

When optimizing content, keep in mind that the algorithms are closed, and there are probably other factors that are taken into account by internal ranking tools. — Asolytics Team

What is clear is that Google Play uses more sophisticated solutions than Apple. So, for example, search results on App Store are not personalized.

You can influence the ranking not only directly with the help of metadata but also by working with customers, providing quality service, and promptly responding to negative reviews. You should also take into account the current app store optimization trends and regularly check for updates in the work of the algorithms. For example, App Store now blocks apps related to the coronavirus epidemic. Only official organizations can post such products on this platform.

We didn’t mention a description in the article because, unlike Google Play, its content is not indexed. However, it can have an indirect effect on the conversion rate. It is one of those parameters that creates an excellent first impression of your product, so the text should be of high quality and tell about the uniqueness of the application. Icons, screenshots, and promo videos are used for the same purposes. The description should not exceed 4000 characters and should not include tags or HTML links.

By the way, Apple Spotlight branded search can help you increase customer engagement, the regularity of using your product, and other app statistics. As a developer, you can use it to, for example, help subscribers find files within your app. One of the helpful features of Spotlight is reminders. Clients will use your service more often when receiving regular information from a system. The higher the engagement rate, the higher your ranking position.

Make App Store Ranking Work for You

Your ASO strategy should take into account the characteristics of each platform, category, and market to be successful. In the case of App Store, ranking is primarily influenced by such on-metadata as the app name, subtitle, App Store localization, and a set of keywords. However, reviews and ratings are also considered by algorithms when compiling the list. By constantly improving the product and optimizing on-metadata, you indirectly influence off-metadata and help promote your game or app on App Store.

Now you know how to rank in App Store. We hope these tips will help you develop an effective ASO strategy and understand the mistakes you may have made in the past. Adapt to the conditions of a particular platform that your product has risen to a higher position. It will also positively affect the conversion to install rate. However, keep in mind that your strategy should be flexible and fluid throughout the whole life cycle of your product. You should constantly monitor mobile game industry trends and adjust your actions to maintain a consistently high ranking.

To have comprehensive information at your fingertips, be sure also to check out our article on keyword selection and title and description optimization for Google Play. After reading both guides, you will have a complete understanding of how the main app stores work and will be able to develop an effective ASO strategy that will increase the visibility of your product and drive installs.

App Store Requirements to Key Assets

To learn more about the specifics of creating a title and subtitle for both stores, read the advice of our experts App Title and Subtitle: The Complete ASO Manual. In this article, we will take a closer look at the nuances of optimizing your Apple App Store listing. This platform indexes text assets such as a title, subtitle, and keyword field. Other information like a promo text and description serves to attract customers, create a positive first impression, and indirectly affects such off-metadata as reviews and ratings.

So, here are the requirements for the main assets of the top apps for iPhone:

• App Title: It should be no longer than 30 characters and include your product name and the most relevant keyword. From the point of view of indexing algorithms, this element is of the most significant importance, and therefore you need to pay special attention to its creation.
• App Store Subtitle: It should also be up to 30 characters long. Use it to summarize the main idea of your product, but don’t forget to include the second most relevant keyword in this phrase. It is the second most important element.
• Keyword field: according to current requirements, the total amount of keywords should not exceed 100 characters.

Since these three elements are indexed by the Apple App Store’s internal tools, you should optimize them responsibly. Keep in mind that you can only change them when you update your application. If you want to change only one keyword, an iOS app update is not allowed.

Proper Keyword Research: ASO Techniques

As you already understood from the previous block, keyword selection is essential for ASO. The semantic core is the basis of your strategy since, according to Apple statistics, more than 60% of all downloads occur through search. You can use keywords both for title and subtile, but you can also use them in the keyword field. User will not see it, but the store algorithms take this filed into account. So here are App Store keywords best practices to apply in your optimization.

1. Know your target audience and the market
   To offer consumers the right app, you need to understand their needs and know what they are looking for. Think about exactly how customers can search for your product, what queries they can use to find it, and so on. Define your personal keyword Apple users can type looking for your item. You can also find suitable options in user reviews.
2. Analyze competitors
   You need to know what services similar to yours offer users and how exactly they do it. This way, you can understand how you differ from your competitors and identify App Store ASO keywords specific to your app or game. It, by the way, can find for you mid- and low-frequency queries that have little competition and bring you the traffic you want.
3. Use special tools
   As an additional help in making a semantic core, you can use services that specialize in it. You can also get helpful information and insights based on user behavior from Apple Search Ads. Advanced ASO tools allow you to determine which used phrases work well and which do not bring the desired traffic.
4. Focus on auto-recommendations
   Apple App Store offers automatic suggestions in the search bar. Such queries are frequently entered by users, and therefore you can pick them to optimize your page. Start typing a phrase, and the platform will suggest you auto-complete. The higher a word is on the list, the more popular it is.
5. Keep a balance between frequency and competition
   There is always a temptation to take the most popular words and use them only. However, you should understand that this option does not always work. As a rule, such terms and phrases have high competition. Using only such requests will not increase the visibility of your product and will not raise traffic. Better use high-, mid-, and low-frequency keywords.

Pro Tips for Using iOS App Stores Keywords

Since Apple does not publicly disclose how its internal algorithms work, many of the methods are based on the company’s general recommendations for the app page design and the real experience of ASO specialists. Adhere to these App Store keywords rules:

1. Do not use the exact keywords in different assets. It is inefficient because App Store considers the one used in the most important element. For example, a title has more weight than a keyword field.
2. Separate phrases must be written in a keyword field with commas, but at the same time remove spaces so as not to waste precious characters. You can also save space by writing numbers with digits instead of words.
3. Apple policy prohibits the use of other brand names to drive traffic. Some developers resort to this trick since a keyword field is not visible to users. However, moderators quickly find it and remove such products from the platform.
4. Don’t use special characters like “@” in the text assets as they have no weight. It is also not recommended to include misspelled terms, words like “app” and “free,” category names, plurals (relevant for English), and so on in the list of keywords, as they are indexed automatically.
5. Avoid too-long phrases. As practice shows, App Store has difficulty analyzing keywords in three or four words and more. The optimal size is one or two words. Moreover, the algorithms combine your keywords and get several thousand options.
6. Don’t include English keywords for localized pages. ASO means adapting all key queries when entering new markets.
7. Don’t use irrelevant keywords. They may increase your traffic initially, but they will not attract your target audience. In the future, it threatens you with negative reviews and low ratings, as users will not get what they were really looking for.

Be sure to test any changes you make to see how well they work.

Regularly Update Your ASO Keywords

Now you know everything about the Apple App Store requirements for indexed text assets and understand how to optimize a title, subtitle, and keyword field in a way that has a positive impact on attracting customers and driving traffic. If you have achieved the desired result, do not stop. Demand, consumer sentiment, and current trends are constantly changing, which means you should regularly review and update your keywords to keep visibility at the right level.

Besides, optimizing the listed text assets is only part of a global strategy. You should also pay attention to writing quality promo text and description, creating catchy visuals, and working with user reviews and ratings. Fortunately, with our materials and articles on the blog, any task becomes easy and more understandable.

Is your company about to launch an app? If so, you should treat the whole process as a journey split by many milestones and a hefty backpack full of survival tools. Let’s call your milestones “app KPI” and imagine carrying a backpack full of tools and knowledge on how to measure ASO! Are these words not familiar enough to you? This piece will explain what app KPIs matter the most and what your company needs to do to monitor them correctly.

After reading the guide, you will know:

• what ASO metrics and key app KPIs matter,
• how to gauge and apply them correctly.

Let’s begin by deciphering the main terms. The letters KPI mean “key performance indicators,” and ASO stands for “App Store Optimization metrics.” Getting into ASO and mobile marketing KPIs will provide you with a clear map of your app’s strong and weak sides, and show you which marketing buttons need to be pressed regardless of your app goals. They can include retention improvement, organic growth, a surge of installation’s count, user cost minimization, conversion improvement, and others. Many of these metrics rely on the app’s discoverability on the app marketplaces, and this guide starts from this exact point.

App Store Visibility: What Makes It Critical

Regardless of your ASO strategy, the biggest goal is to increase app visibility on the App Store and Google Play and generate more organic (aka worthy) installations. You can achieve high discoverability for your app via the featured section, search, and top charts. To measure how visible and discoverable your product is, you need to monitor KPI rankings regularly across all the countries your product is available in. The key metrics for mobile apps to monitor with your ASO toolkit include:

1. Keyword rankings
   The rule to remember is that the number of keywords your app can organically rank on defines how its visibility rate is. However, you can’t make this the key target of your app’s KPI. Instead, you should pay higher attention to the ranks of each specific keyword and the overall volume of all keywords.

For example, if your app uses 40 keywords for ranking and its keyword volume is equal to 70, it means that it has better app store visibility than any other app that has 150 keywords with a keyword volume of 20. — Asolytics Team

2. Category rankings
   Although they are not amongst critical KPIs anymore and we generally don’t count them to evaluate ASO success, they are still important indicators that can help you figure out your app’s place amongst resembling titles in the category and in which way ASO efforts and results of the top titles are ahead of yours.
3. Related apps
   When your app appears in the “Similar” section, it serves as an extra source of organic downloads through search. You need to measure the overall number of appearances in “Similar” to see which kinds of apps and games are referring to your app and for what reason. This way, you can compare your ASO efforts with the competitors and borrow ideas that work well for similar products.
4. Top chart positions
   Getting into app store top charts, such as “Top Free Apps,” “Top Paid Apps” or “Grossing” is an achievement on its own. However, you also need to measure how the keyword metrics change when you make it to the top charts. Besides, you have to track the surge in user reviews, and, most importantly, the surge in conversion rate. You can easily monitor app usage statistics using third-party tools you like the most.
5. Visibility is “Featured”
   When your app makes it to the app store home page, it’s another huge KPI that requires monitoring similar to when your app gets to the “Top” section. We prepared an article, “Get Your App Featured by Apple App Store” to show you how to get make it to the most downloaded apps list.
6. Visibility score
   This KPI for app marketing is valuable in terms of competition and shows how visible your product is compared to similar apps and games in the niche. Visibility score involves the number and volume of keywords your rank app on.
   

7. Keyword impact
   This metric shows how many organic downloads your app gains on particular keywords after a recent app metadata update. It can help you eventually achieve a higher concentration of valuable keywords and boost the average number of installs. Don’t forget that you can use the Asolytics keyword tool for profound keyword-based analysis of your app and its competitors.

To collect keywords, use the Recommended tool in Asolytics

Conversion Rate: How to Measure It

Conversion rate is the second biggest goal that is affected by several ASO metrics and can be split into two main categories:

• On-metadata – this includes an icon, app description, video preview, app name, and screenshots.
• Off-metadata – this includes reviews, user ratings, and the number of downloads.

Proper adaptation of such app elements as icons and previews can attract many users. That’s why it is important to test icons before launching the app. After the app is in the store, you should monitor reviews and work with them. All of these steps can increase app conversion rate of your app.

The KPIs for the conversion funnel efficiency measurement include:

• TTR (tap-through rate, same as click-through rate) – this KPI measures the fraction of users who tapped the icon of your app to see the product page. The quality of the icon and title affect this metric the most.
• CR (conversion rate to install) – this reflects the percentage of users who decided to download the app after viewing the product page.

Proper optimization of TTR and CR is crucial for your app’s conversion funnel efficiency. These two metrics translate into the number of users who get interested in your app by the product page and end up downloading the product.

But how to improve them? That’s where A/B testing comes in handy. Using ASO A/B testing tools, you can conduct experiments to compare how two different approaches perform. You need to change one element of the product page at a time to clearly identify its impact and prevent ASO cannibalization. For the best results, paid user acquisition is recommended.

User Feedback: The Impact of Ratings and Reviews

The next important step to measure mobile app performance is to analyze user feedback quality as it has a huge impact on attracting more users. In terms of ASO, user reviews and ratings play a huge role in how app store algorithms treat your app and affect conversion rates by influencing user decisions to download your app.

User sentiment has a direct impact on the visibility score and conversion, so it’s very important to work on it, gaining as many positive ratings and reviews as possible to avoid a decrease in conversion. Never leave the reviews unanswered, as a good reply can not only encourage a user to use your app more but also change their mind and improve the rating. Fortunately, both Google Play and the App Store let you do this.

Organic Installs: The Only Installs That Matter

For most marketers, the number of organic installs is one of the most important apps and mobile game KPIs as it allows them to measure the return of ASO objectively. However, both Google Play and the App Store don’t make it easy to measure organic installs. For example, the App Store combines organic search downloads and Apple Search Ads in the solo “Search” source, and Google started to do the same after the introduction of its refreshed console design.

This being said, you should remember that the increase of organic downloads doesn’t necessarily relate to the ASO and SEO efforts of your team but can also indicate successful acquisition campaigns on social media or elsewhere. To split the factors more effectively, you need to launch ASO activities apart from advertising improvements or major app updates. Besides, it will be helpful to split creative and keyword updates to measure each of them more precisely.

Monetization: Last but Not Least

The last and perhaps the most valuable of mobile apps and mobile games KPIs is monetization because it indicates the amount of revenue your project receives. This includes three major items to measure:

• LTV (Lifetime Value) – a forecast of app profits per user in the future.
• ARPU (Average Revenue per User) – latest revenue figure divided by the current number of active users.
• Revenue – the full amount of money generated by your app.

Don’t forget that the quality of each user is much more important than the overall number of users (aka installs). A user who keeps paying for the subscription and views more ads is many times more important than the one who tries and leaves in a few minutes. That’s why we recommend watching how the most active users behave in your app and product page and analyzing what they think about your product via comments rather than pursuing a larger number of monthly downloads. Use the Asolytics pro features for that precious in-depth analysis that will help you take your app to a brand new level.

Mobile App KPIs Beyond Metrics: Exploring Uncharted Territories

When it comes to app stats, some crucial bits fly under the radar. Naturally, we are obsessed with downloads, how many people enjoy your application, its stickiness, and those fancy ASO stats. But there’s a treasure trove hiding in the shadows. Below, we’ll let you in on those undercover, yet super important, unmeasured elements that play a huge role in your app success. Also, we’ll provide tips on how to work on each of them to skyrocket your product to stardom:

1. User experience

• Session Length & Frequency. Check how long users stick around and how often they come back.
• App Responsiveness. Make sure your app works in a gracefully smooth way — no hiccups, no glitches.
• User Flow Analysis. Follow users’ footsteps, find spots causing frustration.

2. App stability and performance

• Crash Rates. Keep tabs on hiccups to prevent them from ruining the fun for your audience.
• App Size & Resource Usage. Watch the app’s diet — how much space and power it slurps.

3. Feature adoption & usage

• Yay or Nay. Figure out which features get the spotlight and which ones fade into the background.
• Spring Cleaning. Tidy up or toss features no one’s into.

4. Response time & feedback incorporation

• Speedy Reaction. Check how fast you swoop in to rescue user queries.
• User Voices Matter. See how well user ideas make it to your application.

Conclusion

Now you can clearly see that there’s no solo metric that can answer how successful your product actually is. It’s a big bunch of KPIs that can also affect each other dynamically. That’s why you have to move from measuring the specific indicators to painting the general ASO portrait of your app or game. Don’t underestimate the power of data and don’t forget to follow the “divide and conquer” rule while making any ASO updates. It means that you have to change only one element at a time and separate any ASO efforts from exterior advertising and social media marketing efforts. To accurately gauge the effectiveness of your app store optimization efforts, it’s crucial to familiarize yourself with key ASO vocabulary such as conversion rate, keyword ranking, and user retention.

You also have to be as realistic as you can while setting ASO goals and invest enough time and effort into developing and implementing a marketing strategy. Don’t be afraid to experiment with approaches and pay close attention to how well the product functions. There’s no good ASO without a good product, but a good product won’t shoot without high-quality ASO as well!

Being productive or finding cheap thrills is a lot easier now that mobile apps have entered our lives. There’s an app for everything these days, and it’s all accessible on the go, right from the palm of your hand. Your app is probably equally easy to pinpoint, but with such a multitude of competitor products, is discovering it truly a cakewalk for your target clients? That’s where ASO (App Store Optimization) kicks in.

App Store Optimization is the process of maximizing your mobile product visibility within the major app distribution platforms, as well as enhancing its conversion parameters. Along with capturing higher positions in the app store search results, ASO also aims at increasing your app’s click-through rate (CTR). It suggests convincing people to tap on your listing when they find it within their preferred mobile app storefront.

Furthermore, a successful ASO strategy is aimed at stimulating users to install your application (read as making a purchase). That particular stage of the whole process is known as app conversion rate. Whether you have already jumped on the app promotion bandwagon or are just planning a mobile app, you’ll find today’s guide and the list of must-dos quite handy.

ASO vs. SEO: Briefly on How They Differ

Although there are certain common points, they are two standalone notions, of course. Let’s start with the vital similarities within the ASO SEO duet. Both rely on optimization at their core: the former is for web, while the latter is for mobile applications. Both SEO and ASO prioritize keyword exploration and backlink building. The ultimate mission of ASO techniques, as well as SEO strategies, is to improve the visibility/CTR/CRO of a digital product.

In a way, ASO is mobile app SEO. The major distinction between the two ecosystems lies in the ranking parameters and what we’re promoting for. Needless to say that every App Store Optimization tool will differ from that of SEO. As for the list of ranking criteria in terms of mobile marketing, it is shorter as compared to that of the web. We’ll delve into this topic deeper later in this post.

5 Advantages of ASO

Your future clients can find your application in one of the major app stores. Considering the overwhelming competition, simply getting your product on the distribution platform is not enough. You must work on boosting your app store visibility, follow a treasure trove of frequently changing trends, and generally develop a successful optimization strategy while adjusting it to those trends on a regular basis. In other words, ASO marketing is what you want to master if getting your app in front of your target consumers is your utmost priority.

Here’s how exactly ASO aids you in growing your app users organically and continuously:

1. Galvanize App Visibility in the App Stores
   How can your consumers install and utilize your product if they fail to easily discover it in the first place? ASO is the answer to this crucial question. Irrespective of how brilliant and unique your application is, you need to work on making it easily findable. If you want the time and effort you’re constantly investing in your product to ultimately pay off in a big way, get the marketing going!
2. Bolster Your App Discoverability
   The fact that people can discover your mobile game on their favorite app distribution platform is not enough, alas. The project you’ve worked so hard on completing eating should be easily discoverable within your most relevant target consumers i.e., people who are currently on the prowl for a product exactly like yours. Due to smart keyword enhancement as part of a smart marketing strategy, you can ensure your game is shown in front of the genre enthusiasts it was crafted for.
3. Maximize Organic Installs
   If you work up a really effective marketing plan, you are sure to contribute to elevating your natural app installs to a whole new level and secure a long-term positive outcome for your income. With the right marketing techniques in action, by typing the search terms related to your product into an app store search bar, your potential users will invariably come across your product. Don’t forget that ASO is a dynamic notion, which means you should refine and upgrade your approach on a regular basis.
4. Save Your Money & Speeding Your Revenue Flow
   Wondering how exactly app marketing can save your money? It’s all simple. With a top-level App Store Optimization plan at your fingertips, you won’t have to endlessly splurge on the not-always-effective ads — and get the possibility to focus on purely organic growth while using your time and knowledge as the major investments. This cuts your expenses and ensures rock-steady growth. Furthermore, a smart set of ASO tactics, along with excellent CRO techniques in use, always result in revenue lift.
5. Reach Clients Globally
   By translating your application, as well as your app store pages and all the creatives in other languages (the process is referred to as localization), you will excel in reaching potential customers from across the globe. In other words, ASO adds up to scaling your app on a global level immensely. You can adapt your app for different languages both in App Store and Google Store.

Apple’s vs. Google’s Mobile Storefront

Now that your app is in the final dev stages and you know a thing or two about how to promote it, it’s time to choose where you want it published. You will most likely opt for Apple’s App Store or Android’s Google Play. If your app caters to both operating system aficionados, you can easily aim at getting it published on both stores. Before we switch to the general stuff, let’s discuss the comparison specificities.

One major distinction between the two app distribution platforms lies in the publishing factor. Both stores require an app to go through a specific review procedure for the purpose of enhancing the quality of their catalogs.

Apple will be reviewing your product longer as compared to Google. It means that chances are you’ll achieve the Google Play featuring faster than the Apple Store inclusion. — Asolytics Team

Moving further, keyword polishing is vital for both mobile storefronts. But the ways in which the two platforms evaluate your keywords bear very few similarities. Your ASO for iOS, for instance, must not involve repeating key words throughout your listing. Meanwhile, this technique works wonders as a Google Play optimization tool.

What Influences Your App Store Ranking?

Anyone with a passionate interest in all things ASO iOS related knows how essential your Apple store ranking is. With nearly 65% of people finding apps via rummaging through Apple’s mobile storefront, knowing what exactly influences your ranking is paramount. So, how are apps ranked in the App Store?

Here are five major Store ranking:

• product name, URL, and subtitle;
• what clients say about you online;
• update frequency;
• localization quality;
• installs and user commitment.

Factors That Impact Your Google Play Search Results

Wondering how Google Play’s algorithms work? There are some important parameters that have the greatest influence on your Google storefront ranking. Here’s a brief overview of the major Google Play ranking factors:

• app metadata;
• what clients say about you online;
• backlinks and marketing plan;
• how frequent your updates are;
• the number of uninstalls;
• installs and commitment.

Your App Store Optimization Checklist

The checklist below is all about the steps you need to take when sorting out your mobile marketing. Without further ado, let’s get started with the must-do’s required for a solid ASO strategy. The most important thing is knowing your needs. This, in its turn, will show you where to go next — and revolves around the following vital points:

• knowing where you rank: utilize the Asolytics tools to figure out your position in terms of keywords and visibility;
• creating the list of keywords to target;
• evaluating your efficient competitors based on a multitude of parameters;
• testing an array of potentially effective techniques and plans;
• monitoring the outcome of your marketing activities;
• achieving quality localization.

These six points will lead your optimization efforts along a triumphant path. If you’ve got the required ticks, then you’re more than ready to get your product into the positions it deserves. Always remember that with Asolytics, you will learn all there is to know about each of the aforementioned ranking factors, as well as get to make use of the top-level tools to refine your ASO strategy.

ASO in Action: The Basics

With our comprehensive guides, you become fully equipped with all the right tools for getting out there and pushing your app promotion efforts to the next level. Below, we’ll touch upon the important steps to follow on your way to boosting your mobile expansion.

1. Plan Out Your ASO
   Know your market inside out. Know your competition even better. Learn to think (and type) like your target audience. Once you’re through with the major analysis of these aspects, take action. Work on finding relevant keywords. Get localization going. Spy on your competition all the time. Keep tabs on ASO dynamics and follow the trends.
2. Name Your Product Well
   Because the name of your product is the first thing that people see, making the right choice here is a must-do. The best app name reflects what your product offers, is concise, a breeze to read, and doesn’t sound like something you’ve heard before. Integrating your most powerful keyword into your app name is sometimes a very good ASO technique. Earlier we wrote about how to name an app.
3. Write a Solid Description
   App description is another vital metadata element. It should embody the heart of your product, as well as contain a summary of its major characteristics. Your app description should be informative, well-structured, and adjusted to suit both your clients and the storefront algorithms. Include bullet points and emojis. Avoid exceeding 4,000 characters in each store.
4. Decide on the Highest-Performing Icon
   Your app icon offers powerful potential for instantly grabbing people’s attention. When working on its design, concentrate on your product’s peculiarities and transform them into the visual form. Less is more is the golden rule here, so make sure your app icon is vibrant without being too overwhelming. A/B test icon to stick with what really works for your consumers. What is ASO test? Read one of our next blog posts for more details on the topic.
5. Work on Other Creatives
   Your app screenshots or preview videos may not be among the direct app store ranking determinants. But they are crucial when it comes to winning over loyal customers the natural way. Therefore, refining these elements is sure to bring you a treasure trove of bonuses.
   
   Furthermore, over 50% of people prefer visuals over text. Which means they may download your app based on the first-sight-oriented opinion only. With that said, make sure the screens and videos you share highlight the best benefits that your product comes with, as well as tell a visual story of its uniqueness.
6. Keep Track of What Your Clients Say & React Fast
   Feedback from your consumers is of the highest importance. And it’s one of the vital aspects of your marketing plan. Both Apple’s and Google’s mobile storefronts consider the comments and reviews your clients leave about your product. The higher your ratings, the better your positions in the search results.
   
   Looking to skyrocket your app reviews and ratings to stardom? Stimulate your users to participate. Do it gently, without pushing too hard. Don’t forget to reply to people’s reviews speedily. That way, you will show your clients that you care and i.e., you can be trusted. Asolytics offers great tools for managing your customer reviews, by the way.

ASO Is an Ongoing Process (That Pays Off Very Well)

App Store Optimization is an ongoing process. Thus, if you’re aiming for some truly brilliant results, be prepared to invest weeks of your time in the operation, along with months of improvement once you overcome the first (and the hardest) milestones of implementing your app promotion plan.

In combination with other marketing channels, ASO is sure to give a significant boost to your product’s findability and growth. Typically, the first results are seen after a month of work, while the number of installs and traffic increase are noticed within up to 3 months. Sounds boring? Maybe. But quick wins no longer equal long-term gains. Yes, ASO is a day to day job that takes time. But the hard work does pay off tremendously.

The silver lining is also that although mobile promotion comes with a certain learning curve, mastering the basics will not be the most challenging task of your life. With some knowledge, in-depth analysis, and determination, you can achieve impressive results, boost your installs on Google Play, increase downloads on the App Store, as well as gain loyal customers and maximize your revenue.

Cutting to the Chase: Don’t Stop ASOing

Last but not least, even if you’re pleased with the results of your ASO campaign, maintaining those achievements is what you should keep laser-like focus on. Therefore, keep working on it all the time. Why? Because the algorithms are constantly shifting, your competitors get fiercely stronger on a daily basis, and your users tomorrow may not be the same as yesterday.

Your product is in the constant process of changing, too, by the way. Growth in this aspect leads to ranking better for high-competition search phrases. And that means your app keyword research is something that will hardly ever end throughout your app promotion journey.

To cut a long story short, make sure that your ASO plan resonates with the ever-changing marketing scene and keeps up with the pace of this constant evolution. That is if you want to keep the precious organic traffic you’ve worked so hard to bring in. We hope our app downloads stats guide helps you reach ASOlute success on your mobile marketing path. You’re very welcome to bookmark our website for more updates.