Creating a highly successful ASO strategy is vital for growing your customer base and scaling the business. Today, we want to discuss the best ways to combine mobile App ASO and SEO. Mobile apps are very useful in various industries, and they help build customer relationships and improve the overall customer experience. However, to successfully advertise an app, you need to think about the best promotion strategies.
Since SEO is the go-to tool when talking about online popularity and organic traffic, it is only natural to try and combine these two elements.
How to combine Mobile App ASO and SEO?
Before we talk in-depth about combining ASO and SEO, let’s take a look at a quick summary of what is to come.
There are a couple of essential parts of the integration process. First things first, know your keywords. Keyword research comes first, and it will be your bread and butter during the entire process.
Second, you need to optimize the frequency of updates in the app store. All apps require updates, and when they happen, your clients need to know what changed.
Another essential part of every app is various app store assets. These are useful additions that improve customer experience and help clients learn more about the app.
The goal of these assets is to expose your clients to the most important features of the app. The reason why people are doing this is to expand global outreach. Apps should be available internationally, and you want clients from all over the world to use your product.
All of the above is essential when it comes to exposing your app to customers. You should nurture high mobile app development standards and make sure to cover all of the critical sectors. Everything we mentioned so far will be a key element of combining ASO and SEO for your app promotion.
What is ASO?
Like SEO represents search engine optimization, ASO is short for app store optimization. This is the process that will help you increase the visibility of your mobile application or game. That will naturally lead to more organic downloads.
Combining ASO and SEO will require a lot of time, effort, and energy. However, it should result in a high ROI. No matter how many resources you spend, you should know that your investment is worth it. Mobile apps are extremely popular, and they represent one of the most important software products of the future.
How to do app store optimization?
We spoke briefly at the beginning of the article about the most important elements of app store optimization. Here are a few key elements to improve.
Meta title
Longer app titles are not good for a few reasons. First, they are not memorable. If a customer hears a longer name, chances are they will not remember it. When they start searching for the app, they will probably not find it again and download something else.
The second reason why long app names are not good is due to how SEO works. The search engine results page (SERP) will truncate long names due to the character limit. It will not look presentable if the name of your app is cut in half.
Finally, a short, memorable app name attracts more attention. With that in mind, take your time when creating the app name.
Meta description
The meta description represents your way of advertising your app in a few sentences. The most important rule about meta descriptions is that they should be 120 characters long, since we are talking about the mobile store environment.
These 120 characters are what helps sell your app. You should treat them as a CTA button. Do not forget to add the main keyword to the meta description as well.
Rating and app reviews
Another two crucial elements of ASO are app rating and app reviews. People love to leave ratings and reviews, and they also like to read them. This is the equivalent of “word of mouth” advertising.
A lot of mobile apps are full of glitches and errors. If you are looking to purchase an app, you want to make sure it works as intended and that it solves your problems. Since you cannot and should not hide bad ratings or reviews, you need to develop a customer support team. Use the comments to immediately address any negative reviews and reach out to the clients and try to remedy their problems.
App keywords
You need to strategically place app keywords on your app’s page. We already said how important it is that your meta title and meta description contain the essential keywords. When writing any content for your app page, focus on those two first because they have the highest priority.
Adding screenshots and preview videos
Allowing free trials for potential customers is an essential strategy. They get to experience the core features of the app firsthand. However, even with that, it is crucial to post screenshots and preview videos of your app on the app page.
People often don’t have time to download free trials and test them. They browse the app store and go over hundreds of apps in a row. The screenshots you post must attract attention and entice them into checking out the app.
Optimize the app icon
The app icon is as important as the app name. It should stay in the clients’ minds as a symbol of your app. We all know that a picture is worth a thousand words.
For creating the app icon, you want to hire a professional designer. Just have in mind that Android and iOS have different size standards. For Android, the required size is 512×512 pixels, while for iOS, it needs to be at least 1024×1024.
Consider the cost of the app development
Developing a fully-fledged mobile application can be expensive. You need to think about the price because it will also affect your ASO standards. If people find your app too expensive compared to what it offers, you won’t achieve what you set out to do. Especially if we look at how many free apps there are in today’s market.
Before we start talking about the impact of SEO on app store optimization, know that the price will have a significant impact on the success of the project.
The cost of the app development is affected by:
- The choice of your app programming team;
- The app designer;
- The platform you want to use for selling the app;
- The marketing campaign.
App updates
Another element that will significantly impact the success of your app is data updates. This is where customer comments and reviews can help a lot. Reading the negative feedback will help improve the app. Furthermore, you can ask your users to report bugs.
As soon as the glitch is fixed, you need to release the update and let your users know. Additional advice is to respond to any negative comments saying that the problem is now resolved. Even if the original poster does not download the app again, potential customers reading the comment will appreciate your quick response.
Advertising your app through the use of SEO
App store optimization is one thing. However, using SEO to advertise your mobile app is a whole other situation. Both are very similar in terms of how they work, but the platforms that use them are different. While ASO works for the app store, SEO works for your website.
Mobile apps have a huge impact on digital marketing, and that means you can even use your app to advertise your website. The advertising process goes both ways.
How to combine mobile app ASO and SEO?
As we saw, the most important elements of mobile app ASO are:
- meta title and description;
- app rating and reviews;
- app keywords;
- screenshots and preview videos;
- app icon
Knowing that, what can we do to further increase the organic download of the app?
Blog about the app
Blogging is a great way to advertise a product or service. People want free information about whatever their interest is. Since all good apps have useful features that solve users’ problems, it would be a good idea to teach them how to use the app. That’s where your website’s blog comes into place.
Create tutorials and guides that will teach your users how to use the app, and post them as articles on your blog. Besides the general SEO that will bring more potential users to your blog, you can also link it to the app store. This way, anyone who visits the app store can directly go to the app’s blog to read more about it.
Link your website and the app store
You need a CTA button on your website that will take the users to the download page of the app store. Keep in mind that there are iOS and Android users, which means you need to create options for both.
Furthermore, link the app store page to the website page. This is a great way to boost organic traffic for both environments. This mutual connection will expose your business to two different markets and keep all users grouped together.
Another benefit is that anyone on the app store will have access to whatever changes happen to the website and vice versa.
Use ASO and SEO integration to boost organic traffic and downloads of your app
As a key takeaway, consider that, to combine mobile app ASO and SEO, you will need a lot of time, effort, and planning. However, the long-term benefits are rewarding. If you focus on customer experience and needs, you cannot go wrong. Furthermore, development costs need to be balanced with the app’s price. Research similar apps and compare their prices to the features they offer. This will give you a good starting point on where your price needs to be. With everything said, best of luck creating and publishing your app on the market!
