ASO Operation

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Creating Mobile Apps on iOS & Android

“Many companies have only focused on iOS and ported over the same app interface and design to Android. When approaching each platform, design for the platform. For Android, excellent design considers how people use the Android platform – for example, how to navigate, back button, home button, the menu.”

Let’s catch up to speed: you’ve designed a mobile app with these expert suggestions in mind. Now, you’re determining which platform will help you achieve the most success. Here are a few tips

Best practices

There’s a reason that developers at bigger companies are hired based on experience in iOS or Android; each platform requires different proficiencies. To develop an app for iOS, you must code in Objective-C or Swift. To develop an app for Android, you must use Java. However, smaller app development companies have just one or two developers who might program for platforms in which they are unfamiliar. The first step to building native apps: If you’re coding alone, get familiar with the devices. Learn how the capabilities and interfaces differ on iOS vs. Android apps – from notifications to navigation – so you can create platform-specific designs that feel intuitive to users.

Launching

Even if you’re considering selling your app in multiple marketplaces, it’s generally a good idea to launch in just one first. This way, you can catch any bugs and optimize the app before it’s live in multiple stores. For a few reasons, it’s common to launch first in Apple’s App Store:

On average, apps on the App Store make five times as much as apps on Google Play.

Apps can receive higher visibility through multiple channels in the App Store, like the “App of the Week” category.

Apple has fewer screen resolutions to keep in mind compared to Android.

After the app is live in one marketplace, you can optimize the app based on user feedback and analytics. Comments in the marketplace will guide you to what users like and don’t like about the app; for instance, the app could take too long to load or advertisements could be intrusive. Analytics reveal in-app behavior, so you know the retention rate, uninstalls, etc. and can begin to understand what makes the app successful. Once you’ve optimized, it’s safe to redesign for new platforms and launch in Google Play or Windows Store without repeating the same mistakes.

A note for those who currently have only one app live, from Arash Hadipanah, Rue La La’s Senior Mobile Product Manager. “It’s important to have a mobile website for the platforms you might not be ready to invest in. For example, if you only have an iOS app, you need to have a mobile website to complement in order to cater to users on Android or Windows.”

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Intro to App Store Optimization (ASO)

App store optimization (ASO)

The goal of ASO is to drive traffic to your app in the store so users download it. Once you’ve loaded your app to the app store, you can take advantage of four ASO factors that will improve your app’s ranking: title, keywords, downloads and ratings and reviews. Think of this as marketplace SEO.

Title

Your app title is the first thing that users see when sifting through search results. It needs to be descriptive enough that users understand your app’s purpose instantly. In the App Store and Google Play, you only have 30 characters to work with. Begin by researching your main keyword. Including the right keyword in your title can improve the chances of your app showing up in search results by 10.3%. If you need help choosing an effective keyword, MobileDevHQ has a popular “Keyword Research” tool. Above all, remain confident in your decision, as changing the title after launching will confuse users and make it harder to spread the word about your app.

Keywords

After you’ve picked your title, you can use other potential keywords to increase conversions. Apple gives developers a 100-character allotment. Discern your biggest competitors’ keywords, and use MobileDevHQ again to determine their difficulty. The trick is to pick relevant keywords that have low competition and high searches. It’s better to choose average-searched keywords and show up higher in the search results than pick highly searched keywords (like “game”) and show up as the last result. It’ll take some playing around before you find the magic combination, so keep testing keywords even after app submission.

Downloads

While the title and keywords are the most important factors to affect ASO, downloads also affect app ranking in the App Store and in Google Play. We’ll cover user acquisition in-depth in our next post, but as a general rule of thumb, drive app downloads via social media (Facebook, Twitter), PR, and referrals.

Ratings and reviews

The last ASO tactics we’ll mention are the app’s ratings and reviews. These also affect app ranking, but aren’t as easy to control. The goal here is to not just acquire ratings and reviews, but to acquire positive ratings and reviews. Find a way to connect with users, so they have a place to directly give you negative feedback, rather than venting publically on the marketplace. One incentivization tactic developers commonly employ are in-app prompts asking repeat customers for ratings and feedback. Use this as a way to encourage positive reviews, while offering a chance for users to mention concerns privately. However, be sure these prompts don’t interrupt user experience. If they pop up at inopportune moments, they’ll drive away users; if they appear too many times, it might look as if you’re begging for ratings.

If you need more guidance, this is a great cheat sheet that will help you integrate ASO best practices.

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Intro to App Store Optimization (ASO)

This post will cover two topics: how to submit your app to the App Store and Google Play, and app store optimization (ASO) strategies. Feel free to scroll to the bottom if you’d like to skip the submission process and get straight to ASO best practices.

Submitting the app

iOS

Begin by registering first as an Apple Developer for free, and then by registering as an iOS Developer and paying the annual $99 fee. The process is fairly straight-forward, but in the event that you need step-by-step instructions, this tutorial has a great explanation. It takes a day or so for Apple to process the entire registration, so be patient.

After you have created an account, you may start the process of submitting your app to Apple’s App Store. The process is summed up in these five steps:

Create a distribution certificate.

Create a store distribution provisioning profile.

Archive and validate your app.

For Mac apps, test the Mac Installer Package.

Submit your app using Xcode or Application Loader

You may see Apple’s instructions for the process here.

The App Store is notorious for rejecting apps based on a stringent set of rules. From offensive content to features that Apple just plain doesn’t like, Apple commonly rejects app submissions – leading to frustration from developers. In case you missed it, here’s a refresher for accepted rules. Thoroughly check that your app is in line with Apple’s standards to avoid sending your app through the submission process multiple times.

Android

To submit your app to Google Play, first create an account on the Developer Console and pay the one-time $25 developer registration fee. It can take up to 48 hours to process the registration.

Google offers step-by-step directions for submitting apps to Google Play. After you have reviewed your app for potential fallacies – Google is much more lenient than Apple on rules – you may submit your app by following the links on the directions. The process is simpler than Apple’s; developers upload their APKs, fill out a few key fields and publish to the queue. If you’d like a tutorial with screenshots, click here. The review process for this takes a few hours.

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What everybody should know about app store optimisation (ASO)

Categories

In order to detect less competitive categories, you can once more use the tools mentioned before. This is especially helpful when dealing with a multitude of possible categories. In that case, I advise to choose the least competitive.

Further Ranking Factors

In addition to the OnPage components mentioned so far, several OffPage factors also influence the ranking.

Conclusion

Once an app is developed, the app publisher has to ensure the discovery of the app in the app stores. In order for that to work well in both App Stores, you have to keep in mind that, amongst other things, the Google Play Store does not provide a keyword field as does Apple and that you need to increasingly work with keywords in the description text. If you disregard these differences, it will affect the download numbers of your app.

Furthermore, you should consider that ASO is nothing that can be done in five minutes. It is a process that needs to be monitored continuously and requires both time and effort. App publishers need to have an eye on their rankings and the rankings of their competitors. On a daily basis, new apps are being published, ratings and reviews as well as downloads are recorded, which all influence rankings. For your keywords to perform well and deliver the desired traffic, you’ll need to put them to the test incessantly.

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What everybody should know about app store optimisation (ASO)

ScreenshotsDescription

The description should explain the features and functionalities of your app in more detail. You may want to structure the description with headings, key points and capitalisations. Make sure to include keywords and social media references in the text. The description best starts with your proposition and the highlights of your app. This has shown to be the way to stimulate the most downloads.

App Preview

In order to showcase the app, both app stores let you integrate a video. Texts, graphics and audio elements should be incorporated here. In the Apple App Store, the video is allowed to be 15 to 30 seconds long, in Google Play it is 30 seconds to 2 minutes.

Screenshots

The screenshots of an app should display the app’s highlights at first glance and should convey the app’s content, advantages and handling. By the way, by screenshots I do not mean actual screenshots as in the pure sense of capturing a screen in your app. Rather, these screenshots should be well-designed images which contain a screenshot of the app’s content along with the corresponding features and advantages. These screenshots are basically the advertising posters of the app.

As a general rule, the most important images/features should be placed first.

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What everybody should know about app store optimisation (ASO)

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What everybody should know about app store optimisation (ASO)

App Title

The title is one of the most important elements of an app. It should therefore cover the name as well as the content of the app. It’s also recommended to incorporate keywords in the title – but be aware of keyword stuffing: as with SEO, you do not want to overdo this with ASO.And this is where we can already identify the first divergences of the stores:

App Icon

Alongside the title, the icon is the first element of your app a potential user gets to see. Even if it does not influence the (text-based) visibility of the app in the store, it nevertheless helps to stimulate users to download the app. The icon should therefore be designed as professionally as possible. This will help to convince users to download the app within the three seconds such decisions usually take.

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What everybody should know about app store optimisation (ASO)

App store optimisation (ASO) is a subset of app marketing which has long been underestimated and disregarded. Quite rightly, today it’s growing in popularity, because it’s all about improving product visibility within app stores and stimulating users to actually download an app.

Two stats about apps that make ASO important:

there are more than two million mobile apps in the large app stores

about 63% of apps are discovered and downloaded while browsing through the app stores

So – lots of consumers are hunting for apps, but, crucially, there are millions of them on the marketplace. Because ASO helps mobile app publishers make their products stand out in the crowded, competitive marketplace, its importance is clear.

ASO is similar to SEO in that it’s about optimising different components to influence ranking. The higher you rank, the more visible you are for potential customers, resulting in more downloads.

Which elements need to be considered and how can they be optimised?

Here lies the crucial fact: ASO is not just ASO. What works for the Apple App Store does not necessarily also apply to the Google Play Store – which is something many app publishers have not yet realised.

Since my search for a comparison of the individual components of the two large stores within the scope of an app optimisation has proven to be rather troublesome, I am going to attend to the matter myself. In the following, you will find an infographic comparing the most important features of the two stores, iTunes and Google Play, accompanied by an explanation of the individual ASO components and the stores’ differences to consider.

Keyword Research

For ASO, as for SEO, everything starts with thorough keyword research. However, the search in app stores is somewhat different than the ones in search engines. Therefore a powerful keyword research tool is your first requirement. Common SEO keyword tools like the Keyword Planner are a good first starting point, but are not necessarily ideal for App Store Optimisation.

Instead, keywordtool.io can be used in order to determine users’ search patterns in app stores. In addition I recommend tools like App Annie or Sensor Tower for ASO keyword research. They help you find the traffic of a keyword as well as the ranking of an app for a certain keyword. Even if the app is not listed in the stores yet, you can still use these tools to analyse competitors. See which keywords they are using and find out the competition density for a specific keyword.

By the way, it is not enough to just choose keywords – you should track them continuously and thereby monitor your app’s performance and, if needed, optimise them. The above mentioned tools, like App Annie or Sensor Tower, also work well to that end. The tracking is even (partially) available in the free trial versions.

Armed with relevant keywords, you can now take on the optimisation of the individual app store components.

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Free Google Play Keyword Tools for App Optimization

Searchman

2. Keyword Spy. For any of your competitors you can see up to 15 different keywords the app receives traffic from. Each keyword has a column for Volume, Hits, Calculated Potential (KEI) and the Rank for that keyword. Too bad the Volume and Hits columns show bar graphics instead of absolute values, but again this is useful combined with the other keyword tools.

3. Keyword Research. If you can enter the name of an app and see the keywords it ranks for you can also do the same for keywords. Meaning if you have a list of keywords (and by now you should’ve gathered an impressive one) you can enter it in Searchman and see specific traffic details for it. Volume, Hits and a Searchman custom metric called KEI (the higher the better, basically how targetable a keyword it is). You’ll also see the top apps that rank for that particular keyword in the appstore, along with related keywords each app ranks for.

earchman also has a section for “Typehead keywords” which basically are related queries to your initial keyword (I suspect those are gathered via Google Play’s auto-suggest engine). As mentioned Searchman offers this without requiring an account, though I believe at one point they put a nag screen if they see too many queries from the same IP address. For companies with big ASO budgets they have a “Data API & Spreadsheet” section that starts at $250/month (not a typo!) and gives you unlimited access to the list of keywords.

These keyword tools combined, even with their free tiers, offer a great way to find the best targetable keywords for your app listing. I use mostly the combination of Google Adwords + Google Play Autocomplete plus Searchman/AppAnnie to research keywords and monitor app ranking – SensorTower is a bit disappointing (free tier) but luckily there are alternatives.

If you have any suggestions regarding other keyword tools that have free tiers share your suggestions in the comments below.

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Free Google Play Keyword Tools for App Optimization

Keyword Spy This tool allows you to select a competitor app and compare it with yours in terms of what keywords their app is targeting versus the keywords for your app. Unfortunately, again, this tool is also rendered almost unusable in the free tier due to the fact that it only shows the first 4 keywords of the competitor app and then nagging you to upgrade if you want to use it more.

The free plan in SensorTower is quite limited in how it can help you for keyword research. I use it mainly for finding app competitors, tracking rankings and also to get the traffic details and competitor estimates for a particular keyword.

Searchman

What I like about Searchman is how fast it grew in the past 2 years. I tested it a few years back and it was just a product in its infancy, and now it is in my preferences actually on the same line as AppAnnie. This is due mainly because it provides its basic keyword research data for free without requiring an account.

Here’s what you can do with it in terms of keyword research

1. Research Competitors. You can enter your own app name and Searchman will compile a list of Probable Competitors. It will list all apps it considers to be in the same niche as yours and you can pick several of them for research. What’s more important is that it will show a column of “Keywords ranked for”, where you can see what keywords (probably) send traffic to your competitors. This is an excellent way to “spy” on your competitors and see the keywords they target. For Paid apps you’ll see a section of “Customers Also Bought” apps and also similar apps based on the targeted keywords.

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Free Google Play Keyword Tools for App Optimization

SensorTower

SensorTower is one of the leaders in ASO as well, though their free tier is quite limited when it comes to keyword research.

1. Keyword Rankings. Enter keywords for your app to monitor how it ranks in the top 100. You also see the top apps ranking for that particular keyword and have a great understanding of your competition. You can add new monitoring keywords and also download a report that will show the traffic estimate for that keyword, difficulty (lower the better), other apps ranking for that keyword and lastly your app’s rank. 

2. Keyword Research. This allows you to enter a keyword and then see the top apps ranking for that keyword, traffic and difficulty estimates for it and the number of apps ranking for it.

3. Keyword Suggestions. Unfortunately, their free plan doesn’t give you usable access to Keyword Suggestions. It recognizes your seed keywords (after analyzing your app), it lets you filter how accurate the suggestions you want to be but then the results are all blurred out if you are using the Advanced Settings. If you’re using the basic settings you get to see 3 keyword suggestions with only the first one having traffic/competitor details. However the basic settings don’t allow you to set how accurate the keyword suggestions should be and in my tests this returned unrelated results.

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Free Google Play Keyword Tools for App Optimization

Google Adwords Keyword Tool

This is by far the most reliable keyword tool you could use for general keyword research. Unfortunately, it doesn’t include searches done through Google Play’s internal app search, but only those done through the main Google web search. Still, it is highly reliable since users that manifest a certain search pattern on Google Web will most likely behave the same on Google Play Search. Just that you should know exactly what to look for via the Google Adwords Keyword Tool and that’s why the first step is to use Google Play Autocomplete to have a list of keywords. Next, the Keyword Tool can be used to have an idea on how many searches are done over 30 days for those particular keywords.

A quick note here, this will give you the number of searches done via Web Search, not Google Play Search, but you can still use it reliably since this will show you by comparison which keyword is more popular than the other.

What to do next: 1. Sign-up for AdWords. If you have a Google account (i.e. one used for Gmail, YouTube) it will be dead easy to sign-up for AdWords and don’t worry, there is no actual payment involved to start using the Keyword Tool. Once you’ve

2. Get search volume. Next what you need to do is click on “Get search volume data and trends”. This will allow you to upload a .csv file with keywords or you can enter manually (one per line) the keywords you want to research. I usually leave the targeting for “United States” but you can pick any country your app/game targets mostly. Click on Get search volume to obtain stats.

3. Analyze. Google will show you the average monthly searches for the past year on each keyword you entered. Not only that, but it will also display “Competition” (as Low/High/Medium) which is actually the number of advertisers that pay to show up in search results for those keywords. Ideally you want to pick the keyword that has the most searches but the least competition. In the example below you can see that “qr code” is better than “qr scanner” since it has Low competition while still a pretty decent number of searches.

This includes the number of searches done via desktop search but also mobile and there’s an easy way to see how many of these searches were done via a mobile device – meaning searches performed via a phone/tablet on the regular Google Web search. To see the Mobile searches graph just click on the drop-down in the top-left corner of the chart and select Mobile Trends. This will show the percentage/number of searches that were done via mobile devices out of all the searches, as you can see below:

Using these results now you can fill in the details in your Excel file – usually I just multiply the percentage from Mobile Trends with the “Average monthly searches” numbers to have a more accurate search number prediction. You have the keywords you wanted to research, you have their estimated traffic and competition and it should be easier to pick the actual keywords you’ll target.

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Google Play Autocomplete & Competition

If you go in Google Play (the Apps section) and start typing something, you’ll see suggestions for other searches you could do to find what you’re looking for. Google Play limits those suggestions to 5 keywords, but this is still a good lead. Here’s what you should do:

1. Gather keywords from your competitors. Your app is in a particular category and thus you can easily go in that category to see what are the most popular apps. Then, using your first few competitors (i.e. the first 5 competitors) analyze what main keywords those are using. Generally you’ll find it in the title used on Google Play. It doesn’t need to be very thorough, you just need a list of keywords to get started with the research.

2. Use Autocomplete. Now it’s time to do some research using Google Play’s Autocomplete. You should know by now what the main keyword should be and now you’re just hunting for some good niche keywords to target. For instance, say you have an app that reads QR codes, all you have to do is type in QR and you’ll see the keyword suggestions. Don’t be shy on gathering suggestions. What I normally do is I write the main keyword, add a space and then I start typing in all alphabet letters one by one to “trick” the Autocomplete tool to show me all suggestions for the keyword. So type in “QR A” then “QR B” then “QR C” and so on, you’ll have plenty of keyword suggestions to work with. Autocomplete actually shows you other search predictions for the keyword you typed in based on their popularity. However, Google Play might show you relevant searches you’ve done in the past or Google+ profiles that match the name of a person you’re searching for. So to have accurate results you must use Google Play’s Autocomplete tool in Incognito Mode without being logged in. This way your past searches won’t interfere with the results. You can read more about how Autocomplete works 

3. Write them down. You have your Excel file, now it’s time to write down all the keywords that you found relevant for what your app does. Exclude the one that are irrelevant or too broad (i.e. don’t put in simply “QR”). Using my suggestion above, to type in the alphabet letter after a main keyword, you should at least have a dozen keywords.

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Free Google Play Keyword Tools for App Optimization

Let’s face it, a lot of app devs imagine that maybe one of their next app/game will be a hit. The app is released, users start to like it and install it like crazy, it goes up in the ranks, becomes a top app/game and millions of users start pouring in, along with the associated $. Unfortunately though, that kind of instant hit is the exception and rarely happens. That’s why for most devs creating apps is a rush for gold.

However, with a bit of a strategy you can increase your app’s chances for being found and installed, without relying exclusively on pure luck. That strategy is ASO (app store optimization) and basically boils down to optimizing your app in such a way that you’ll end up higher in the Google Play search results for particular sets of keywords – preferably in the first few results (i.e. less than 10).

While ASO is a broader subject, the key to any good app store optimization strategy is finding the right keyword. Let’s focus a bit on what the “right keyword” actually means:

Popularity. There’s no purpose in optimizing for a keyword that’s not even searched for. The other extreme is optimizing for one that is the most popular keyword in that industry. You must find the keyword that’s popular enough to worth your while, but in the same time one that’s not very competitive.

Spot on. The right keyword is the one that also describes as exactly as possible what your app is about. For instance, if you have an app that adds custom captions to your photos you’d want to target the long-tail keyword “custom photo captions” rather than “photo app”. Particularize if possible, don’t generalize unless you’re a big name studio that affords a big $$$ budget.

That perfect niche. This is the toughest part and not always applicable. Ideally you’d pick a keyword that’s in a niche where there are few competitors yet the “appetite” for those apps is high. For example, an app that lets you discover “Film Noir eBooks” is a niche, as opposed to an app that tries to target all book genres. I mentioned this is tough because it starts from a keyword/idea to an app, not from an existing app. So you’d know before creating the app what you want it to be about.

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Aso Hacks for Google Play Apps(2)

4: Long description

Unlike Apple, Google takes the app description into account for keyword indexing. While Apple’s algorithm doesn’t use keywords from the description to rank apps, Google’s does. The description should therefore incorporate the following 2 main criteria:

Use of strong keywords – The description, along with the app title (and short description), is the most important reference in the Google Play store. Remember – it is an equivalent of the iTunes connect keywords field. To achieve good results, you should therefore keep in mind the keywords you want to be ranked on. It is recommended to use about 10 of your strongest keywords, each about 5 times in the description field.Try using various combinations in order to rank for specific long tail keywords as well. Here again, AppTweak ASO Tool can be very helpful for you to find effective keywords combinations to target.

Conversion – The description, other than playing a big role in the algorithm, also plays a huge role in convincing your users to download the app. Try to make it catchy, well structured, visually easy to read, and to the point. Also, try to place the most important sentences within the first 3 lines. These lines are the part that will be visible upfront, and should thus encourage the users to click “read more”. Ideally, you should highlight the most important keywords, whether by using capital letters or a Bold / Italic font. This makes them stand out more! Last but not least, a good description should be well translated to every language that your app is listed in, and it should also be localized with the right keywords.

5: Screenshots & Video

One can never emphasize the importance of the screenshots enough. Second only to the app icon, they are the number two visual tool for persuading users to download your app. As users scroll through the app stores with increasing velocity, they often stop at things that manage to attract their attention visually – and those are the screenshots. Google Play will display up to 4 screenshots displayed on the app page. Make sure that they are optimised for every device, screen size, and that they incorporate your main marketing messages.

Similarly, it is definitely worth investing in a short promo video. Since users are quite lazy about reading the descriptions, this is the best way to showcase what your app does and how it works!

6: Reviews & Ratings

Even though Google is increasingly focusing on engagement metrics to rank apps, traditional metrics such as the star ratings and reviews remain equally important in terms of Google’s algorithm. In order to maximize the positive impact of the reviews and ratings – you should (obviously) strive to increase the number of positive reviews, and limit the number of negative reviews.

For the former, it is recommended to use a push notification strategy, which will encourage users to leave a positive feedback (generally after about 5 uses of the app). The latter, however needs more attention. First and foremost, you should make your app very likeable, easy to use and bug free. Second, you should try to solve your user’s issues as fast as possible via in-app support or emails, so that they are not tempted to leave bad reviews. Last but not least, if all of the above fail, and the unhappy user leaves you a little critique, Google still gives you a chance to respond! Make sure to do that, explain what went wrong, and (hopefully) say that the issue has been fixed.

Additionally, it is very important to get reviews outside of the Google Play Store. Getting your app reviewed at app review websites, while linking the app’s page on specific keywords, can significantly increase your traffic and authority in the store. In turn, this will result in greater visibility and more downloads. To make it easier for you, we have also prepared a comprehensive list of 200+ app review websites.

To sum up

As you can see, the basic ASO process incorporates 6 crucial steps. Although this may seem relatively easy in theory, in practice, the search algorithm is not fixed, but evolves and changes constantly with time. It is important to always keep an eye on the recent developments and update your app keywords with a stable frequency. Lastly, and most importantly, remember that ASO is a process, and results come with time.

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Aso Hacks for Google Play Apps

It’s our turn to contribute to AppInstitute’s blog, one of the world’s leading DIY Ap Builders. If you have a great Google Play Store app but not enough app downloads, follow our 6 hacks to improve your App Store Optimization (ASO) and increase your app users.

Both marketers and app developers are finally embracing the importance of App Store Optimization (ASO). The internet is producing increasing amounts of ASO-related material, but its complexity can sometimes be overwhelming.

Although ASO normally follows the logic of Search Engine Optimization (SEO) – both the Apple App Store and Google Play Store can each have their own particularities that are worth distinguishing. Even though the Google Play Store surpasses the Apple App Store by over half a million app listings, the former is still hidden by a “veil of mystery” when it comes to its search algorithm and ASO best practises.

Perhaps the perplexity comes out of the fact that there are simply not enough resources with information about Google Play, and perhaps Google is always one step ahead. Even the most experienced ASO experts can get frustrated with Google’s ability to personalize the ranks and app store listings based on accumulated search history. Whichever the reason, this guide strives todemystify the Google Play secrets in a few simple steps!

Discover our 6 effective ASO hacks to improve your Google Play rankings and increase your organic downloads.

1: Despite the algorithms – visuals still matter!

The human eye is very sensitive to subtle changes in visuals. Google knows this well, and encourages developers to adopt a proactive approach towards graphics in its Play Store Guidelines. Indeed, the app icon is the first and one of the most prominent visuals your users will see. It is, therefore, no secret that it needs to be attractive and catchy! When designing an app icon, remember: it needs to convey the following two messages

“Download me!” – Making the users hit the download button is the ultimate action that you want the icon to inspire. To do that, your icon needs to be both catchy, simple, and perfectly in line with your app’s purpose and design. Do not underestimate its importance and make sure to A/B test several versions.

“Use me!” – The icon’s job doesn’t end with the user installing the app. Even more importantly than downloading the app, you want the user to use it. To do that, make sure to have an app icon that stands out against the multitude of different backgrounds. One way to do that is using a border.

Usability and user engagement should now be the number one concern ofGoogle Play developers. Recently, in the pursuit of fighting the spammers, Google has performed a major change to its algorithm. More specifically, their focus is directed to “promoting high quality experiences based on engagement, not just installs.” This is Google’s way of making sure that good quality games recieve the space they deserve. Quality and app engagement are Google’s key priorities, and making your users active is of higher importance than ever before.

2: App title

Google, in contrast with Apple, is a bit more restrictive when it comes to the character allowance for the app title. Allowing only up to 30 characters, Google limits the number of keywords that you can use in the title.

Make sure that you use the tight limit effectively. Pick keywords that are not only strong, and reflect what your app does, but try to make the title unique to your app so it stands out among others!

There are a few tools that can help you there. Amongst them, AppTweak, one of the best ASO tools for keywords research. It provides you with a clear indication of the keywords performance, taking into account numerous criteria including the Search Popularity (coming straight from Apple for English-iOS keywords), the Competition or the KEI (Keywords Efficiency Index).

Last but not least, try to limit your creativity and don’t use special characters. They may not be recognised by Google. Should that be the case, Google will use your app’s ID instead in the app’s webpage URL. That, certainly, wouldn’t be good for your SEO!

3: Short description

Since Google is a bit more restrictive in terms of the app title’s character count, the short description is the place, where you can concisely (in 80 characters) describe what your app does. Ideally, you should form it out of the strongest keywords, since the Play store algorithm takes them into account with a similar weight as the app title.

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- Localization

If your App has the global market as a goal, your App has to give support to each region and in your App publication must use the localization options of each market in order to provide professional translations.

You have to pay to have professional translations, a bad translation can sound strange to the located region users and you have lost a percentage of downloads in that country.

Make sure they are professional, you’ll have to pay for it. A bad translation could seen strange to users from a certain region and you have lost a big percentage of downloads in that country.