How To Do SEO for Mobile Apps for better search ranking
By Mobile App SEO or ASO is the SEO that is precisely customized for mobile phones. Because most applications are geared to be used on tablets and mobile phones, mobile app SEO cannot be overlooked. It is no secret that searching via mobile is more popular than searching via desktop. As of the year 2017, when the users carry out mobile searches, mobile apps going with the user’s criteria become apparent as the organic links. Apart from improving your app’s ranking on Google, a mobile-friendly app also promises a better user experience for the users of your app.
Why Has Mobile App SEO Become More Important Than Ever?
Initially, when the mobile search was just setting about, Google was depending on the desktop signals for making decisions of ranking the websites and apps in the mobile searches. In other words, if your app’s ranking was good for desktop searches, it would rank well for mobile searches as well, no matter whether your app was mobile-friendly or not.
However, as soon as Google has shifted to the mobile-first indexing; having a mobile-friendly app is not optional anymore. It has become a must. Now, the mobile-friendly version of your app is the first checkpoint of Google to see whether or not your app deserves to be ranked on the first page.
Recent studies show that 27% of the users discover apps outside the app store, i.e., they discover one-third of the apps while browsing different search engines on their mobile phones.
In this everlasting tussle between the apps to boost visibility and more installs, the mobile search has become a prime concern for app developers and app marketers. Being apparent in web SERPs (i.e., search engine results pages) is now another priority if you don’t want to miss out on the opportunity to have one-third of your app downloads. Have a look on following terms before getting a thorough understanding of app optimization.
-
Single Snippet
A search for any app via search engine usually results in a single snippet. What is a single snippet? It is one of the most common search results for the app-related searches, containing the app title, a short or long textual description of the app, average rating, number of ratings, and the install button. A single snippet usually shows up along with the App Packs.
-
App Packs
The App Pack is a collection of apps recommended by Google. It shows up when you perform an app-specific query. All the apps in the app pack are in relevance to the search keyword. App Packs usually show up when the user looks for the specific task an app could perform such as “drawing apps”, “kids games”, photo editor”. Optimizing for such searches is slightly different for both ASO i.e., App Store Optimization and conventional web SEO.
-
Ranking Factors
The keywords rankings for the apps are not the same in the web search and on Play Store because Google uses a different algorithm from the algorithm that app stores use to rank and suggest apps in the Mobile SERPs. Still, there are many similarities in the ranking factors and SEO and ASO optimization techniques. For that reason, if an app ranks well on the app store, it will also rank high on the web for similar searches.
- Off-Page Factors: backlinks, installs velocity and volume, ratings, and user reviews.
- On-Page Factors: App Title/Name, URL/package, and description (both short and full). In the case of iOS apps, the description does not affect ASO but it does impact SEO.
How To Do Mobile App SEO: Best Practices
There is no rocket science! Just follow the primary ASO processes, grab quality backlinks, and strengthen your metadata for making it workable for web searches!
-
Get Powerful Backlinks to increase the installs
One of the most crucial parts of effective SEO is having some powerful, high-quality backlinks. For the mobile web search, our goal is to promote a download page or an app store listing.
You can start it by putting a link to your app store download page on top of your mobile-friendly website version.
In addition to that, building a particular landing page to boost your mobile app is likely to encourage web users to also use your mobile app. Moreover, try to get your hands on different media admiring your app. In this way, your app will increase in the installs, which will result in more user reviews and ratings. Eventually, your app gets a higher rank in the mobile search.
-
Do an In-Depth Keyword Research
For mobile app SEO, choosing the potential keywords is the key. Always choose the keywords that are low in competition and high in estimated traffic (i.e., amount of searches). Web keyword optimization and app store keyword optimization are similar.
The algorithm used by the app stores uses basic keywords that come from the app titles and subtitles to rank the apps for particular search queries. Since the app title weighs more in the algorithm, it is where the best key phrases and keywords should be placed. Therefore, to win the game, place the most relevant and strongest key phrases in your app title. The more relevant terms will bring you a higher conversion.
-
Get Positive Reviews and Ratings
Believe it or not, user reviews and ratings act as the cornerstone for app SEO for Google Play and App Store because of the reasons below:
- Exactly like the app store, Google ranks the apps higher with a high average rating as well as better and high number of reviews.
- Google search engine employs user reviews and ratings to spot possible keywords. So keep encouraging your users to give positive reviews for your app!
- Having a large number of user reviews and ratings will help persuade new people to use your app. Therefore, the conversion rate and the click-through rate of your app will increase, which will result in more downloads of your app.
Best Mobile App SEO Tools
One of the most crucial and important steps in generating revenue in the marketplace is to get your app noticed by as many people as you can. A large number of users are required to use the app. For this to happen, you can opt for the ads or app SEO.
Oddly enough, app SEO is the single most crucial step for generating organic traffic for the apps. That is why it’s not surprising to find numerous ASO tools on the web. The best ASO tools can help you:
- Choose the most relevant keywords.
- Track the ranking of your app.
- Research your competitors in the industry.
- Create a future marketing optimization strategy.
- Boost the number of your app users.
You need to have the right combination of best ASO tools to step up your game. Some tools may be defectively created, others may be newbies and then lack data. For that reason, it is best to employ different, high-quality ASO tools and then combine data from various sources. Below is the list of some top-notch app SEO tools you may combine to get the best results.
It is one of the best mobile app SEO tools so far. Accurate and powerful, Sensor Tower helps you in keyword research, keyword translation, tracking, revenue estimates, and download. It also helps the apps track the measurements like competition, traffic, and difficulty (the problem that your app will face to rank high in the industry). Sensor Tower offers three enterprise solutions at negotiable prices and two small enterprise packages at fixed prices.
App Annie is probably among the best and biggest platforms available for ASO. The huge database of App Annie provides useful insights about a variety of different apps. You can spy on your competitors from inside-out. App Annie still lacks certain features such as difficulty and traffic scores. However, being a marvelous source of insights, App Annie is still a must-have tool for mobile entrepreneurs.
Its best features include tracking, app store optimization, revenue estimates, app usage, and downloads. This tool does not have standard packages or plans. App Annie crafts different packages for each client, hence is not suited to small developers.
This platform provides a great User Experience (UI) and a detailed optimization report. Since it considers localization (i.e., app’s adaptability for various countries), the Apptweak report covers as many as 60 countries, providing you the overview of your app relevancy through visuals, stats, and more. Other features include keyword research, app monitoring, high-quality optimization strategy, revenue estimates, and competition measurement. Apptweak offers a free 7-day trial, one negotiable custom plan, and three standard plans. You can get a 15% discount on advance payment for one year.
On account of the best unique features, Mobile Action is going to be your favorite ASO tool, for sure. It is the only tool as of now, that gives information about the chance of an app to rank better for a particular word. For the iOS app, Mobile Action provides a general overview graph. Its prominent features include keyword suggestions, localization, ASO reports, competition measurement, alerts, download estimation data, great UI, and a 7-day free trial. Also, it offers three standard packages.
This platform is not specific for mobiles. However, it provides crucial and extremely relevant insights such as keyword suggestions. Since the traffic score for the tracked keywords is based on the web, use other mobile SEO tools to check it. However, Google is still above all in finding out what other people are watching out for! With the help of this tool, you can also know about the user’s interests on a particular topic. Since it is a “free-ish” tool, every app developer or marketer can use this wonderful tool to do their app SEO.
Final Thoughts On App SEO
Mobile app SEO is a continuous procedure in which you improve your app’s discoverability and rank in the app stores such as Apple App Store and Google Play. If your app ranks high in the search results of the app store, it will be more visible to potential users. Since users find one-third of the apps via App Packs and mobile search, Search Engine Optimization of apps is ubiquitous. Having visibility in both mobile web search and app stores is significant for the apps to boost their revenues and installs.
Focus on choosing the right keywords and the app title, testing a variety of icons, writing good descriptions, improving user ratings and reviews, adapting your app’s content for as many countries as possible (localization), and grabbing powerful backlinks to get your app discovered in every possible way.
To summarize, App SEO is a process that combines information and experience. Utilize multiple mobile app SEO tools to create great ASO campaigns. Apart from working on your app, combining data from multiple tools will act as a game-changer for you! Wishing You All the Best!