App Store Optimizer (ASO) Interview Preparation Guide

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My favourite app for 2019 would have to be Moneybox. The guys over there have put a clever spin on rounding up your expenses and using that spare change to invest into thousands of leading companies such as Netflix, Unilever and Disney. Very easy to use, great support and a wonderful UI.

Yes, they do. All the keywords in the app store reviews are indexed by the app store search engine. Hence, as part of our ASO services, we mine user reviews for getting more keyword ideas as they are full of ASO friendly keywords.

I’ve been involved in ASO when it was still a buzzword within the mobile space. As a result, I’ve kept a close eye on the app stores and their developments.

Having compared the majority of key players out on the market, we felt that AppTweak was the most well-rounded tool for its price point. One of my favourite features is the ranked keyword feature.

Some techniques of ASO are quite similar to SEO. Optimization for the app name, title, and URL, keyword research for app searches, app rating and reviews generation, deep linking within mobile apps, CTR optimization, indexation of Apps in Google SERPS (search engine results pages) are some of the tactics which are variants of the ones used in SEO.

A/B testing is imperative to ASO. Leverage experiments and A/B test everything from icon to screenshot to description. However, the key is not to simply carry out an A/B test, but to incorporate a hypothesis based on previous results. It’s a continuous cycle of proving and disproving hypotheses, but what you’ll realise is that you’re at the same time carrying out optimisations.

We have realized that most of the high performing apps in app stores are the ones that are constantly evolving while reflecting technology changes, updating with additional features, considering end-user feedback and other improvements. So we strongly suggest that you should update your app at regular intervals, take user feedback into consideration and accommodate it in your app design/framework, track ratings on a regular basis.

There are currently +60,000 apps per month being released between Apple App Store and the Google Play Store. In addition, we’re seeing the growth of apps across other devices such as wearables and smart TVs. The app stores are continuously trying to segment into more granular app categories in order to allow users to find the correct type of apps that they’re looking for. I believe we can expect to see the big app stores breaking up into mini app stores that house specific types of apps. For example, a gaming app store or a wearables app store, etc.

Although not entirely ASO, but still falls within its realm, is the optimisation of the iOS and Android app store listings to drive organic visibility on Google. Sounds a little strange (I know), but we’ve managed to successfully rank all of our client’s apps in top positions for specific, high relevancy and high volume search terms. Which have resulted in an increase in app store page views and more importantly organic conversions.

The mobile industry is one of the most dynamic and fastest evolving industries that I have encountered. As smartphone adoption continues to proliferate throughout the world, so will the use of apps.

There are new developments happening all the time and it is a truly exciting space to be involved in. I think it’s partly my passion for tech and partly my interest in data that have led me to where I am now. It truly is an interesting industry and one that will continue to change and evolve.

☛ What is SEO; what are these: backlinks, SERP, anchor text, broken links, keyword density, etc?
☛ What are the main actions you need to take for search optimization?
☛ Difference between white hat and black hat SEO?
☛ Content marketing vs SEO?
☛ What are the common SEO practices for which Google might penalize you?
☛ What is PageRank? How important is it?
☛ Content is king, then why SEO is still important?
☛ What are Panda, Penguin, RankBrain (and other such developments)?
☛ Situations: e.g. if I give you a website on … and ask you to optimize it for …, what all actions will you take?

First – the category or top chart ranking algorithm (free, paid and grossing) is much simpler than the keyword ranking algorithm. App category ranks improve with more downloads (free or paid) or more revenue from purchases (grossing). While the exact calculation in terms of installs or purchases volume to rank is unknown and varies between categories (e.g. photos and video vs weather), but it is logarithmic (i.e. moving from rank 1000 to 500 is much easier than from moving from 10 to 5) and the most important factors are installs or purchases. Apps will first achieve a rank in their category or sub-category (e.g. #1500 entertainment apps), followed by their country (e.g. #1500 US overall).

The initial factor of the keyword ranking algorithm is whether an app is relevant for that keyword or not. Without being relevant, you app is even eligible to show up (i.e. Facebook is the most popular app but only shows for a certain set of relevant keywords). Relevancy is determined by several factors including those in question #3 below.

For all apps that are relevant for a keyword, each is assigned a keyword rank score that changes with each user interaction (e.g. pageview, install, purchase). An app’s keyword rank score is updated with each interaction and either goes up with positive engagement (e.g. a click, install or review) or goes down with each negative engagement (e.g. an impression but no click, pageview but no install or uninstall before the app is ever used). Apps compete with one another to rank for keywords and when one app’s rank score for a keyword becomes higher than the score of the app above it, it will move up one spot. Engagements are sourced back to each keyword that the user came from, meaning that scores are different from each keyword. That said, engagements for an app overall will improve its ranking for all relevant keywords to some degree, meaning that if Facebook were to become eligible for a new keyword, it would likely start at a very high ranking.

☛ App name,
☛ URL, and
☛ subtitle,
☛ keyword fields,
☛ ratings and reviews,
☛ downloads are the core elements to optimize in ASO.

There are myriad tools available for researching and managing ASO strategies, most of which encompass a common set of features, such as showing an app’s listing, category rankings, keyword rankings, download estimates, and keyword research like search or difficulty scores. The most common tools include App Annie, Sensor Tower, TUNE (formerly MobileDevHQ), Mobile Action and Searchman.

From our experience, we’ve found the most accurate ranking and keyword results from Mobile Action. App Annie is one of the most well-funded tools with the biggest dataset and the best keyword search preview UI, however, it does not provide much in the way of. TUNE and Searchman both have many unique and useful features, like capturing significant, store-wide changes in rankings (TUNE), or optimizing keyword density in an app’s listing (Searchman), yet both often struggle with data accuracy.

As you now know that most users find apps by searching the app stores, you probably realized that App Store Optimization is a must if you want to get your app in front of the right users. In fact, many people argue that optimizing your app is the most effective marketing strategy for mobile apps and games. Here is how you can benefit from App Store Optimization:

Improve your Visibility & Stand out within the App Stores
No matter how good your app or game is, if it cannot be found in the stores it is no good. So, don’t let your hard work go unseen, start optimizing!

Always get discovered by Relevant Users
It is not enough that your app is found, it has to be found by the right users – users that are actually on a hunt for an app like yours. This is what ASO helps you with as well.
Increase your Organic Downloads
A good ASO strategy is great way to boost your organic installs and ensures long-term results. With regular monitoring and tweaking you make sure your efforts are successful.
Cut User Acquisition Costs
Instead of spending money on ads, you can lower your user acquisition costs by focusing on organic growth with ASO. This no only saves you money, but also ensures a steady growth.
Increase your Revenue and Conversion Rate
Ads, in-app purchases and similar ways to monetize an app are just part of a medal. If users come to your page through ads and dont download it, you lost them. That is why ASO is a must.
Grow your User Base Worldwide
By making your app available in other languages you can find users from all over the world. ASO can help you take your app global.

There are three main ways to estimate what the search volume of a keyword is. Here are a few of the most common methods:

☛ ASO tools (e.g. Mobile Action, SensorTower, Appcodes, TUNE) – these will provide you with a search volume score, which indicates the popularity of a keyword; TUNE will actually provide a real estimate of the number of searches per month. These tools compile data from several sources including their proprietary databases, the google keyword planner tool, store autofill results and trending keywords.
☛ App Store Autofill Results – by typing a keyword into the search box you can see the most popular keywords that include that word, such as “free (games, music download, music”). For keywords that are popular enough in the app store, related keywords will also show at the top of a search done from an iPhone or iPad.
☛ Google Keyword Planner Tool – this handy, years-old tool provides data on what people are searching on Google.com, which while not the same as app store searches, provides generally applicable search trends.
☛ Google Trends – this tool allows you to see the popularity of a Google search trend by country or state. While keywords must have significant volume to show up in Google Trends, Trends can help visualize the popularity of a search trend over time better than the keyword planner tool can, even providing data by the hour.

A quality and keyword rich app description support in ASO as its indexed by the app store search engine. The app description should showcase the best features of your app to ensure user engagement and increase in conversion rate. It should also include important keywords for which you want to rank for, along with emoji’s to make it attractive

App Store Optimization (ASO) is a technique used to improve your mobile app ranking within app store ecosystems like Apple App Store, Google Play Store, and Windows Store. It is also known as App Store Marketing or Mobile App SEO.

Users tend to leave reviews if they like the app anyway. However, you can also encourage them to do so within the app itself. If you have a game, a good time to ask for a review would be after winning a game. But be careful, you can get penalized if you push it too hard. On iOs for example, you can ask for a review up to three times a year.

Retention, retention and retention. As smartphone users are maturing, the time that they spend with apps becomes a lot more limited, and as a result a lot more valuable. Sure, you can blow huge budgets on acquiring users. But what good is it if those users do not come back to the app.

Industry stats show less than 18% of new app users return to the app after first use. The bottom line is, if you can’t get your audience to stick around and build a rich, durable relationship with your brand, you’re going to be at a major competitive disadvantage. A lot of what we do here at Yodel Mobile has this focus very much in mind. It’s about leveraging the analytics to devise strategies that can reduce churn, increase re-engagement and essentially drive LTV.

I’ve worked in the mobile industry for the past 5 years. Having come from a mobile innovations and insights background, I was quick to realise the importance and impact that mobile would have on brands, businesses and everyday users for the foreseeable future.

I currently work at ABC Mobile, which traditionally focused on effective user acquisition through paid media. Although we still undertake plenty of user acquisition activity for global and local clients, we now closely focus on the optimisation of key elements that drive the success of the app and organic growth.

There are 4 places in an app’s listing that will determine whether it is eligible to rank for keywords:

☛ App name
☛ App keywords space
☛ Developer name
☛ App in app purchases (exact match only)
Apple has also been evolving its algorithm to rank apps for keywords not necessarily found in an app’s listing, such as:

Partial keyword matches (e.g. ranking “Spotify music app” for “music player app”)
Competitor names (e.g. ranking Spotify for Pandora)
Common category or other contextual keywords (e.g. ranking Spotify for music-related searches)
Additionally, if a keyword is removed from your app listing (e.g. keywords space), you typically will become immediately ineligible to rank for that keyword.

After understanding your marketing objectives from ASO, we will work closely with you to estimate your budgets. Its a function of efforts based on your optimization status quo, number of keywords, competitiveness of the category, etc based on which our team will share a customized quote with you

We use a number of third party and in-house tools for ASO. We use these tools to understand the search volume score, competitor tracking, app listing, download estimates, etc.

The primary goal of an ASO strategy is to facilitate quality app downloads. Secondary goals can include increasing brand awareness, improving app reviews and audience engagement.