App Store Optimization: Part 1, The Basics
Everyone knows about search engine optimization, or SEO. SEO is the process of figuring out how to get your web site ranked higher in search results through obtaining quality links and optimizing your content. SEO has been around a long time and there are lots of valuable resources on how to do it the right way.
More recently, mobile developers (such as myself) have started thinking about App Store Optimization, the process of getting your app downloaded by as many people as possible, without paying for downloads.
When I think about App Store Optimization, I think about three main factors: rankings, sharing, and press. These are the three main factors that I believe drive organic app downloads. In this post I’ll explain each of these briefly and then I’ll dive into each of them further in future posts.
Rankings
Undoubtedly, where your app falls in the Top [Free|Paid] [Category] Apps charts will play a vital role in how many people will download your app. Those charts are seen by millions of users and the exposure will lead to many downloads.
In addition to just the Top Apps charts, where your app lands on particular search queries on many sites will also play an impact on your apps downloads. For instance, with AppESP, we care about the search term “app recommendations” on Android Market and AppStoreHQ. If you’re developing a Sudoku game, you’ll probably care your app’s ranking for “sudoku.”
Sharing
The best way to promote your app is to let your existing users promote it for you. In today’s app world, that generally means through direct sharing via email or SMS and through broadcast sharing via Facebook or Twitter.
To get the best insights out of how frequently your users are sharing your app, you’ll have to: (a) write a link wrapper that creates unique codes, (b) integrate with Facebook and Twitter for the best user experience, ( c) track each share and link and the number of clicks, and (d) if you’re developing for Android Market, track the number of installs from each link.
Clearly, this is a pain in the ass, but it’s worth it to know how often, how successful, and where your users are sharing your app.
Press
The final driver of most of our organic app installations is press. App review sites, tech blogs, traditional news media (newspapers, TV, radio, etc) are all important ways to get your app seen by large amounts of potential users.
At AppStoreHQ, we use our review tracker and AppRank to determine how frequently press is talking about us and how we compare to our competition.
Summary
App Store Optimization is a very new field. To be honest, no one knows how to be most effective or even what are the most effective drivers of organic app downloads. Rankings, sharing, and press appear to be the most consistent three drivers for us and many of our developer friends, but that could change.
What are the most important drivers of organic app downloads for you? Leave a comment or send me mail to let me know.
