Today, ten years down the line, there are millions of applications in the play store, and there is a fierce

Competition at these to stay on the top of the search results for any given keyword. This is where app store optimization in the Google Play comes under the spot.

What Is App Store Optimization Anyway?

We are glad that you are asking this question. Most people are not familiar with this term, and that sometimes may also include app owners.

As, and in this case Google Play app store optimization simply implies the process by which you optimize your app in a way that it ranks higher in the search results for queries using certain keywords.

To make things simpler for you, let’s use an example. Say you own a wallet app. You would want your users to download your app instead of a competitor’s right? When a user opens the play store and types “wallet app” or something along the lines of this phrase, you would expect your app to show at least in the first three or maximum five results.

Understand your customer and your competition

How well do you know your customers and competition? A well-formed ASO strategy hinges on understanding how your customers use your app, along with a deep view of your competitive landscape. To start, ask yourself the following:

  • What language do my customers naturally use?
  • How would they describe my app?
  • What are their top reasons for downloading and using my app?
  • Do you have any competitive advantage?
  • What keywords do my competitor’s target?
  • How easily can I compete against these apps on the same keywords?
  • Should I target the obvious keywords or the less obvious (and less trafficked) keywords that better speak to my unique offering and point of differentiation?
  • Your ASO strategy begins with putting yourself in your customer’s shoes. Your goal is to improve discovery in app store searches and target those keywords that drive the most traffic. The best way to identify these optimal keywords is consumer research, finding out exactly what search queries brought your customers to your app and the natural language they use to describe it.

It’s equally important to survey your competition to identify which keywords are being targeted by apps similar to yours. You can then determine whether or not it makes sense to target these same keywords or a separate set of keywords unique to your individual value proposition. Similarly, you’ll have to decide if it makes more sense to rank in the top 10 for a few highly competitive keywords or to rank in the top spot for keywords with a lesser search volume. Kick off your research process with tool like keyword Explorer.

Localize your app listing

When it comes to global marketing, a “one-size-fits-all” approach simply won’t cut it. Today only 31% of app revenue is generated by North American consumers. And of those consumers outside the English-speaking world, 72% prefer to use their native language when shopping, even if they’re fluent in English.

Read our other article on Here is What’s new in Google Play New Console

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