App retailer optimization (ASO) is a little bit of a thriller for a lot of SEOs. So, let’s begin with the fundamentals.
Whereas search engine marketing is geared towards enhancing web site rankings on search engines like google and yahoo like Google,
ASO focuses on optimizing cellular apps for stronger visibility and efficiency throughout the Apple App Retailer and Google Play Retailer.
However there’s numerous analysis and technique that SEOs can carry from natural search into ASO marketing campaign analysis.
By understanding how some vital search engine marketing analysis elements translate into ASO planning – and implementing them successfully into your app technique – you possibly can enhance your possibilities of attaining stronger app retailer visibility, stronger app visibility on Google and elevated downloads.
Some SEOs put natural search into two easy buckets: on- and off-page search engine marketing. I’m going to do one thing related and break down my search engine marketing and ASO synergy suggestions into two totally different areas of alternative:
- App touchdown pages: The web page in your web site devoted to that includes your app.
- Retailer itemizing pages: Your Apple App Retailer and Google Play Retailer listings.
![App landing pages and store listing pages](https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2024/03/App-landing-pages-and-store-listing-pages.png.webp)
Uncover methods to leverage your strategic search engine marketing pondering and analysis expertise for ASO beneath.
App touchdown pages
We’re all accustomed to touchdown pages and their significance in natural search.
Nonetheless, many manufacturers underestimate the significance of devoted touchdown pages for his or her app in terms of ASO. They merely add Apple App Retailer and Google Play Retailer buttons to pages throughout their website. These manufacturers miss out on the advantages of making a devoted app touchdown web page.
Let’s have a look at 4 the reason why creating an app touchdown web page is necessary and the best way to use your search engine marketing expertise to maximise your ASO success and learnings.
1. Spotlight your worth proposition
Even in the event you’re an app-based enterprise, your web site is an important contact level in your buyer’s journey. It’s a possibility to have a devoted place for web site customers to find your app, study its options and worth and simply obtain it.
Listed below are a number of examples from Vrbo, KAYAK and SoFi the place they spotlight the advantages of utilizing their apps:
![VRBO app landing page](https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2024/03/VRBO-app-landing-page.png.webp)
![VRBO app landing page](https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2024/03/VRBO-app-landing-page.png.webp)
![KAYAK app landing page](https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2024/03/KAYAK-app-landing-page.png.webp)
![KAYAK app landing page](https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2024/03/KAYAK-app-landing-page.png.webp)
![SoFi app landing page](https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2024/03/SoFi-app-landing-page.jpeg.webp)
![SoFi app landing page](https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2024/03/SoFi-app-landing-page.jpeg.webp)
Your web site can also be an excellent place to spotlight some curated social proofing, resembling app awards, critiques and testimonials. That is an important technique in right this moment’s E-E-A-T-based search world.
Right here’s an instance from Financial institution of America, which has a well-executed app touchdown web page:
![Bank of America app landing page](https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2024/03/Bank-of-America-app-landing-page.png.webp)
![Bank of America app landing page](https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2024/03/Bank-of-America-app-landing-page.png.webp)
Right here’s one other instance from Priceline:
![Priceline app landing page](https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2024/03/Priceline-app-landing-page.png.webp)
![Priceline app landing page](https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2024/03/Priceline-app-landing-page.png.webp)
2. Take a look at and study
Leverage your app touchdown web page to run checks and collect useful information.
How?
Make characteristic descriptions clickable so you possibly can monitor clicks or use heatmapping software program like CrazyEgg or Hotjar to know which options viewers are most concerned about.
You can even A/B check touchdown web page copy and layouts and use these textual content and inventive insights to tell your app retailer metadata and app inventive.
3. Personal your branded SERP outcomes
An app touchdown web page offers you one other owned asset that may take up invaluable SERP actual property for branded queries.
For instance, there’s a transparent distinction between SERP actual property for manufacturers like Centr and Tone It Up (which wouldn’t have an app touchdown web page) and Peloton (which does).
For the queries “Centr app” and “Tone It Up app,” Centr and Tone It Up at present solely personal natural positions 1-4 with their owned properties, whereas Peloton owns positions 1-5 for “Peloton app” with the fifth web site rating being their app touchdown web page.
Why does this matter? If you happen to open the fifth rating end result for the question “Centr app,” which is Reddit, one of many first belongings you see is a unfavorable evaluate:
![Reddit comment for Centr](https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2024/03/Reddit-comment-for-Centr.png)
![Reddit comment for Centr](https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2024/03/Reddit-comment-for-Centr.png)
Maybe if Centr had a devoted app touchdown web page, they may outrank the unfavorable press they’re getting on Reddit.
4. Inner linking
Inner linking is likely one of the handiest and under-appreciated search engine marketing techniques. It’s low raise, straightforward to implement and we usually see nice outcomes from inside linking at our company.
That’s why it’s additionally a tactic you must use to spice up your ASO campaigns and app web page authority.
If you need your app to construct authority and visibility for aggressive non-branded phrases, internally linking to your app touchdown web page is an effective way to assist construct these indicators.
Right here’s an instance of this on Western Union’s weblog:
![Western Union blog post with internal link](https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2024/03/Western-Union-blog-post-with-internal-link.png.webp)
![Western Union blog post with internal link](https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2024/03/Western-Union-blog-post-with-internal-link.png.webp)
This technique helps construct topical authority for Western Union’s app throughout the aggressive cash switch area.
Get the every day e-newsletter search entrepreneurs depend on.
App itemizing pages
App itemizing pages show every app’s options and different data as you browse the Apple App Retailer and Google Play Retailer. These pages are much more necessary to your ASO technique than your app touchdown web page, as their contents straight impression your app retailer rankings. They’re what a potential buyer will see earlier than clicking to obtain your app.
They comprise a number of key components, like scores and person critiques, previews of what your app appears like and your app’s metadata. Let’s have a look at 4 methods your search engine marketing expertise can maximize your app itemizing web page’s efficiency.
5. Analysis and aggressive evaluation
Instruments like Ubersuggest, Ahrefs and Semrush are helpful to your ASO technique, similar to search engine marketing. These platforms may help you verify natural visitors, key phrases in your Apple App Retailer itemizing pages and backlinks to your Google Play retailer itemizing.
For instance, listed below are the overview stats from Ubersuggest for Western Union’s Apple App Retailer itemizing web page:
![Ubersuggest - Western Union’s Apple App Store listing page](https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2024/03/Ubersuggest-Western-Unions-Apple-App-Store-listing-page.png.webp)
![Ubersuggest - Western Union’s Apple App Store listing page](https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2024/03/Ubersuggest-Western-Unions-Apple-App-Store-listing-page.png.webp)
Listed below are the identical stats for a competitor, Smart, proven on Semrush:
![Semrush - Wise's Apple App Store listing page](https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2024/03/Semrush-Wises-Apple-App-Store-listing-page.png.webp)
![Semrush - Wise's Apple App Store listing page](https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2024/03/Semrush-Wises-Apple-App-Store-listing-page.png.webp)
Why is that this data useful?
It offers you the info it’s essential to perceive how your app itemizing pages are acting on Google vs. competing apps so you possibly can modify your technique if obligatory.
Whether or not you’re engaged on an search engine marketing or ASO marketing campaign, it’s at all times vital to control opponents to know the way you’re stacking up, what benefits you’ve (and need to preserve) and the place your alternatives lie.
6. Apple App Retailer hidden key phrases
How individuals discover your Apple App Retailer web page by way of Google search may help inform how they discover your app straight by looking out within the retailer. An ASO supervisor who additionally is aware of the best way to faucet into search engine marketing analysis to tell iOS hidden key phrase concentrating on is a a lot stronger asset to your marketing campaign.
App downloads could come principally from branded queries for a number of manufacturers, however that doesn’t imply there’s a scarcity of alternative to drive extra app visibility and downloads from non-branded key phrases.
Right here’s a case examine from our company the place we lifted non-branded key phrase visitors and boosted installs by 57%:
![ASO - agency case study](https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2024/03/ASO-agency-case-study.png.webp)
![ASO - agency case study](https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2024/03/ASO-agency-case-study.png.webp)
The 57% enhance our shopper noticed for non-branded app downloads got here from a method rooted in search engine marketing ideas. Many of the marketing campaign’s ASO key phrase concepts got here from the shopper’s web site, together with their app touchdown web page.
Specializing in primary data and methods like keyword-level information and metadata restructuring enabled success in a extremely aggressive setting.
7. ASO meta optimization
Discovering key phrases the place your opponents have stronger visibility additionally offers you numerous consideration for optimizing your ASO metadata throughout the Apple App and Google Play shops.
For instance, you see beneath that Remitly’s App Retailer itemizing is rating no 1 on Google for “wire switch app,” whereas Western Union is rating quantity 10.
When taking a look at every of their listings, you possibly can see Remitly makes use of “wire” of their App Retailer description, whereas Western Union doesn’t.
Remitly:
![Wire transfer app SERP - Remitly](https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2024/03/Wire-transfer-app-SERP-Remitly.png.webp)
![Wire transfer app SERP - Remitly](https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2024/03/Wire-transfer-app-SERP-Remitly.png.webp)
![ASO meta optimization - Remitly](https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2024/03/ASO-meta-optimization-Remitly.png.webp)
![ASO meta optimization - Remitly](https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2024/03/ASO-meta-optimization-Remitly.png.webp)
Western Union:
![Wire transfer app SERP - Western Union](https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2024/03/Wire-transfer-app-SERP-Western-Union.png.webp)
![Wire transfer app SERP - Western Union](https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2024/03/Wire-transfer-app-SERP-Western-Union.png.webp)
Much like conventional search engine marketing, if you would like your retailer itemizing web page to rank properly on Google for sure phrases, you should perceive what individuals are trying to find and make sure the proper key phrases are built-in into your retailer itemizing metadata.
8. Backlinks
Whereas backlinks aren’t an element within the Apple App Retailer, they’re within the Google Play Retailer.
Conducting aggressive backlink analysis and discovering methods to achieve mentions throughout the net is a process you need to be doing for search engine marketing and ASO.
Listed below are a number of tricks to get you began with backlinking technique.
Aggressive conquesting
An efficient aggressive conquesting technique begins by researching round-ups and listicle articles mentioning your business’s apps.
Attempt to discover articles the place your app isn’t listed and pitch the creator why they need to embody it and hyperlink to your app listings.
Once you attain out, you’ll present the identical data to your app in the identical format and with the identical particulars as the opposite apps within the article.
For instance, Centr’s health app isn’t listed within the Forbes roundup beneath. Reaching out to Forbes with details about the app’s value, whether or not it affords reside lessons, whether or not it has coronary heart price monitoring, a listing of its greatest options and its total execs and cons (the 5 key items of data supplied for the ten apps featured) makes it straightforward for Forbes so as to add them in.
![Top 10 fitness apps - round-up](https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2024/03/Top-10-fitness-apps-round-up.png)
![Top 10 fitness apps - round-up](https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2024/03/Top-10-fitness-apps-round-up.png)
PR pitching
Taking the PR angle has the identical end result as aggressive conquesting, besides you’re not attempting to get into current articles.
Your purpose with PR pitching is to supply the most recent details about your app for a journalist to incorporate in a brand new article.
As a substitute of concentrating on the most effective health apps, you might give attention to totally different audiences or well timed use instances, resembling the most effective health apps for ladies or the most effective health apps for newbies. With this method, you’re making a cause why a journalist would need to write this story.
You’ll want to embody information on why the story is related now and pitch it a number of months forward of the theme. For instance, you might pitch your app as top-of-the-line health apps for ladies in March so a journalist has time to finalize their story earlier than Ladies’s Well being Month in Could.
Boards and discussions
Reply client questions associated to your app in discussion board communities like Quora and Reddit.
Hyperlink on to the place customers can discover your app within the app shops in your solutions. This helps customers with their direct questions and will increase the app’s probability of rating within the boards and discussions featured inside Google SERPs.
![Forums and discussions - best fitness apps for pregnancy](https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2024/03/Forums-and-discussions-best-fitness-apps-for-pregnancy.png)
![Forums and discussions - best fitness apps for pregnancy](https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2024/03/Forums-and-discussions-best-fitness-apps-for-pregnancy.png)
Harness search engine marketing fundamentals to spice up your app downloads
Whereas ASO is kind of a unique apply than search engine marketing, many ideas apply to each disciplines. If you happen to’re struggling to spice up your app’s efficiency, taking issues again to fundamentals could also be a good suggestion.
Strategy your app retailer itemizing pages and touchdown web page from an search engine marketing perspective and enhance their elementary facets like key phrase optimization.
Couple this along with your different sound ASO techniques and you might be stunned by your new obtain numbers.
Opinions expressed on this article are these of the visitor creator and never essentially Search Engine Land. Workers authors are listed here.