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App Store Optimization: Take Your Game to the Next Level

If you’re a software or mobile app developer with some experience in the industry you’re probably familiar with the acronym SEO, or “search engine optimization.” But for those dedicated to taking custom mobile app development to the next level, there’s a new three letter word that may prove more valuable: ASO – “app store optimization.”

More than ever, consumers are discovering new apps by browsing and searching within the app store. It’s by far the most popular discovery method, accounting for 63 percent of app discovery among iOS users and 58 percent among Android users.

In app store searches are twice as popular a discovery method as the ubiquitous “most popular” lists. This means new kids on the block have a chance at competing with recognized players…if they understand and utilize ASO.

But no matter how genius and groundbreaking your app, without ASO utilization there’s a chance it will go completely overlooked. It’s a lesson that every successful mobile app development company has already learned: it’s absolutely critical to ensure that your creation is tailored to the medium it will be sold through before it hits the marketplace.

On paper, the process is simple: (1) get discovered, and (2) capture consumer interest. Once you do these two steps right you’ll be 90 percent of the way there. In practice it gets a bit trickier. But if you can successfully incorporate the following fundamentals into your app design, you’ll already be beating the competition at ASO.

  • Keywords. Use these in the title of your app in order to cast the widest net and catch the most search traffic. According to a study of the top 25 most popular apps for sale, including a keyword in the name of an app increased its ranking by an average of 10.3 percent.
  • 25 characters or less. Any longer than this will no longer be viewable on the preview in the app store. Having your title chopped off is unattractive and will make a consumer – especially one with a short attention span – move on.
  • If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. If you’re reading this once your app has already gone to market and feeling inspired to change the title of you app…don’t. Once you’ve already gained traction, it’s best to stay the course in order to create name recognition and word-of-mouth buzz.
  • Understand long-tail. Long-tail keywords, which appear in your app’s description, offer another great opportunity for discovery. If you want create a communal carpooling app, you probably shouldn’t call it “carpooling.” But by including that phrase in your description, you’ll capture all app store users who search that term.
  • Be a genre trailblazer – More often than not, app store users don’t search for a specific title, but instead a genre – e.g., “maps” or “music.” In fact, searches by genre account for 80 percent of all searches. By getting out ahead of the curve and anticipating a genre that will be popular but is not yet oversaturated, your software development company can vault its app to the top.
  • Appeal visually – Your icon should have visual appeal and somehow describe what your app does. Snapchat’s playful ghost speaks to its ephemeral photos while Tinder’s red flame suggests a spicy fling. Once you’ve put your idea into words, create a descriptive visual as well.

If you can effectively apply these tips to your own app, there’s a bonus on the back end: the more downloads your app achieves, the higher it will rank. It’s a classic case of success breeding success – app store algorithms recognize what consumers react positively towards and attempt to give them more. A great app development company is one that recognizes the importance of beating the algorithms.

So keep plugging away with your app, but make sure that you don’t sell yourself short during the final step of the process. Don’t forget to do your ASO!

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Mobile Deep Linking and What It Means for Small App Owners

The mobile app ecosystem is still new – a fact that’s easy to forget until you remember that there are things that we take for granted on desktop that just don’t exist in apps.

Deep linking is one of these things. Its spread and adoption is one of the factors involved in the app becoming more like the rest of the internet.

WHAT IS DEEP LINKING, ANYWAY?

Deep linking is a link to a part of a site or app that is somewhere on the inside – if we think of the main page or launch screen as the front door, then this is a link to the living room. It’s a simple concept and one that we are so accustomed to on the internet that we may not know what it’s called.

A link to this article is a deep link, while a link to mobileroadie.com isn’t.

Nothing special, right?

Most links you see are deep links, but that’s usually on desktop. Web pages have the advantage of all being written in the same language – HTML. That means that links everywhere have the same format and are easily standardized. In apps there are different operating systems and programming languages at play.

Overcoming this problem means an incredible amount of functionality is opened to the app ecosystem.

WHY IS DEEP LINKING IMPORTANT FOR MOBILE?

As with most things we take for granted, we may not realize what deep linking enables.

Social sharing relies on deep linking. Imagine if you couldn’t share a specific article on Facebook – you’d share the site and a detailed set of instructions on how to navigate to the article that you wanted to let people know about. That’s annoying even if there are only three pages on the site, but what if there are 300?

Search engines also rely on deep links. They go through websites and deliver relevant pieces of content – specific answers to search queries, not websites that might have content that might interest the searcher.

Deep links create a system of apps that works like the desktop web. An app is no longer an isolated program. Instead, there’s an environment of programs that talk to each other, broadening the utility of the entire network.

HOW IS DEEP LINKING USED NOW?

Mobile deep linking is mostly used for marketing. If you have a mobile store, it’s valuable to be able to bring a potential customer to a transactional page where they can buy rather than a storefront.

Ease of use is central to a good user experience, which leads to better results. People who have an easy time buying things tend to buy more things and be happier once they do. If you see an ad with a pair of shoes that you want, clicking it should get you to a page where you can buy that pair of shoes. For e-commerce, the utility is clear. But what about other apps?

Deep linking simplifies promotions across the board. Taking new users directly to a particular screen can make their experience more relevant and interesting. From sharing (via text message or email) to paid promotions, you have a greater variety of screens that they can land on.

If you plan events, spread information about your company’s promotions, or just want to share one piece of news, a deep link is the simplest way to do it from an app.

The largest marketing platforms (Google, Facebook, Twitter, etc.) were among the first to adopt deep linking. 2012 marked the Google+ app adopting deep links to content. Other marketers were quick to follow, and for good reason.

If you have direct transactions in your app, then deep linking is a boon. However, regular links to download your app are still useful. Getting people to become regular users is invaluable. After downloads, you can make use of push notifications to drive use as part of a broad strategy for engagement.

WHAT IS THE FUTURE OF DEEP LINKING?

If you remember what the early internet was like, you may understand what deep linking can do for mobile.

The web was dominated by large sites that tried to be universal – Yahoo may be the only (barely) surviving one. They gathered an audience and then tended to stagnate, resting on their laurels because users couldn’t find alternatives. The current app market is similar.

Once deep linking on apps becomes as easy as it is on the desktop internet, this will change. With stable ways of finding content, you’ll be able to search apps and find specific functions or pieces of content. It will make it easier to find and be found.
What do you think mobile deep linking will lead to? Let us know in the comments.