How does the AppStore search algorithm work?

Note: the findings were still valid in Feb 2016. Some of the behaviors changed afterwards.

Just like Google, iTunes App Store is a black-box that no app developers know what’s exactly going to happen after making changes. There are a lot of rules behind. After conducting some experiments with multiple apps, I have some significant but not-so-obvious findings of iTunes App Store, which could help you know more about how it works. But of course there are still more rules behind and they keep changing.

The experiments were based on filling in all 28 languages (including 4 English languages) to maximize the number of keywords. So the findings may not be applicable for those apps with only 1 English language.

1. They Take Care of Multiple Language Keywords for 1 Regional Store

There are 147 iTunes App Store but only 28 languages available for the description and keywords. That means some languages affect multiple regions while some regions consider keywords in multiple languages.

You can put 100 characters in each of the languages including commas. Technically there are 2,800 characters to describe your apps in 28 languages. It is important to optimize the performance within the constraint by knowing how it works.

There is a list of those languages in different regions in iTunes Connect admin panel.

Here are a few highlights:

• English (U.S.) only affects the United States (App Store).
• English (Canada) only affects Canada. This is obvious.
• Besides Spain, Spanish (Spain) also affects the United States. Please be noted that Spanish (Mexico) does not affect the United States though Mexico is closer to US geographically.
• English (U.K.) affects all 147 stores except the United States and Canada. It takes effect on Australia as well (will explain later).

That means your app may rank in the search results for Spanish (Spain) keyword even in the US App Store. But it will not rank in the search results of those keywords only appear in Spanish (Mexico).

Note: this behavior is no longer the same according to the comments below.

English (Australia) is special. According to the official list, it ONLY affects the ranking of Australian store. But our experiments showed that the keywords of English (Australia) affected the rankings in those regions where English (U.K.) took effects. At the same time, the keywords of English (U.K.) affected the rankings in Australia as well.

There are actually 200 characters to use combining both English (U.K.) and English (Australia). Those keywords will affect 145 regions except the United States and Canada, which makes them the most effective languages that you should not miss. Don’t waste the character limits by putting same keywords in 2 English languages.

The concept applies to English (U.S.) and Spanish (Spain) too if you are targeting the US market. Don’t include the same keywords in 2 languages.

2. Keywords in Titles Are VERY Important

Everyone knows that. But it became even more important since Nov 2015. Apple updated the search algorithm since Nov 2015. Before that, there was no significant difference between keywords in the title and keywords in the keyword field.

After the change, the rankings of keywords in the title are significantly higher than the keywords in the keyword field.

Adding those highest-valued keywords in your app title improves your app store ranking a lot. Be careful that Apple may reject your app submission if you try to spam the keywords in the app title (e.g. adding irrelevant words like “Facebook” or “Instagram”). Make it natural and fluent.

3. Descriptions Do Not Affect Rankings or Exposure

This is obvious but many developers still forget it. iTunes App Store pays NO attention to the descriptions when considering the rankings. Do not spend too much time trying to spam keywords in the description. Make it human-readable for better conversion rate instead. You may see how short Pinterest’s description is.

You may argue that the description affects the ranking on Google search. I doubt how many traffics come from Google to iTunes App Store except searching for the app name. I don’t think it is worth crafting the description only for Google, which might not be the best version to convert app store visits into installs.

Source: 6 iTunes App Store Secrets You Need To Know — Product Growth Learnings

Apple merchandises an app based on the keywords it’s targeting – if an app is relevant for the keyword, it will index for it. The algorithm also indexes apps for long-tail phrases based on the keywords it uses. To a lesser degree, Apple’s algorithm also looks at reviews and ratings to find common keywords users call out. What doesn’t get indexed, however, is the app’s promotional text. This area is editable at any time and is best for conversion and explaining new / limited time features to users than for keyword targeting.

If you want, you can promote your app by your own or with help from companies like MoPeak. They provide full marketing promotion services and help make your app to get the highest position in the Top. Also their experienced Mobile Marketing Team will make your app visible and popular for thousands of new users. If you’ve had low ratings and poor reviews in the past, order their review service in order to get stable relevant reviews made by real users.

Hope this helps:)

With over 2 million mobile apps in the major app stores, getting your app discovered is one of the biggest issues facing mobile app publishers today. If you’re in the mobile app space, it’s important to understand the various methods for marketing your app. I’d like to share with you one very important technique that continues to be overlooked by most – app store optimization (or ASO for short).

More apps are discovered through search than any other method

So, what is ASO?

ASO is the process of optimizing mobile apps to rank higher in an app store’s search results. The higher your app ranks in an app store’s search results, the more visible it is to potential customers. That increased visibility tends to translate into more traffic to your app’s page in the app store.

The goal of ASO is to drive more traffic to your app’s page in the app store, so searchers can take a specific action: downloading your app.

Also, the ASO process requires a crucial understanding of your target customer base, including the keywords your potential customers are using to find apps similar to yours. When you learn more about which keywords are being used, you will have a better understanding of the language of your potential customers – a crucial piece of any marketing plan – and you can home in on your keyword choices.

Why is ASO important?

According to Forrester, 63% of apps are discovered through app store searches. This makes search, in the app store, the most used method for discovering and downloading new apps. Recently, at Google I/O, Ankit Jain reported that “For the average app, search actually makes up the vast majority of installs.” Simply put, this means that:

If you’re not using ASO to increase your app’s search ranking, you’re missing out on the largest discovery channel available to your app.

With hundreds of thousands of apps in each app store vying to rank above one another, the amazing reality is that the majority of publishers are not investing in app store optimization. So here’s our gift to you: ASO is your secret weapon. Spend time every week improving your ASO, and you will meaningfully impact your app’s ranking and overall success.

What are the mechanics of ASO?

Let’s start by breaking down the various components that can affect your ASO:

Main Factors:

• Title – The keyword placed in the title should be the one with the heaviest search traffic. Spend time researching which keyword that is, because changing your title often to include different keywords can be detrimental. As your app begins to rank higher and gain more reviews, news of your app will begin to spread by word of mouth. Changing the title can make it difficult for word to spread about your app.
• Keywords – To improve your search rankings, you need to know which keywords are relevant and used most often by your target audience. It is helpful to monitor competitors in order to realize how you compare week to week.

In addition to being the most important factors for ASO, the fact that the title and keywords can be modified easily means that you can regularly optimize them.

Secondary Factors:

• Total # of Downloads – Your number of downloads are extremely important to ASO, but you don’t have complete control over them.
• Ratings and Reviews – Also important and difficult to control. However, there are ways to incentivize happy users to rate and review.

Let’s Talk About Keywords in the Title: Worth It?

With a sampling of keywords, they looked at the top 25 ranking positions and calculated what percentage of apps had the keyword in the title vs. those that did not. This provided a total aggregate score for the apps with the keyword in the title and the apps without the keyword in the title.

Based on this test, apps with keywords in the title ranked on average 10.3% higher than those without a keyword in the title.

So, is a keyword worth placing in your title? Yes.

Do apps with higher ratings rank higher in search results?

This test was done by taking a random sampling of keywords and categorizing them by difficulty as related to result count. An “easy” keyword results in fewer than 25 apps trying to rank for that keyword. “Medium” keywords are those that are included in 25-100 apps, and “competitive” keywords are those in 100+ apps.

Based on this test, there is a clear trend showing that apps with higher ratings also rank higher for keyword difficulty.

Do apps with better ratings rank higher? Yes.

(But don’t beg for them; earn better ratings for your apps the right way.)

Do more downloads correlate to higher app store search rankings?

Only the developer and the app store know the number of times an app has been downloaded. Since we do not know the number of downloads, we took the number of ratings instead. The belief here is that, averaged out, the download-to-rating conversion rate is more or less similar across most apps. Therefore, it is fairly accurate to look at the number of ratings as a proxy for the number of downloads.

Again, the results of the test are clear. The trend, regardless of difficulty, showed that apps with more downloads also rank higher.

Do apps with more downloads rank higher? Yes.

It is important to notice the difference between “competitive” keywords and the other difficulties. If your keyword falls into the “competitive” category, you need a significantly larger number of downloads to rank higher.

Keep in mind that ASO takes time

ASO is a process that needs to be monitored and constantly tweaked over a period of time. Your optimal set of keywords rarely is the set that you first opt to put in the app store.

Today, the most common approach to ASO is no approach at all. Developers often pick keywords and write descriptions at the last second during an app’s submission process. In most cases, little or no research on keyword searches occurs before the app submission, leaving most apps hidden and the likelihood of discovery quite low.

We had a moment to sit down with Ian Sefferman, the CEO of MobileDevHQ, and he told us how investing time in ASO has affected their customers. He said:

“ASO is having dramatic effects on our client apps. For those who put the time in to understand, iterate, and test, we’ve seen many apps increase their downloads by a factor of 2x-10x, and an increase of revenue by a similar, or bigger, rate due to the increase in engagement of users earned by ASO. ASO is not a simple process, and you might not see the impact overnight, but if you’re willing to invest in it, the outcome can be incredibly worthwhile.”

App developers need to consistently track their own rankings and the rankings of their competitors over time. More apps are published every day, and the constant stream of new ratings, reviews, and downloads can affect your search rankings. Keep testing and experimenting with your keywords in order to consistently rank well and drive more traffic to your download page.

Tips for improving your ASO

To recap, let’s look at the ASO factors and the methods you can use to improve in those areas.

Main Factors

• Title – Having a keyword in your title can improve your app’s search ranking for that keyword by an average of 10.3%. As a best practice, you want to place your most relevant keyword, regardless of the keyword difficulty, in the title.
• Keywords – Constantly tracking your own keywords and the movement of your competitors takes time and effort. In order to have the time to focus on your app and not solely on ASO, use a service such as MobileDevHQ to track your search rankings, analyze your keywords, choose better keywords, and get updates about your competitors.

Secondary Factors

• Total # of Downloads – Now that our gut feelings have been proven with data, what can you do to get more downloads for your app? Improving your ASO is a great place to start. Beyond that, it is about marketing your brand and app to improve recognition, awareness, and appeal, from app store description to images, ratings/reviews, and social media presence. For a great place to start, check out these three inbound marketing strategies for mobile apps.
• Ratings and Reviews – As we saw above, apps with higher ratings also ranked higher. This raises a tricky dilemma: you want more ratings and reviews but not if they are negative. So, you need a way to connect with your customers inside your app, giving them a place to vent and talk directly to the developer. On the flip side, you want to guide happy customers to leave positive reviews for you.

The App Store search algorithm is not officially disclosed for obvious reasons.

But when you work with the App Store for a few years, you start to understand how things usually work there.

I’ve written a mega post (>6000 words) about 35 app store optimization tips to summarize my experience in the past few years. If you follow them, I’m sure you can greatly increase your app downloads.

The best part? You can do them all without spending a penny!

Here is an extract of all 35 tips:

1. App Name & Keywords
2. App Name Format
3. App Name Length
4. App Description & Keywords
5. App Description – The First Few Sentences
6. App Description – The Expanded Description
7. App Description Length
8. App Icon
9. App Store Keywords – Getting Keyword Ideas
10. App Store Keywords – Selecting Your Keywords
11. App Store Keyword Optimization
12. App Screenshots
13. App Preview Video
14. App Store Ratings – The Impact
15. App Store Ratings – Getting Five-Star Ratings
16. App Store Ratings – Reply To Reviews
17. App Store Ratings – One-Star Reviews
18. App Localization Strategy
19. App Localization – Best Countries For Your App
20. App Localization – Top Countries By Revenue
21. App Conversion Rates – The Impact
22. App Conversion Rates – Page View CR
23. App Conversion Rates – Download CR
24. App Size
25. App Pricing – Free with In-App Purchases
26. App Pricing – Free with Ads
27. App Pricing – Paid Apps
28. App Compatibility – iMessage
29. App Compatibility – Apple Watch
30. App Compatibility – Family Sharing
31. App Compatibility – Game Center
32. App Updates
33. Apple App Store vs. Google Play
34. Putting It All Together
35. Here’s What To Do Next

App Name & Keywords

Name your app in a creative and searchable fashion. Not only it is the first piece of the clue telling your potential users what your app is, but it also gets your app in the search results.

According to research by MobileDevHQ (now renamed Tune), using keywords in your title can result in up to a 10.3% increase in rankings.

Image courtesy of MobileDevHQ via John Rampton on Forbes

Both Google and Apple’s search algorithms scan the app name for keywords when a user performs a keyword search in the app markets. It is a good idea to include a few keywords in your app name as an App Store Optimization practice. It is because both platforms give quite high priorities to apps with app names that contain the search input.

But don’t stuff every keyword into your title or your app will look spammy. You need to find a good balance between keywords and branding. But how? Read on!

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App Name Format

Keep the actual brand name short and sweet. You can then append this short brand name with a few keywords, typically preceded by a dash or a semicolon.

App Store Optimization Tips:

App Name Format
Use the format “Brand Name – Keywords” or “Brand Name: Keywords” to include relevant keywords in your name.

Here are some real examples:

Google Maps – Navigation & Transit

Amazon App: shop, scan, compare, and read reviews

eBay: Buy, Sell, Save! Electronics, Fashion & More

Pandora – Free Music & Radio

The Weather Channel: Alerts, Forecast & Radar

It’s also important to use only URL-friendly characters in your title, particularly in the App Store. It is because Apple uses the app name to create your app URL. Also, avoid any special characters in your app name, like the trademark or copyright symbol. They will cause iTunes to refer to your app’s numeric ID to scan for relevant keywords instead of your app name.

Did you know?
In less than 30 seconds, you can get an App Store Optimization Report of your app here. Just enter your app name, and the report will tell you how to increase your app downloads using app store optimization. And it’s free.

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App Name Length

Apple limits the app name to a maximum of 50 characters since September 2016. So you have to make good use of every character in your app name.

Brand Name: Use 23 characters or less for optimal presentation on every device.

Total Length: To make the most of the 50 character limit, use more than 40 characters to cover more relevant app store keywords.

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App Description & Keywords

Apple App Store: Apple App Store does not search for keywords in the app description, but that does not mean iOS developers can be lazy with it. Read the sections below for more tips about App Description.

Google Play Store: you need to be careful with the app description. It is because Google pulls keywords from your description to be your app’s keywords. Incorporate your app store keywords in the description in natural and sensible sentences. Note that keywords in the above-the-fold section (the first few lines) carries more weight than the rest of the description copy in Google’s ranking algorithm, so remember to put your main keywords in this section. And this leads us to the next tip below…

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App Description – The First Few Sentences

According to StoreMaven, only an average of 5% users will click the “read more” button below the short description on Google Play.

This number is further down to only 2% on Apple’s App Store.

So every character in the short description counts!

On mobile, you only have 252 characters for this short description.

You don’t want to waste any space here. Make it concise and attention-grabbing. Avoid blank lines and interrupted sentences.

Tell users what makes your app unique and why they will love it. Focus on your app’s values, instead of features. And don’t forget to include a call-to-action text to get the users excited!

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App Description – The Expanded Description

Highlight the features of your app here. Use spacing and bulleted lists to make it easy to read. If possible, also list out all the social proofs, awards, and honorable mentions your app has received. Don’t forget to include your app’s social media links too.

Also, Google Play Store allows rich formatting and emoji in your app description. Make good use of these to make your description organized and stand out from the crowd.

Communicate in the tone of your brand. Use terminology your target audience will appreciate and understand.

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App Description Length

We analyzed the description length of the top 100 apps in Nov 2016. Here are some findings:

• 90% of top 100 apps use more than 589 characters
• 90% of top 100 apps use less than 3385 characters.

Though app description length doesn’t have a very big impact compared to other factors, it is still a good idea to keep your length within this range.

App Store Optimization Tips:

Benchmark with the Top 100 Apps
Do you want to know the latest statistics of description length? Just use this App Store Optimzation tool. The tool benchmarks your app with the top 100 apps and tells you how to improve.

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App Icon

A better icon can increase your downloads up to 560%!

To design a good icon, keep your design simple and eye-catchy. Do not cram the small space with many items or words. You want people to remember the icon after the first impression. Also, make sure your icon will still look good when it is scaled down to the smallest size required by App Store / Google Play. It should also look good against light and dark background.

To get more design inspirations, browse the top-rated apps in your category and Apple/Google’s top picks. Also, make sure your icon is different from your competitor’s to avoid brand confusion. Contrasting colors, different shapes or adding a frame can also help.

App Store Optimization Tips:

Branded vs Functional Icon
If your app has a brand, use the logo to make your brand and your future products recognizable. If your app is a functional app, use one object to describe your app.

Branded App Icon – facebook

Functional App Icon – Whatsapp Messager

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App Store Keywords – Getting Keyword Ideas

To begin with, try and come up with at least 50 keywords. Here are some great tools that help you with the app store keyword ideas. All you need to do is to provide a keyword. These tools will then give you many keyword ideas to consider. And they are all free!

• Übersuggest
• OneLook Reverse Dictionary
• Google Keyword Planner
• Apple Search Ads > Recommended Keywords (only for iOS app developers)

You can also use Google Trends to check how popular a keyword is in different countries. This is very useful if you want to launch your app in specific countries.

Remember that your keywords must be relevant to your app. Don’t be tempted to use a keyword just because it is popular, but not relevant to your app. You want your app to be found by users who will really download and enjoy your app.

App Store Optimization Tips:

Time-sensitive Keywords
Let’s illustrate the idea by an example: using “Rio” and its related keywords during the Olympics 2016 would greatly help the exposure of your sports apps. Your app would also have a better chance to get into the app store’s feature lists too.

Review Keywords
Did you know the words in your app user reviews are indexed by the app store search engine?

That is why review mining is a very good way for getting app store keyword ideas. Your app reviews speak your users’ mind. And the words are highly related to how they would search for your app. Just by looking at your review keywords, you will be surprised to find out the keyword ideas that you have never thought of before.

There are some review analysis tools in the market. And this one uses Artificial Intelligence on your user reviews to find out what your users like and don’t like about your app.

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App Store Keywords – Selecting Your Keywords

With your initial set of app store keywords, you have to pick a strategy on how to optimize the right keywords. There are some keyword research tools that help you with this app store keyword optimization process. They provide the difficulties (or chances) and traffic of your keywords. In any case, choose about 25 keywords carefully for the next release of your app.

App Store Optimization Tips:

App Store Keyword Optimization Strategy
For a new app, choose keywords with low difficulty and reasonable traffic. They help your app gain the initial momentum. After gaining the initial momentum, start using keywords with higher traffic and reasonable difficulty. They help your app stack up more downloads. Work your way up gradually as your app gets more popular.

Long-tail App Store Keywords
Use longer keyword phrases (aka long-tail keywords) to outrank the competition. For example, it is hard to outrank Zynga Poker by the competitive keyword “Poker” (high difficulty). But you have a better chance to outrank it by the keyword phrase “Poker Casino”. It is because “Poker Casino” is less competitive (lower difficulty).

Retiring Poor App Store Keywords
If you have already released your app with your target keywords, check your current app ranking of these keywords. Keep those keywords that your app ranks within top 10, and replace the rest with new keywords in your next release.

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App Store Keyword Optimization

Now that you have chosen the keywords, you are ready to use them for your app.

For iOS developers: Fill in the keyword metadata with your selected app store keywords. This metadata decides how your app gets discovered. Follow the rules below and make every character counts!

• Use all 100 characters
• Separate every keyword by a comma
• Avoid space, articles and prepositions
• Use singular OR plural, the easier one to rank for
• Don’t repeat keyword
• Use numbers instead of spelled out words
• No need to include the words in your company name, app name and app category names.

App Store Optimization Tips:

App Store Keyword Optimizer
You can use the App Store SEO Grader to optimize your app keyword metadata. The tool applies the above rules to your app keywords and tells you how to improve.

How To 5X Your iOS App Store Keywords
Do you want more keyword space for your iOS app? You can get up to 500 characters for your iOS app store keywords using this optimization tip. That is FIVE TIMES more!

For Android developers: Google Play doesn’t have the keyword metadata. Instead, Google pulls keywords from your description to be your app store keywords. Incorporate your keywords in the description in natural and sensible sentences. Note that keywords in the above-the-fold section (the first few lines) carries more weight than the rest of the description copy in Google’s ranking algorithm, so remember to put your main app store keywords in this section.

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App Screenshots

According to StoreMaven, 60% of users won’t swipe past your first two screenshot images. A better version of your first two screenshots can increase your conversions by 25%!

To make great screenshots, make sure each screenshot is telling a single message about your app. Show your strongest messages in the first two screenshots. The best apps use all five screenshot slots to impress their users, and you should do the same.

Adding short caption texts on your screenshots can help, but make sure they are on a clean background. And try to create a positive impression in the viewers’ mind at all times.

Avoid login, registrations, purchase forms, ads and even “Welcome” screen in your screenshots. Make the best use of the screenshots to tell your users why they should love your app.

App Store Optimization Tips:

Vertical Screenshots
Keep the screenshots vertical. The users can see more screenshots on the narrow screens when the screenshots are vertical.

Vertical screenshots of Clash of Clans

Vertical screenshots of Uber

Optimize Your App Screenshots
To optimize your app screenshots, use this App Store SEO Grader. The tool checks your screenshots’ dimensions, count, orientations, and their compatibility with various iOS devices, and tells you how to improve.

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App Preview Video

Making a video may be difficult but it can increase install rates by more than 23% according to StoreMaven. Don’t forget to use a good poster frame (iOS) / feature graphic (Google Play). This graphic has a big impact to whether your visitors would watch your video.

App Store Optimization Tips:

App Marketing Video

Here are some of the essential elements of an effective app marketing video. They are recommended by Apptamin, a company well-known for its app videos and trailers:

• Use the first 5 seconds to grab the viewer’s attention
• Focus on the best features, instead of all features
• Your video should make sense even with the sound turned off
• Include a call-to-action

Remember, 80% of users don’t watch past first 12 seconds of the video. Do make sure you keep it short and to the point. Avoid any fade-in and “welcome” type of message at the beginning of your video.

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App Store Ratings – The Impact

Ratings and reviews have a great impact on your app downloads. You need an average rating of 4-stars or above. Or else only less than 50% users are willing to download your app.

Check out this infographic for more details:

App Store Optimization Tips:

User Review Sentiment
Use this tool to get a user sentiment analysis of your app. It applies Artificial Intelligence on your user reviews to find out what your users like and don’t like about your app.

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App Store Ratings – Getting Five-Star Ratings

How can you get more five-star ratings for your app?

Delay asking for a rating until there’s a likely moment of constructive feedback. For instance, ask when the user completed a reservation, finished a mission in a game, etc. When the time comes, ask nicely, and don’t beg.

What does that mean? Circa News app is a perfect example. It got 90% five-star ratings for every major version. Here is a flowchart of how it asks users if they would like to provide feedback:

Image courtesy of Circa News

The key is to encourage satisfied users to leave positive reviews and deflect negative reviews by using a “send feedback” option.

To do this, you can either develop your own version of rating and feedback flow or simply use the tools like Apptentive’s Ratings Prompts.

App Store Optimization Tips:

The Right Paths To A Review
Direct only positive reviews to App Store, and negative reviews to support.

But what if I already have many bad reviews?

Redditor amirrajan shared some awesome tips about how to sweep bad reviews under the rug. He also tells you how to give a positive first impression about your app by making good use of the five-star reviews.

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App Store Ratings – Reply To Reviews

Remember to reply the app reviews and feedback! Only the ones who care about your app will spend the time to leave a comment. Show them you care about them as well! This is a great way to let the visitors know that the developer is active too.

For Google Play, there is a “Reply to a review” option in Developer Console for you to do just that.

For Apple App Store, you can also do this since iOS 10.3 release in March 2017.

On iTunes Connect, go to ‘My Apps > Choose your app > Activity > Ratings and Reviews’.

There you can see the “Reply” option in each of the reviews.

App Store Optimization Tips:

How to Reply to Reviews

Try to reply to all feedback immediately following a major release of your app.

If you can’t respond to every review, try prioritizing reviews with the lowest star ratings or those mentioning technical issues with the most current version of your app.

When you release an app update that fixes issues users mentioned in older reviews, consider replying to the relevant reviews to let them know that your update addressed their concerns.

Once a user indicates that your response answered their question or fixed their technical issue, consider asking them to update their rating and review.

You can also foster deeper engagement by asking users for feedback on future app updates as part of your reply.

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App Store Ratings – One-Star Reviews

One-star reviews are your friends. Read them all. Try to understand why the users complained your app, and think about what you need to do to turn them into five-star reviews. This thought process helps you improve your app from the user perspective. Also, fix all serious bugs, crashes and performance issues.

In the end getting more and better app reviews comes down to creating a great app users love. Listen, improve your apps and repeat until you are topping the app store ratings.

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App Localization Strategy

App localization gives you a larger audience to download your mobile app. But localizing the whole app to many languages can be a daunting task.

Before doing a full localization of your whole app, consider localizing your app listing first. It means translating your app name, keywords, screenshots, etc.

David Janner of MAKE APP Magazine conducted a localization experiment. In his experiment, he only localized the app name, the keywords, and sometimes the top line in the app description. After this simple localization, his app received a massive 767% increase in downloads. Before localization, the downloads were mainly from within the US. After localization, his downloads looked like this:

Image courtesy of MAKE APP Magazine

According to OneSky, only 31% of the world’s total app revenue came from the U.S., while 41% came from Asia, and 23% came from Europe. In particular, China has already surpassed the U.S. by both iOS app download and revenue. If your app only has an English version for the U.S. market, you are leaving a lot of money on the table.

App Store Optimization Tips:

App Localization Strategy
Localize your app listing first to see how well your app performs in different countries. You can then decide if you should perform full localization of the whole app for the best performing countries.

Icon and Screenshot Localization
Different countries have distinct preference of icon colors, screenshot layouts and annotations. Check out these posts about icon colors and screenshot localization for more insights.

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App Localization – Best Countries For Your App

Now you know the strategy, but which countries should you start first?

If your app is already available in more than one country, you can use app analytics to find out the top countries by your app downloads. Check the official languages of the top five countries, and localize your app listing if you haven’t done so.

Depending on your priority, you can also do the same using top countries by revenue, ARPU, conversion rate, active devices or retention.

App Store Optimization Tips:

Predict Your Next Successful Markets
This app analytics tool predicts where your next successful markets are based on LTV (Lifetime User Value), ARPU (Average Revenue Per User), Conversion Rates, and more. With this information, you can proactively localize your app to grasp the market opportunities.

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App Localization – Top Countries By Revenue

Another approach is to localize your app listing for the top countries by downloads and/or revenue. According to App Annie, here are the top countries in Q3 2016.

Again, check the official languages of the top countries, and localize your app listing if you haven’t done so.

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App Conversion Rates – The Impact

First, what is conversion rates (CR)?

Let’s use the analytics from Apple App Store to illustrate the concept.

In Apple iTunes Connect’s App Analytics, you can find the followings:

• Impressions (the number of times your app showed up in the App Store)
• App Page Views (the number of visits on your app’s page in the App Store)
• and App Units (the number of downloads)

With these data, you can easily calculate two CRs:

• Page View CR = App Page Views / Impressions x 100%
• Download CR = App Units / App Page Views x 100%

To put things into perspective,

• The page view CR is the percentage of people who see your app from search results, rank lists, or featured app lists, and then tap the icon to check out your app.
• The download CR is the percentage of people who visits your app page and then downloads your app.

These two CRs can be presented along with impressions, app page views, and app units in a diagram called Conversion Funnel in app marketing.

Why is conversion rate such a big deal?

There are mainly three reasons.

1. CR is a strong quantitative indicator of App Store Optimization effectiveness

Keyword ranking and number of downloads are not the best metrics to measure the performance of App Store Optimization. There are many external factors that can influence those two metrics. For example, a big competing publisher may publish a hugely popular app and shift the apps in the keyword ranking by a margin (e.g. The impact of Pokemon Go and related apps on the keyword “Pokemon” and “Go”). Or you run App Store Optimization and an advertisement campaign at the same time and the number of the downloads become not purely organic.

On the other hand, CRs are independent of market competition nor the source of traffic. They give you the true picture of App Store Optimization effectiveness.

2. CR reflects the likelihood of getting ranked

CR is a natural ranking signal in app store search. If lots of people search certain keywords, click on the same search result, and download the same app, Google Play and the App Store should receive a strong message:

“Users want to see this app!”

and place the app in a dominant spot (i.e. rank or featured list).

3. CR saves you money!

It’s just simple math: if you double your CR, you cut your advertising cost by half for the same amount of downloads. For the same reason, if you haven’t optimized your CR, don’t spend big bucks on advertising campaigns! You would be wasting your money.

Just a side story: some ranking manipulation farms even go far and take advantage of this. They offer keyword-rank-manipulation service. They boost the ranking of an app by “searching” the app by specific keywords, tapping the app in the search results and download the app — the exact flow of conversion funnel.

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App Conversion Rates – Page View CR

Now you know the importance of conversion rate, let’s see how we can improve them.

Let’s do a recap:

Page View CR = App Page Views / Impressions x 100%

If Page View CR is less than 3%, you should try to improve it.

3%? Really? Yes, 3% sounds very low, but you won’t believe many apps have less than 1% we have seen!

To improve Page View CR, focus on optimizing these metadata:

• App name
• App icon
• First 2 lines of app description
• First 2 screenshots (or app preview video)
• App ratings

It is because the app search result only shows these pieces of information. That means they are your baits to bring users to your app page. So make good use of them!

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App Conversion Rates – Download CR

Now, let’s look at Download CR:

Download CR = App Units / App Page Views x 100%

Folks from SplitMetrics have done a wonderful job on this topic. They gathered the download conversion rates from hundreds of experiments with over 10,000,000 users. Here are the best conversion rates in each app category in their study:

Based on this graph, you should set your download CR target to at least 60% for most categories. For Health & Fitness and Education categories, you may set your target a bit lower to around 40% and 50% respectively.

If your download CR is lower than the target benchmark, you should follow all tips in this article to improve this metric.

App Store Optimization Tips:

Benchmark Your Conversion Rate
Use this App Store Optimization tool to benchmark your app’s conversion rate (CR). It compares your download CR with your app category’s median and best CR, and tells you what you should do.

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App Size

Try to make your app smaller than 100 MB. It is because users cannot download apps that are more than 100 MB using cellular service.

So for example, if a user on a bus or a train can’t download “now”, it is unlikely the user will write down the name and try again X hours later when they’re home.

Need some proof? This post from appfigures shows that ~98% of the top 100 free and ~62% of paid iOS and Android games can be downloaded are under 100 MB.

Do you think 100 MB is not enough for your app? Take a look at Clash of Clans. Its iOS version is just 85.3 MB.

App Store Optimization Tips:

Make Your App Smaller
To reduce the app size, consider compressing some of the graphical assets or make some of the contents downloadable after install.

Compare with the Top 100 Apps
Do you want to know how your app size compares to that of the top 100 apps? Use this App Store Optimization tool. It tells you whether your app size falls in the reasonable app size range of the top 100 apps.

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App Pricing – Free with In-App Purchases

Making your app free can remove the friction for users to download your app. After all, what price is better than free?

If you want to make money from your free app, consider In-App Purchase (IAP) pricing model if that makes sense to your app design. IAP account for 79% of app store revenue.

App Store Optimization Tips:

New to In-App Purchase (IAP)?
Check out this Do’s and Don’ts IAP Checklist. It can jump start your IAP design.

Need In-App Purchase (IAP) Ideas?
Here is a wonderful list of 40 IAP ideas for you to consider.

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App Pricing – Free with Ads

If you choose to make in-app advertising revenue, try to use native ads. They are created to fit the exact context of the app they appear on. This way, they serve as extra content for the app itself rather than a piece of promotional materials. Check out this post to see more reasons why native ads are better than traditional banner ads.

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App Pricing – Paid Apps

Use a reasonable price by comparing your app price with your competing apps. Also, take reference of the price range of the top apps in your app categories.

A good starting price point to test the market is $0.99 or $1.99. Anything above $2.99 won’t make you a lot of money. The exception is Minecraft Pocket Edition, which is priced at $6.99.

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App Compatibility – iMessage

For iOS apps, supporting iMessage App helps your app grow viral through the user’s phone contacts. You can also gain extra exposure in the App Store for iMessage.

Need ideas of how to use iMessage for your app? Check out how these 10 apps make use of iMessage integration for more ideas.

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App Compatibility – Apple Watch

For iOS apps, supporting Apple Watch improves your app’s customer experience and user loyalty.

But don’t just copy your original app features directly to your Apple Watch app. Make good use of the Apple Watch characteristics to improve your user experience. Need inspirations? Check out these 50 best Apple Watch apps.

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App Compatibility – Family Sharing

For iOS apps, Apple offers the Family Sharing opt-in for app developers. Family Sharing allows up to six family members to share app purchases on the same credit card across devices and parents to supervise their children purchases. Supporting Family Sharing means you can reach more family members and improves user loyalty.

Apple also clarifies that in-app purchases are not transferable through Family Sharing. Family members just the apps themselves. It means Family Sharing gives higher revenue potential for apps with in-app purchases.

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App Compatibility – Game Center

Though Game Center app is removed since iOS 10, the Game Center service is still available. If you have an iOS game, you can make use of these Game Center features:

• Leaderboard
• Achievements
• Challenges
• Saving Games
• Matchmaking for multiplayer games

These features improve your game’s virality and user retention in many ways.

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App Updates

Statistics show that there is a high correlation between high ratings and app update frequency. In fact, releasing regular updates has many benefits. It improves user loyalty and keeps an app top of mind because your app will show up in the updates list in the app stores. Apple and Google also like to see app updates because they show you’re committed to the app and that it’s still being maintained.

How often should you update your app? Check out this chart first:

For these 25 top iOS apps, the average was about 30 days between updates. I’d recommend at least an update a month, and up to once a week.

Don’t forget to use push notifications to alert users to new app updates. They have a big impact on your update downloads. Ideally, you should only send notifications to the users who haven’t downloaded your latest version. In case you can’t distinguish who have and who haven’t, you should word your message carefully to avoid the confusion.

For examples,

Hey! Have you checked for updates in the App Store recently?
Updates! Are all your apps up to date? Check the Updates button in the App Store.

Of course, you shouldn’t do an update just for the sake of doing an update. Your updates should always improve your app in some ways, either by bug fixings or enhancements.

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Apple App Store vs. Google Play

If you wonder what are the differences between Apple App Store and Google Play on App Store Optimization, here is a great summary:

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Putting It All Together

Here is a cool infographic produced by Y Media Labs. It sums up the most important points about App Store Optimization.

After you have published the changes, keep an eye on the keyword rankings. The rankings change right after you published the new version. Target to make your app rank within top 10 of all keywords. If your new keywords are too hard to rank, you might have to replace them with your old keywords.

Review your app store optimization every three weeks or four because that is when big trends change. Don’t give up if the results of first few optimizations are not turning out well. App marketing takes time and App Store Optimization needs many observations to master.

Congratulations!

You’ve read to the end of this mega post (~6,000 words).

Give yourself a BIG hand!

And I wish you good luck in your journey.

PS. If you are too busy to try out all these tips, just use this app store optimization tool. In less than 30 seconds, it automatically checks your app using app store optimization best practices and tells you how to improve.

And it’s free :-)

Hi there,

The Apple App Store algorithm is evolving rapidly and is actually changing very often. With the latest updates (November 2015), Apple has redistribute partially the way it weights ranking factors.

There are some impacting factors that we just know. Others that we need to guess. Others that are common sense.

Here is what we know:

• App Title weights a lot. Use in average 80 characters. Use relevant and strong keywords.
• Keywords are now associated according to context and spelling (LSI). Read this for more details on the latest App Store changes.
• App description is not taken into account although it remains important in terms of SEO. Regarding the latest changes, app descriptions are likely to be taken into account in the future.
• Reviews & Ratings have a crucial role in terms of app rankings. Most importantly, their freshness has the most impact.
• Downloads & Installs still have an impact but it has been decreased on profit of app retention and engagement (increasing importance in terms of app rankings).
• Versions & Releases  the more fresh and updated your app is, the more chances it will have to increase its rankings and discoverability.
• Deep linking is starting to get more and more importance.

Recently, one of our guest contributors made several experiments to try understanding how the App Store really works.

I hope this helps! Make sure to always pay attention to new updates or changes. Check out our blog to stay updated :)

Disclaimer: I work for AppTweak ASO platform, helping you to improve your app's discoverability. I am 100% available to answer your ASO questions.

Here is what we know in 2018 about the App Store algorithm:

• Users search for keywords or keyword phrases by typing into the search window. The list of apps shown are based on rank.
• If a potential user searches for an app, lands on the list of apps and then clicks on your icon to look at your sales page then you are given “credit.” If that same user then downloads your app then you are given even more credit. This download is a full cycle or “tap through” and it has the biggest impact on rank (visibility).
• Keywords used in reviews have the second highest impact on keyword rank. These keywords show Apple that users find the app relevant and and it therefore increases the rank of those keywords. When people try “boost” rank this is how they are trying to game the algorithm. Boosting is bad!
• Clicking on Apple Search Ads counts as a tap through and credit is given.
• Keywords used in the title have the most weight, followed by the subtitle.
• Apps that have targeted keywords for a long time and built a large “keyword matrix” will always outrank newer apps targeting the same keywords.

There is a ton of speculation and misinformation when it comes to the algorithm and optimization strategy. Stay up to date on ASO “best practices” and always be testing!

Gummicube has collected over 10 billion data points since 2010. This data is collected every single day in all the language territories of the App Store and Google Play Store. Analyzing this data and looking for signs gives Gummicube very accurate insights into how the algorithm works. Our optimization strategy constantly changes to stay ahead and ensure our optimizations have the biggest impact for our partners.

Full disclosure: I work for the leading ASO company in the world. Please feel free to get in contact with any organic UA and ASO questions.

While no one can say with 100% certainty how the app store algorithm works, you can help your app stay on top of the changes and not lose its ranking. Because of our billions of data points coming in daily and our crack data science team at Mobile Action, we are one of the first to notice such changes and notify our users about it. for example, we watched as Uber and Clash of Clan's keywords took a steep dive in early November and realized Apple had changed their algorithm once again.

Our advice:

1. Pick your app category and sub-categories carefully. There are a couple ways to figure out how Apple will categorize your app. First, check out the Explore feature in the App Store and find out which categories your app and similar apps are listed in. This feature still doesn’t cover all of the apps in the store, which is we make this second suggestion: check out your competitor’s apps to find out which keywords have started ranking automatically after the changes.
2. Focus only on the most relevant and important keywords in your app name.
3. Use your keyword spot to create long tail keyword phrases.
4. A/B test your app icon, screenshots, app preview and description for better search conversion.

5. Get more and positive user reviews

You may also want to check out our blog series, posts 1, 2, and 3, which give more detail on Apple algorithm changes and how to make the most of them for your app. Good luck!

Hi there,

ASO unfortunately always works differently for different kinds of apps – so a concrete tactic is hard to explain as there are so many aspects involved.

However, in my experience these steps always work:
1) Do proper Keyword Research first – do some brainstorming and listing to find the perfect mix of long, mid and short tail keywords to rank for
2) Keep an eye on your competitors – keep an eye on them, also monitor the ranking results of your direct competitors – then do it better ;)
3) Know your customers – use update texts and review section to communicate with them; react to bad reviews and highlight good ones
4) Monitor your results – it’s an iterative process that has to be monitored to see results; use keyword tracking tools for that;
5) Optimize your app page - screenshots and app title are the most important parameters for users; app title, downloads and description are the most relevant factors for app store ranking algorithm

Keyword Advices:
- Add your most important keyword(s) into the app title (one or two!)
- Keywords within app description are important however keep in mind the description should still be written user-friendly
(Here's a blog post about that What you have to know about App Title & Description in Google Play Store)
- If optimizing for iTunes (App Store) avoid duplicated keywords in title and keyword field

Useful Resources:
- App Store Ranking Factors » The ASO Guide (compactly shows you ranking factors for google play and app store)
- I also like “The complete ASO Handbook” by Steve P Young (ebook)

- Ultimate App Store Optimization Crash Course brought to you by App Radar

Favorite Tools:
App Radar is a new ASO tool alternative out there – specialized on easy keyword tracking

Disclaimer: I am the CEO of App Radar. If you have any further questions, you can contact me anytime :)

Before I was creating and marketing some of the fastest-growing apps on the App Store, I was the SEO specialist at the world's #1 media agency. It was there that I became obsessed with Google's search algorithm. To this day, I credit my understanding of Google's algorithm with helping me do ASO better than anyone else in the business.

As someone else mentioned, Apple will never reveal how their algorithm works. However, Apple does provide tips on making the most of your app's metadata

Every element of your App Store product page has the power to drive downloads of your app. Creating a great app is just the beginning — now it’s time to help users find and engage with your app through thoughtfully crafted app metadata. (Apple)

My best advice to understanding the algorithm, and being able to anticipate the changes, is this: keep Apple's goal in mind. Google's goal was to deliver the most relevant results from the most authoritative sites, as quickly as possible. They want you to find the perfect website based on your search request, ideally so you never have to go to the second page. Apple wants the same thing. Each algorithm tweak is going to be a step in that direction.

For more on App Store Optimization, you may enjoy my 12 ASO Tips.

Read it here: 12 App Store Optimization Tips for Marketing Your App

Also, if you'd like to discuss further, find me here:

• Chris Franco -  Expert - Clarity

You can also email me here: iamchrisfranco [at] gmail [dot] com

Apple appears to have made some significant improvements to the way App Store searches work in recent weeks, returning more relevant, intelligent results whenever a keyword search for an app is conducted.

ASO is just like as SEO for mobile apps. It has advanced terms such as the keywords, rankings, ratings and user reviews. Additionally, it will help you to list your app higher in the app store market as well as increase the chances of reaching the target customers.

App Store search algorithm work :

• For the search strings of two + words the search is not precise
• If you add symbols, they are not taken into account, articles are ignored as well
• Top apps displayed in search results will contain a search phrase or an individual word within its name
• If there are more than 50 results for a smart phone (or 200 for a computer), the user will see only the first 50 (200).
• The search takes into account the app rating and reviews although there is no direct correlation between the app rating and its position in search results.

Read More

This question has gotten plenty of great answers already, but since the most recent ones are over a year old, I wanted to answer with more up-to-date information (2018). Keep in mind that the algorithm constantly changes, therefore, what I post here might not be 100% relevant in a few months time. To stay updated with the latest App Store search algorithm changes, I recommend the Incipia Blog as well as following Thomasbcn on Twitter (tweets not only about ASO, but also mobile app marketing in general).

The way the App Store search algorithm works has basically been the same for a while:

• Title: probably the most important part of your listing. The algorithm will look at which words / keywords are in your title, and attribute a lot of weight (i.e., those words will rank higher more easily) to words in the title. Try to use all of the available space (30 characters at the time of writing this answer) an make sure the words you use are searchable as I like to call them: short and the first thing that comes to mind when you think about your app.
• Subtitle: second most important. All of the advice given for “title” applies to this field as well, except the weight given to words in the subtitle is not as high as that of the title.
• Reviews and ratings: keep your users happy and learn the right time to ask them to rate your app. The higher the # of reviews, the easier it’ll be to rank for a given keyword. Same goes for your app’s rating.
• Total # of downloads: less important nowadays. If your app doesn’t have too many downloads yet, just make sure you don’t target the same keywords your competitors do: if they have a million downloads and you only have a couple hundreds, there is no way you can outrank them (at least not instantly).
• Conversion rate: if your app is about “photography”, and you somehow decide to target “cookbook”, Apple’s algorithm will test the conversion rate for that keyword in particular. I’d imagine that someone typing in “cookbook” in the App Store will not click through to your photography app → your conversion rate declines, and so does your ranking for that keyword.
• Engagement and crashes: keep your users happy and returning to your app, if possible daily. This is more about the quality of the app than something you can have a direct impact on when doing ASO. Keep the crashes to a minimum.
• Keyword field: also less important than it once was. The keyword field is now mostly there to expand the amount of keywords you are targeting. Every word in the keyword field “combines” with words in the title and the subtitle, which means that, if you target “cookbook” in the title, and “keto” in your keyword field, you will rank for “keto cookbook”. Place less important words and keywords here.

I hope this helps you understand a little bit better how the App Store search algorithm works. :)

And if you’re looking for a tool that understands how the App Store works, and automatically modifies your listing to maximize your visibility on every update, check out TapTimize. We’re new to the market but going strong!

I’m happy to answer other questions you may have about ASO.

Hi there,

Together with not saying how algorithm works certainly, I can say what it wants from app owners.

• Keep your app title with the maximum of 30 characters. You have also a sub-title area with 30 characters, too.
• You have 100 character keyword field. Focus on the most relevant keywords, don’t repeat your app title.
• The limit of short description is 255 characters which come up to a few sentences for iOS App Store. Try to give the underlying and attention-grabbing values of your app. It creates the first impression, but doesn’t affect rankings.
• You have a limit of 4,000 characters for the expanded description. Expanded description is your playground. Add bullet points, social proofs, awards, mentions about you or anything else. Use sub-headings to divide it into sections.
• Choose your category and sub-categories carefully. First, look at the category of similar apps with yours.
• All consumers consider downloading 5 star apps while more than 85% of consumers consider downloading 4 star apps. You should improve your reviews and ratings.

1. Track a user’s behavior and ask for reviews at the most opportune times. The features of event triggered messages, real time personalization and intelligent events help you catch these times. It can be after a purchase or level completion.
2. While asking for reviews, avoid over-messaging. It annoys users and create a negative impact.
3. You can conduct A/B testing for your messages to find the most valuable one.
4. Give users a place to talk directly to the developer
5. Reply to app reviews and feedbacks as soon as possible

• There is a correlation between the update frequency and rankings. The graphic below shows the average number of days between last two updates for top 25 iOS apps. So keep your app updated and fresh.

• Social and links don’t affect rankings.

You can view my article for more information. I hope I answered your question. Good luck with your app!

Based on our experiences, the main factors for AppStore search ranking include:

1) Conversion rate for the keyword search. Previously, it was the click-through rate. Users don't need to download. Now it is the download conversion rate;

2) Retention Rate: if the users who download your app keep using the your app, it will have a positive effect for the app's search ranking;

3) Keywords included in the app title. Previously, the app title can contain up to 255 characters. A lot of app developers put keywords into the app title since the keywords in the app title have higher weight. Now the app title only allows 50 characters.

You can also test out what other factors have impacts on search keyword rankings. To monitor keyword rankings, you can use AppCicada's Free App Store Optimization tool to view all keyword coverage for an app. With this tool, you can monitor the keyword ranking by HOUR.

The first 7 days of your app’s launch are not only a testing time for its credibility and ability to flop or fly, but also are the only time when Apple artificially boosts your app’s visibility, and during which your marketing efforts will produce more fruit.

For Apple, it is a guessing game of how good a new app is, as well as how relevant it is to the keywords in its metadata. In order for the algorithm to gauge metrics like retention and conversion rates from search terms, in the first 7 days, your app is placed artificially high in the results for keywords you provided.

To take full advantage of this boost, you could either target vaguely relevant, but super high volume keywords in the pursuit of capturing more downloads, or make sure that you cover the most relevant keywords from the start, so that your performance history on those keywords is high, and your app has a better chance of retaining your high rank for those keywords beyond the 7 days keyword boost.

One of the best keyword providers are MoPeak and KeenMobi companies. They also provide cheapest Installs for both Android and iOS apps and ASO optimization.

Hope this helps.