How to start when publishing a mobile application: keywords

In the face of tremendous competition, among more than 2 million applications in the main app stores (markets), one of the major tasks is to help the user to notice your application. To do this, it is important to be able to apply various methods of marketing applications. Today we would like to share the basic ASO (App store optimization) technique and pay close attention to the use of such a tool as keywords (keywords) on various markets - AppStore, Amazon, Google Play and Opera.

ASO is the process of optimizing a mobile application for a higher rating on the market. The goal is to send as much traffic as possible to the application page on the market so that users download it. The higher your application in the ratings, the more visible it is to potential customers. The optimization process should continue throughout the product life cycle.

We advise you to optimize descriptions and keywords during the creation of an application - BEFORE publication. Otherwise, it risks remaining unnoticed by your customers, and they never download it.
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One of the most important optimization methods is the selection of the most relevant keywords. It is very important to understand the target audience and find the keywords that users use to find applications similar to yours.
First of all, keywords should be in the name of the application. They should have the most extensive traffic. According to statistics, keywords in the title give 10.3% of the issue at higher places in the ratings.

Keywords should accurately explain the application and be associated with it. Add them to the description, in promo phrases. This will increase the chances of finding your application on the Internet through Google, Yahoo and other search services - you should not be limited to application stores. It is useful to monitor competitors in order to understand how many new applications have appeared on the market for your keyword during the entire life cycle of the application. Due to the fact that the mobile application market is fast-growing, new items are published every day. Therefore, over time, the rating of the application changes and you need to select keywords again.

First, make an extensive list of keywords. It includes an associative series - those words that are best suited thematically. But it is worth noting that you do not need to use all the associations. For example, if we are talking about races, then the potential user will most likely not use the word “tire” to search for races.

At the same time, you can use such services as Google AdWords Keyword Planner , Google Trends , Thesaurus, search for hashtags on Twitter, Wordpot , Wordstream . Also, in order not to reinvent the wheel, you can turn to competitive applications in the relevant niche. That is, to monitor the state of affairs on the market.

Another way is to search for keywords in reviews for your application and competitors' applications. First of all, you should pay attention to reviews with 5 stars, as they are likely to consist of positive comments. You can also try to go to the forums and ask the target audience what words they would use.

Now for the Good Keywords. When you evaluate search queries, the “easy” keywords are 25 applications in search results for a word. "Medium" - 25-100 applications. "Competitive" - ​​more than 100 applications, they need a greater number of downloads for the rating to be higher.

Further, I would like to give you some tips for finding keywords that will make your life easier:

• Do not use spaces between words, use commas, otherwise the market will perceive the list as one meaningless word;
• Do not use stop words and bundles such as “The”, “is”, “and”. They will not help you;
• The strongest keywords should be used in the name of the application;
• Do not repeat the words, and do not use the words found in the name of your application;
• Consider the use of the plural word - they differ from the only one in issuing a rating - traffic and competition. Always compare and choose the best;
• Use shorter words, then you can choose more keywords. 9 characters in a word are two words with 4 characters each. In any case, the most important thing is relevance. Use length as a minor factor, all other things being equal. Each keyword must contain at least 2 characters;
• If you have few characters, use numbers, not words;
• Apple sets a limit of 100 characters separated by commas without spaces, words are selected through special services for optimization and analytics (see below).
• Amazon sets a limit of 30 words, words are selected through the app store by analyzing the search results for queries.
• Opera - there are no restrictions on the number of keywords. They can be selected in different languages ​​on the site http://apps.opera.com/en_en/
• Google Play - keywords are used only in the description, so you can define for yourself 5-10 keywords with the help of auxiliary analytics services (see below) and use them in the text several times. Do not overdo it - you can get under the ban for spam keywords;
• You can not use brand names and words for which you do not have rights - otherwise the app store will ban you;
• The use of curses is prohibited;
• Use the localization feature: write descriptions and keywords in the native languages ​​of the countries where the application is located. This will help the application to be found in other countries. Many users prefer to use the interface in their native language, rather than in English;
• If the application will be sold in England, America, Australia and a number of other English-speaking countries, then it is better to select keywords separately for each country - the statistics will differ;
• A wonderful trick is to select additional words related to current significant events and holidays (New Year, Christmas, etc.).

So, now let us dwell in more detail on the choice of words with the help of support services for Apple and Android applications. There are two main indicators by which we determine the relevance of a keyword: traffic (request frequency) and difficulty (competitiveness). Frequency of inquiry - how popular is the word in the search volume. Competitiveness - how difficult it is for it to compete with others.

The perfect combination: high frequency and low competition. But this is quite difficult to achieve, so first it is better to concentrate on competitiveness. Then you get the words that are more likely to shine. When you have selected words by the first criterion, further filter the list by frequency to check how popular the word is in search results. For example: you have an iPhone application My Pizza Shop on the App Store. The ingredients word has Traffic 4.8, Difficulty 3.4 and the number of competitive applications 596. These indicators are quite suitable for using this word. On the contrary, the word cook has Traffic 4.6, Difficulty 5.2, and the number of competitive applications 8370. This combination is not suitable, as it has a negative appeal: (4.6 - 5.2 = -0.8). It is lost among eight thousand competitors.

If you decide to re-optimize keywords, it is recommended to keep the old list of words, since the new composition may not be effective, and it will be easier for you to go back to the previous version.

To help developers, there are quite a few services to assess the attractiveness of keywords. In our opinion, a convenient service for comparison is the Sensor Tower's Keyword Research Module - it gives a rating from 1 to 10, as well as the number of applications for a search query for iPhone, iPad, Android. For extended rights to use the services you will have to make a monthly or one-time payment in full, but there is always limited access to the free promotional version. Since most of these services are paid, you better allocate a budget for marketing.

Next, we offer a small list of such services:

• App Annie provides all kinds of analytics and app ratings;
• SensorTower provides a complete ASO package with detailed keyword analyzes;
• MobileDevHQ provides the complete ASO package;
• AppCodes provides the complete ASO package;
• AppTweak provides a complete ASO package and detailed analytics;
• AppFigures is a good analytical system;
• Appnique provides a complete package and a wide marketing company.

In conclusion, I would like to note that for high-quality promotion of your application, it will not be superfluous to write reviews, press releases, and use social networks. To capture the market and user attention, you will need time to carefully build and invest for an effective marketing company.

We hope our material will simplify your life and soon we will see your application in TOPs! Success in creative work! In the next articles of this series, we will look at other basic components of a successful marketing campaign - from choosing the right name and type of device to criteria for timely and high-quality updates.