ASO Monthly # 19 November 2017

Black Friday, the size of the APK file against the conversion to the Play Store and the new service to change the region on the App Store

In the ASO Monthly series of articles, we are considering the events of the past month and pay attention to the trends of the ASO, changes in algorithms, ideas for optimizing the conversion and updates in services.

ASO news for November 2017

November 1 - App Store: Editor's Choice icon in search

Apple took another step towards monitoring and promoting the quality of applications by displaying new icons instead of a star rating in the App Store search. Applications with a high rating (the number of ratings does not have to be high) receive the "Editor's Choice" badge. This, as an additional confirmation of quality, can positively affect the conversion of applications.


according to david barnard tweet

November 4 - App Store: Separate Search Results for iPhone X

Interesting details regarding search results in the App Store were noticed by Anatoly Sharifulin , a member of ASO Stack. Applications with features available only for iPhone X will not appear in search results on older iPhones. This will affect the data on the conversion to ACO, and the growing divergence of this data should be taken into account with the growing popularity of the iPhone X.
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Search results in iPhone X (according to Anatoly Sharifulin)

For a better understanding of the situation, read interesting thoughts on the growing popularity of the iPhone X.


The growing popularity of the iPhone X (according to Lovoo Engineering)

November 8 - Google Play: New Developer Console Features

Google Play has long been trying to improve the work of developers with the console, adding new features to it. Now, the release status of the application is displayed in the upper right corner of the search bar. Also, from the new and important for developers / application managers, there appeared a function for managing orders and refands - and viewing statistics in a selected period of time. In addition, you can now see the average and cumulative rating.


New application status in the Developer Console (according to Catherine Sibirko from ASO Stack)

November 10 - App Store: New Marketing Data, Favorite Applications, Black Friday App Sales

Apple has expanded the list of marketing data for their latest devices: iPhone X, iPhone 8, iPhone 8 Plus, Apple Watch Series 3 and Apple TV 4K.

The App Store also added more options to promote applications - the tab "Deal of the Week" and "Black Friday" - another way for developers to increase the number of downloads with discounts (including seasonal).


Black Friday Application Promotion on the App Store

Along with this news, App Annie reported a new mobile sales record for the upcoming Black Friday. It is predicted that new standards for mobile commerce will be achieved. In connection with the new features, the main task for developers will be the priority of strategies for reaching the audience, including ASO, updating the descriptions and promo materials in the store and promoting applications through seasonal events.

November 16 - App Store: Keyword Ranking Changes

Unusual changes to the top keywords in the App Store related to “free” were noticed by the participants of the ASO Stack - Luca Djkomel and Geyb Kvachi . For such keys, games are usually ranked without metadata. Instability in ranking may be related to downloads / conversions and their changes over time, although the exact reasons are not yet clear.


Ranking of “free” keywords on the App Store (according to data from Luki Djikomel and Gabe Kwachi)

November 20 - Google: Install Referrer API

Good news for application marketers is related to Install Referrer API . Using this API, you can get accurate information about your application directly from the Play Store, including, for example:

• the link where the user found the application;
• time, up to seconds, the link;
• time, up to seconds, to install the application.

It looks like a good way to track click in injections during installation and prevent fraudulent application behavior.

Google’s action on measuring and evaluating attribution services resulted in the “Install Start Time” parameter, another signal for further optimization. Measuring and evaluating all steps, starting from a click and ending with the download of an application, will lead to a higher conversion, especially for large applications.

November 21 - Google Play: the size of the APK file affects conversion

In order to attract users, developers add countless functions and additions to their applications, as well as tools for analytics, attribution, and other development tools. Accordingly, the allowable size for APK files has increased fourfold since Google Play launched in 2012. Sam Tolomey derived a correlation between the size of the APK file and the conversion to the Play Store. Analyzing the data of the Play Store, he came to the conclusion:

Increasing the size of the APK file for every 6 MB is accompanied by a decrease in the conversion of installations by 1%.

For emerging markets, where a limited amount of internal memory and the use of this memory by applications worry users a lot more, this figure is even higher (~ 2.5%).


The percentage of increase in conversion of settings depending on the reduction in the size of the APK file by 10 MB (Google internal data from Sam Tolomey)

November 22 - App Store: a new service for changing countries

Ilya Kukharev showed an amazing service called Switchr for changing countries in the App Store at ASO Stack. This is a great way to reduce time-costs for people working in the field of ALD - now the region in the App Store can be changed in two clicks. No longer need tricks with re-entry and difficulties with new accounts and payment methods. We already love him!

November 28 - AppTweak: iOS Downloads and Revenue Estimates

By improving machine learning, AppTweak expanded its competition service, adding more than 70 countries, providing iOS downloads and revenue estimates. This data will help developers or marketers of applications compare the revenue from their application compared to competing applications, including the seasonality parameter.


AppTweak setup and revenue curve

November 30 - passed the App Promotion Summit in Berlin, the materials are already in the works

The App Promotion Summit 2017 in Berlin was a huge success - there were a lot of discussions about mobile marketing from leading industry experts. Phiture held their own seminar on competitive ASO, and materials from it will soon be published.


App Promotion Summit 2017 (according to data from Adeline from Clue)

Thank you, it's all for November!

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Translation prepared by Organic Growth Marketing team from Appache Studio