2 (two) Minutes About App Store Optimization

Is it worth spending some effort with App Store Optimization?

Yes. It works. But like in a mature market, there's no magic trick that will rocket you to the top ten. Ops. There is. It's called Paid User Acquisition. But you will loose those users. Very fast (depending on the traffic quality, expect you'll loose 50% of your users after one month). Six months after, it will seem like you did never have them. Sad. So paid traffic acquisition is good only if you want a temporary boost to climb the charts to the top.

Paid user acquisition will boost your downloads, and your ranking. At the beginning.

But I'll stay a few days on the top position for my category, would it help? Yes, The good side of Paid User Acquisition is that you will get "spontaneous" downloads, too. But their quality will be lower, compared to what you are used to. It's called "stumbling upon". Your users weren't looking for that app, they simply stumbled upon it. They download it, try a few seconds, uninstall it. Easy. And very costly for the publisher.

50% of your paid users won't last one month.

What can I do, for free, that will have a long lasting effect? 

You can optimize your Store presentation.
But be careful, it only works if you do like this:

• consider short tail keywords related to your business;
• be honest, now pick the ones that are really related to your business;
• use your short tail keywords for your app name;
• explode the short tail keywords into a few long tail keywords;
• wisely use your long tail keywords in your description;
• count them; if for a topic you used more than 5, you're moving into keyword stuffing zone; (you don't want any penalization, right?).

How fast will I see the effects? Not so fast, just wait at least a couple of weeks. But if you have done everything correctly, you will continue seeing your keyword rankings moving up and down, with a good correlation with what links in the web tell Google about your app. Yes, it's time to do some off-store optimization, now.

This is how an ASO optimized app will see its rankings changing over time.

Smile, you just recovered from a penalty!

Off-store optimization

Off-store optimization is the art of having websites writing about you. Is is free? Yes, if you have enough interesting new features, offers, news, every month. If you are just a regular, good old style business, consider giving some money here and there. Will it get you penalized? No, if you spend your money wisely. Go for the quality. It won't be fast, it will last. You will start seeing results after a few months. Just keep working. Two years have passed, right now, and you are finally happy with the results. Chances are, your position in the charts still move a little bit, but you are in the top 20. You have a steady downloads stream, and if you've a good job with rating funneling and collection in the store, your average rating will be higher than 4.6, your standard user cost will be veery low. Paid User Acquisition? What is it? ;o)

A good ASO will take you to the top twenty, and to... happiness!