App store descriptions are meant to tell a user what the app is, how it works and how it could ultimately benefit them. If it’s written well, a description could help encourage a user to download or convince them to dive in even further.
It goes without saying - The App store description is a pivotal part of the app’s overall presence. When optimized correctly, users and keyword rankings start to benefit.
But what happens when a description starts to flop?
If you look at the wider landscape of the App Store now, one thing that developers are capitalizing on is the need to relax. The relaxation game genre has existed in the App Store for years, but have only just started to gain notoriety in Apple’s games tabs and within App Store Search.
One game that stands out is Fishing and Life, released in 2019 from South Korean game developers Nexelon. It brings the popular fishing game genre together with the emerging relaxation space, with quick and easy fishing tasks, ASMR and calming scenery. But how does it fare with its description?
In today’s App Store Spotlight, we’ll see exactly what Fishing and Life should be stressing about in their description.
The Fishing and Life uses the same description on both the Apple App Store and Google Play Store. It immediately opens with two bullets highlighting its core features and later, its additional value of not requiring the internet to play.
Once we get past the first 7 words of text, the description begins to take an interesting turn.
Fishing Heals your heart.Don't worry. It will be ok.We introduce the most beautiful and peaceful game to you who's tired and exhausted from daily life.Enjoy fishing whales just with a simple control while listening to the sound of waves ASMR at the beautiful sea.
Grammatically, the majority of the description reads as if it is directly translated from another language, which may be off-putting to users who are reading it for the first time. Descriptions should be localized for every territory, maintaining natural readability for any and all users.
The description is also written mainly in short phrases, only touching briefly on app functionality, something that users expect to understand once they’ve stumbled upon it.
While brief and divided by bullets, the description only describes levels and thematic elements at a high level, leaving opportunities to incorporate keywords behind.
If keywords are incorporated into the description, it could ultimately help to build relevancy for terms targeted in the title, subtitle and keyword banks. It could also help them be served more often for keywords they’re bidding on within Apple Search Ads.
With the exact same description being used on Google Play, many of the same issues persist. Google Play’s algorithm solely relies on the metadata on the store listing to index an app for keywords.
The only terms highlighted in the description are “fishing”, “fishing games” and “ASMR”. Without properly structuring the description to emphasize other terms, Fishing and Life is left gasping for air, ranking for only 17 high volume keywords that rank in the top 20.
Nexelon treads water with its description as a whole. The last portion of the description, ahead of its subscription information, reads:
Lets Fishing!Free Fishing!Best Fishing!Shark Fishing!Ocean Fishing!Fishing Games for kids!Fishing is Sports!Fish!Fish!Fish!~fishing games for free!
Apple and Google have both stated that developers need to avoid keyword stuffing any visible metadata areas with keywords in the hopes of “gaming the system” and influencing keyword ranking.
In most cases, Apple and Google will reject or flag an app that tries to keyword stuff. Apple and Google Play’s human review process is relatively subjective- with both platforms being inconsistent with their own policies. Fishing and Life managed to get through review, but in order to continue making it through future submissions, removing this area could help make the submission process smoother.
Fishing and Life could be reeling it in with their relaxing gameplay, their modern graphics and their constant App Store Featuring, but its fishy description limits keyword ranking potential in both the iOS App Store and Google Play Store.
By restructuring the description to include more keywords, fine-tune its grammar and making it fully compliant, Fishing and Life can likely increase its overall presence. An optimized description can help it build relevancy for even more terms, help gain additional impressions in Apple Search Ads and help it rank even better on Google Play.
Want to learn more about App Store Optimization? Contact Gummicube and we’ll help get your strategy started.
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