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While Pokemon GO may be the Pokemon app that took the world by storm, The Pokemon Company has released other apps and mobile games. One such game is Magikarp Jump, a light game where players raise up a weak little fish Pokemon to jump high into the sky. In this week’s App Store Spotlight, we reel in Magikarp Jump and see if its App Store Optimization is super effective or a flop.
Users are the reason that apps find success. When users thoroughly enjoy an app, or experience difficulties such as performance issues, bugs, glitches, etc., they leave app ratings and user reviews to make sure their voices are heard. Both the iOS and Android platforms allow developers to respond to user reviews and ratings, but not all understand the importance behind it. Apps that are plagued by negative reviews and ratings are at risk of losing out on expanding their audience. 80% of consumers don’t trust star ratings below 4-stars. With that, App developers need to manage their reviews and ratings as a part of their ASO strategy.
Earlier this year, Google Play began testing redesigns for the Google Play Store. It seems the testing is complete, as the new design is rolling out to more and more Android devices. With this change, it’s important to understand what the impact will be on App Store Optimization and what developers should do to ensure their apps stay optimized.
Wearable technology continues to advance in use and scope, and developers are constantly releasing new apps that work with the Apple Watch. However, there are some differences between submitting a watchOS app and an iOS app, along with key App Store Optimization factors developers must consider.
When Foursquare first launched, users enjoyed checking in to their favorite locations to become its “mayor” for fun and bragging rights. As its grown, Foursquare has expanded into multiple apps – Foursquare City Guide and Foursquare Swarm. While City Guide provides travel tips and recommendations, Foursquare Swarm continues the tradition of checking in and logging the places you visit. However, is it optimized for the App Stores? In this week’s App Store Spotlight, we take a look at Foursquare Swarm.
App developers use visual aids such as screenshots and preview videos to capture users’ attention. These aids are a vital, driving force for the user acquisition funnel, but poorly done creatives can drastically damage conversion rates. The only way to convince these users to install is by making sure that their screenshots and preview video are optimized following ASO best practices. Without following these tips, developers can risk losing out on potential users that will boost their conversion.
Search Ads are a key component of App Store Optimization on the Apple App Store. They help put your app front and center in relevant search results to increase visibility and can even feed back into improving ASO by determining important and effective keywords. Apple has been going on tour throughout Europe to share the latest data on Search Ads, and the information is enlightening to their benefits.
Discover how you can combine ASO and Paid Search strategies with useful tips on Apple Search Ads and organic app marketing
Pandora, the popular music streaming app, has just been purchased by SiriusXM. SiriusXM is no stranger to the app business, and will undoubtedly make good use of Pandora Music, but a solid App Store Optimization strategy can help it succeed even further. Is Pandora fully optimized for the stores it’s available on, or can SiriusXM improve it to increase the app’s already impressive success? 1. iOS On the Apple App Store, Pandora Music is the second-highest rated app in the Music category, only behind Spotify. It’s the 5th-highest app under searches for “music apps,” 9th for “free music” and 11th for “radio.” However, most of the apps it ranks in the #1 spot for are low-volume terms such as “artists songs” or “favorite radio.” While it is a successful app, its keyword rankings do still have room for improvement; it’s ranked in the 30’s for keywords such as “mp3 music player offline” and in the 20’s for “HD radio” and “listen music offline.” Creatives: Pandora’s icon is distinct and easy recognizable – a large P with a mix of red, purple and blue colors. It’s great for building the brand name and identity. Following that, it has five screenshots, each showing off a function of the app while including callout text that talks about the features. These all work well, and quickly inform potential users of what Pandora has to offer, although it does have room to include more. Further screenshots could highlight additional functions from the app, including Premium and Plus features, or even appeal to fans of certain artists by calling out their latest albums. The last time it changed the artists featured in the screenshots was in November 2017, but if it regularly highlighted different artists, it could appeal to a wider range of users. The first three screenshots are the ones users see while browsing the app store, so including popular artists there could help reach their fans. Title & Subtitle: With all the music and streaming apps on the market, apps like Pandora need every edge their metadata can provide. Its title and subtitle, “Pandora Music” and “Play Music and Stream Radio,” respectively, do include important keywords that quickly describe the app’s features. The title does have room for more characters, so it could include another keyword there. Notably, both the title and subtitle have “music” – this double-up is a missed opportunity to target more unique keywords using these metadata fields. Description: The description itself is formatted nicely. Each line is short and to the point, making it easy to read. The features are clearly spelled out, while keywords like “music,” “songs,” and “playlists” are sprinkled throughout. It utilizes bullet lists to describe the additional features from Pandora Premium and Pandora Plus, so potential users can quickly see the benefits of each. Yet it does not have a bulleted section for the free version. While it does describe everything that the app does in the description itself, a bullet list of the features that are available to everyone would be helpful and provide more opportunities to utilize its keywords and build relevancy for Search Ads.
When developers release or update their apps, they need to choose a category. Selecting a category is necessary on both the App Store and the Play Store, and the right one can be a potential avenue for discoverability. Understanding categories is an important part of an overall App Store Optimization strategy. Choosing the right category can bring more visibility. Choosing the wrong one can lead to lackluster results or potential rejection from the App Stores. But how do developers go about determining the right app category? Does choosing the wrong one mean their app will be invisible? Here is a breakdown of categories on the App Store and their impact.
iOS 12 has just launched, and already we’re seeing apps begin to take advantage of the new features it has to offer. Among the most popular of the upgrades is Siri Shortcuts, which enables users to create custom commands for Siri to launch multiple apps and perform functions on them with a single request. Several developers are already boasting apps compatible with Siri Shortcuts, but they need proper App Store Optimization to truly make the most of the update.
The App Store environment is frequently shifting as users find new ways to search for apps and new functions are added. With the constant changes, one might wonder what rankings still matter – are category rankings important, or are they a relic of a bygone era of the App Stores? The differences in displays of the Apple App Store and Google Play Store, and how they have changed over time, are an important piece to consider in an App Store Optimization strategy.