App Store Optimization - Ultimate Guide for Google Play Store ASO 2018

GOOGLE PLAY
The Ultimate ASO Guide to:

What is ASO?
ASO, or App Store Optimization, is an essential
strategy for mobile businesses – the process of
optimizing mobile apps and games to maximize the
visibility in the app stores and improve the conversion
rate to install.
The Ultimate ASO Guide to: GOOGLE PLAY

ASO Strategy
The App Store Optimization strategy consists of 3 main
processes:
1. Market Research & Keyword Optimization
2. Listing optimization & A/B testing
3. Tracking & monitoring
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3
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1. Keyword Optimization
Market research, paired with Keyword Research and
Optimization, is the ﬁrst step to do when
implementing an ASO strategy for your app or game.
Knowing your niche on the market, who are your
competitors and what tactics do they use, is extremely
important in order to learn how to outrank
competition and get more downloads.
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How to select the right
keywords?
In the beginning it is most recommendable to go for mid-
and long-tail keywords – combinations of keywords for a
more specific search. Around 70% of search queries are
long-tail, and the conversion on these terms is usually
higher, because of the higher probability that the user will
find exactly what he was looking for with a specific search.
Long-tail keywords have less volume of traffic and less
competition, so you should try to target as many
different combinations of long-tail keywords as possible,
and cover a big area of possible search queries related to
your app. This way, you will expand your outreach and
maximize your visibility in app store search.
1

2. Google Play Store listing
optimization & A/B testing
Optimizing an app listing on Google Play Store
requires working on different elements:
• On-metadata factors: title, developer name, short
and long description, icon, screenshots, feature
graphic (image or video).
• Off-metadata factors: installs volume, ratings,
and user reviews.
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Optimizing Play Store listing:
App Title
Title is the ﬁrst and one of the most important ASO
on-metadata factors, it has an effect on both search
rankings and conversion rate to install.
Google permits to include up to 50 characters in the
Title – to maximize the use of this space for your app
optimization, add some of your most powerful
keywords to your Title alongside brand name.
Keep your brand name short, clear and easy to spell
for your potential users, and try to add emoji to
instantly grab users’ attention when they are browsing
on the Google Play Store.
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App Title
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The Ultimate ASO Guide to: APP STORE

URL / Package
Curiously, the URL (package) can be a very strong
ranking factor for app store search if you include some
keywords there.
Check the Google Play Store package URL before
publishing your app, because once it is set, you can’t
modify it later.
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URL / Package
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Developer Name
Developer Name is another important on-metadata
factor that has an effect on app search rankings.
Besides,
Google keeps a record of developer history, and the
apps with positive developer history tend to be ranked
higher in Google Play search.
Your search rankings will certainly beneﬁt if you add a
few keywords in your developer name, like this:
Developer Name: Keyword1, Keyword2
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Optimizing Play Store listing: Developer Name
2

Short Description
A short description on Google Play Store affects search
ASO keywords rankings and conversion rate.
You can include up to 80 characters in the short
description ﬁeld, and it is very important to keep the
balance and provide a clear description, including
some of your main keywords that you want your
application to rank for.
A well-composed short description provides a
highlight about the virtues or a purpose of your app,
clearly delivers a message about its value and catches
attention so the user can expand it and go to see the
full description. Just like it is true for the Title, adding
some emoji to Short Description will deﬁnitely help!
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2
Short Description

Description
App Description is an extremely important ASO factor, affecting
both Search and Conversion.
Google’s search engine is crawling through the app descriptions,
and uses the keywords that it has found (mainly in the ﬁrst and
last 5 lines of text). This is why, your description, should, ﬁrst of
all, be searchable.
You have up to 4.000 characters to include as many keyword
combinations as possible. Use your most important ones a few
times,, but don’t do keyword stuffing! It is not only penalized by
Google, but will also have a negative effect on the users and
discourage them from trying your app.
App description must be organized and well-structured,
containing clearly all the information valuable for the user and
convincing him to install your app (convert into your user) with a
powerful call-to-action, so your description has to be actionable.
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Description
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A few tips for a perfect
description:
• Use as much space provided for a Long Description as possible (at least
3.000-3.500 characters).
• Localize your description to all possible languages. Preferably, use a help
of native speakers.
• Describe the virtues and all the best features of your app – it is okay to
brag!
• Use bullet points or Unicode symbols like ❖➜ (get them here) for a clear
and visual organization.
• Don’t overload your description with a lot of text – write in short
paragraphs.
• Include emoji or use HTML and Rich Formatting (read our guide for more
tips on that!).
• Mention your awards or contests to encourage your users to give it a shot.
• Include a powerful call-to-action, containing a sense of urgency (e.g.
“Download and start saving money today!”)
• Mention your social media proﬁles or user communities for your app.
2

Icon
Icon is the ﬁrst visual element of your app that the
users see when they come across it in the search
results page or Top Charts. Therefore, an icon plays
directly affects click-through rate, and of
course, conversion rate.
A striking, distinctive icon is what can really inﬂuence
the users to try out your app.
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Icon
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A few tips on optimizing app
icon:
• Make sure your icon is clearly reﬂecting the main purpose of your
app – don’t confuse the users unless you already have a strong
brand.
• Find your “style” – colours, typography, etc – and stick to it, so you
icon goes in alliance with the other elements of your app.
• Take a look at your competitors and make something different.
• Use vibrant colors and clear shapes, don’t overload your icon with
too many elements.
• Avoid having text in your icon.
• Try adding borders to the icon to make it more eye-catching.
• Innovate and follow the design trends – remember when everyone
got crazy about ﬂat design?
• Don’t try to guess what icon your users will choose – use A/B
testing tools to know exactly what icon performs best for your app.
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Feature Graphic - Image
The next visual element that the users are coming
across when they visit your listing on Google Play, is a
feature graphic, which can be an image or video.
Feature graphic is responsible, above all, for conversion
rate (from listing visits to installs). A well-designed
feature graphic adds on the icon and continues to
transmit the “mood” of an app for the potential users.
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Feature Graphic - Image
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Tips to optimize your feature
graphic for Google Play:
• Don’t place any important information, visual or text, near the
borders and in the bottom third of your feature graphic.
• Center your text/logo/other information horizontally and vertically,
to ensure perfect visibility and readability.
• Use large font sizes.
• Remember that a feature graphic can be used with or without an
icon, so make sure your feature graphic makes a clear reference to
your app and makes it recognizable.
• Use experiments to A/B test your graphic and maximize the
conversion rate.
• Try playing around with your feature graphic, changing it with
seasons, use for important announcements or holidays.
• If your feature image includes any text, remember to localize it
into the languages that your app is available on the Google Play
Store.
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Feature Graphic - Video
As an addition to your feature graphic, you can create a
YouTube video about your Android app or game. In this case
the video preview thumbnail will become a feature graphic.
One of the coolest things about adding a video to your app
store listing is that the views from Google Play Store count as
YouTube views. This gives you higher YouTube rankings, and
therefore, higher positions in Google web search results!
You can localize your video in all the languages that your app
is available for. Upload one video for each language, or just
use transcripts in different languages, which Google will
automatically show depending on user location or device
settings.
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Screenshots
Like other graphic elements of listing, screenshots are
responsible for Conversion Rate. They don’t have such a huge
visibility on Google Play (comparing with Apple App Store),
because the user has to scroll through listing to get to see
them.
Just taking a glance at the screenshots, users will already
decide if they want to try the application or not, so it is
extremely important to make a great ﬁrst impression on the
users. Make sure you showcase your best features on the ﬁrst
two screenshots.
On Google Play Store you can add up to 8 screenshots.
Read more about How to Create Outstanding App
Screenshots and check out the 10 Best Tools to Design Mobile
Screenshots.
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Screenshots
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Tips to rock your Google Play
screenshots:
• Put your best features or the most important messages to the
ﬁrst 2 screenshot slots.
• Use all available screenshot slots, don’t stop on the 2
minimum required ones.
• Use text to explain the information on the images to the users.
• Follow your app’s general style and theme, experiment with
creating storylines.
• Provide a challenging copy to encourage users to install your
app.
• Show special offers or discounts to give them more visibility.
• Localize screenshots!
• And never forget to A/B test them to ﬁnd the best ones for
your product!
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3. Tracking and monitoring
Mobile apps economy is ever-changing, and Google
Play Store changes as well. Your app should always be
prepared to these changes, and your ASO as well!
Keep track of the most important KPIs of your app
weekly (ideally, daily): the volume of installs (organic +
non organic), keywords rankings, top charts rankings
(overall, category, etc.), ratings and reviews.
Revamp your keywords and remove the ones that
don’t perform anymore, try experimenting more with
the graphic elements and keep on A/B testing until
you ﬁnd the best-converting combination of the
elements of your listing on Google Play Store.
3

A/B testing
Every app is different, and so is the ASO. The same strategy
doesn’t work for everyone. So stop guessing… and start A/B
testing!
A/B testing is a comparison of two different versions of app
listing against each other to identify which version has better
conversion (clicks or installs). During the experiment, you drive
the half of your traffic to the option A, and the other half to
the option B, comparing them to see which one has the best
performance.
Google has its own A/B testing tool integrated with the
Google Play Developer Console – check their guidelines on
how to perform better A/B testing and start experimenting!
3

User ratings & reviews
Take care of your users, try to provide the best user
experience, and keep up with the user reviews.
A strong positive user sentiment is an important factor,
favoring both search ASO (Google ranks the applications
with more and better reviews higher), and Conversion
Rate of your listing (convincing users of the high quality
of the app).
Google Play offers a possibility to interact with users,
reply to their reviews and even convert negative reviews
into positive.
And remember – the key to success is, above all, a great
product!
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Final thoughts
Your Google Play Store page is a great scope for
optimization and experimenting with different
elements in order to ﬁnd a perfect combination that
will increase Search and Top Charts rankings, and at
the same time convince users to download your app
and thus, improve your Conversion Rate.
There is always room for improvement, so never stop
measuring, tracking and doing ASO!
Happy optimizing!

App Store Optimization - Ultimate Guide for Google Play Store ASO 2018

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