From 0 to 1, interpreting Android ASO optimization!

Hello everyone, I am an ASO operations specialist in the Internet finance industry. I am currently responsible for the ASO maintenance of our two APPs. What I will share today is mainly about Android ASO optimization solutions.

The content is roughly divided into three parts:

1. First, I want to talk about what ASO is;
2. The next step is to select Android channels and cover keywords in the mainstream Android market;
3. Finally, I would like to talk to you about the pitfalls of Android CPD delivery.

1. What is ASO

First of all, I believe everyone should know what ASO is. Because this has been out for a long time, I won’t go into the specific literal meaning. I will just talk about my understanding of ASO. For me, I think ASO is nothing more than two aspects: exposure and conversion .

So what are the paid and free exposure methods I currently use when doing ASO?

Let me talk about the free ones first. The free ones are the basic optimization of ASO, which is keyword optimization. The second is the first release in the application market .

For example: 360, Huawei, Xiaomi and other mainstream application markets will have first releases. This is free and everyone can apply.

Then there are some free activities in the app market. Some free activities require gifts, but if you can provide virtual cards and coupons in your APP, you can also do it. Then there is the exchange of quantity .

If you want to pay, the common ones are official CPD and CPT, but I suggest that you give priority to CPD. Because CPT is mainly about product brand exposure, such as: opening screen, homepage recommendations and rankings , etc. But the specific conversion may not be that good.

There are also some non-standard resource positions. If you have a good business relationship with the application market or know an agent, you can directly buy the keyword ranking position. Then there are some that are about brushing keywords, which is ASO operation.

The specific method is to improve the keyword ranking through a large number of downloads, and then expose your APP. Another one is to provide a channel with a vest package according to the CPA or CPS cooperation model. Go and expose it to the channel.

2. Channel selection for Android

At present, the mainstream application channels for Android are mainly 360, Baidu, and App Store , which are third-party. The mobile phone market includes OPPO, VIVO, Xiaomi, Huawei, Meizu, etc.

Let’s talk about 360. Due to the rise of the mobile phone market in recent years, the traffic of 360 and Baidu has declined significantly.

Although Baidu has a relatively small number of users, it also has a Baidu mobile app, so it still has a certain amount of users, and it can direct traffic to Baidu through the Baidu mobile app.

As for App Store, it is based on Tencent's huge traffic platform, so its market share in the application market is relatively high. However, due to the complexity of its group and its high degree of commercialization, its operability is relatively low.

Next, let’s talk about the mobile application market. OPPO has the largest market share.

A large portion of OPPO's user base is dominated by women, so applications related to novels, e-commerce , and reading will be more effective. And covering the core keywords can increase the coverage of its long-tail words . Therefore, OPPO's operability is still quite high.

The second is VIVO. VIVO’s mobile phone sales are also good. In terms of application market share, VIVO should be ranked second.

Its user base is similar to that of OPPO, with a majority of its users being female. Then operability means that the application title and subtitle can influence its coverage.

Some people may say that Huawei's mobile phone market share ranks second, but Huawei's mobile phone market share also includes overseas. As far as the domestic market is concerned, Huawei's application market share should rank third.

Huawei has more male users and more mid- to high-end users, so the payment rate is relatively good. It works better for financial products.

For example, we often do some CPD on Huawei Financial Management. If you have a license, you can try it. And Huawei also has a hundred-word keyword, so it can easily cover 500+, and this does not cost any money. You can set it yourself in the developer background.

The last one is Meizu. Because Meizu's market share is gradually shrinking, its market share is relatively small. As for Meizu, it is mainly the fans who pursue cost-effectiveness. Meizu's operability is mainly title and subtitle. It also has keywords, but the coverage probability is worse than Xiaomi.

The above application market share is obtained by analyzing the new applications on major platforms.

Of course, if you have money, you can cover all channels first, and then use appropriate money to test which channel your user base is in.

3. Keyword coverage methods for each application market

1. Baidu

There is a search term placement in Baidu's backend, where you can set twenty keywords, separated by English semicolons. Data can be monitored for each keyword.

My friend has tried this, and his feedback is that all twenty keywords can be covered, the ranking is not low, and the number of keyword coverage can be increased.

The second thing is the title and a sentence: I personally recommend adding core keywords to the name of the APP, which should be recognized by everyone.

Because the title has the highest weight, but you can’t stuff it with keywords. At least it should be fluent so that others know what your product is.

Then comes the app introduction. Currently, it doesn’t help much with keyword coverage, but it can improve APP conversions.

Another one is the official certification label of the application market, which can increase the weight of your APP, is very effective for keyword coverage, and can also increase your APP conversion rate .

This official application will require some materials. For example, if you are a financial product, you will need a business license, ICP registration, financial license, etc.

2. 360

Because you can only set one keyword in the 360 ​​backend, and the coverage probability of this keyword is uncertain. I have tried it many times. Sometimes it will be covered, and sometimes it will not be covered, so it mainly depends on the title.

I have been running 360’s official CPD for almost a month. At that time, the number of keywords increased by about two to three hundred, and then the last step was to add officials, which was the same as other application markets. Adding officials could increase the weight of the APP.

If you have all the qualifications, try to apply for promotion.

3. App Store

The title of the App Store can currently be changed twice, but you need to submit a work order to apply for the modification, so this opportunity should be cherished. In addition, the title of the App Store can be different from the name of the APK package.

The description and introduction of App Store are still very effective in covering keywords. I have tried this. Because App Store will capture the introduction and editor recommendations as keyword coverage. Moreover, the closer the words are to the front in the introduction and the higher the repetition rate, the greater the keyword coverage. This is different from IOS.

Then there is the weight of the APP. Each application market will evaluate the weight of the developer.

Currently, the app market will determine your ranking based on the day's natural volume, total front-end downloads, number of reviews, and frequency of updates. According to this algorithm, calculate your APP weight.

The greater the weight, the more keywords will be covered, and the higher the ranking of your APP's core keywords will be, which is natural.

4. Huawei

Huawei's user quality has always been very high, so I believe everyone should be concerned about how Huawei's keyword coverage has reached one thousand plus ten thousand plus.

Although I didn't achieve 10,000 plus, I can at least achieve 1,000 plus by following the following methods.

The first is the title, because Huawei has been more strict in reviewing titles recently. But at the moment, Huawei’s title would be easier to pass if it were a complete sentence, and it is best not to exceed eight words.

The second is CPD delivery, which can significantly increase the weight.

Then there is a certain amount of basic downloads. As for the Android app market, I believe everyone should know that there is a threshold for front-end downloads.

Generally speaking, there should be at least 200,000 front-end downloads. This is very helpful in improving the weight of the APP.

Huawei keywords can be set to 100 words. Many people think that only four keywords can be set, but in fact it can be set as four paragraphs. Excluding spaces, it's about ninety-seven characters. By trying this, you can at least double your keywords.

5. Xiaomi

Xiaomi is the application market that is most like IOS. It can have a title, a subtitle, and a hundred words of keywords. And the weight of the title is relatively high.

Currently, Xiaomi's titles are limited to eight characters, but I've heard from colleagues that if you put keywords into the package name, you can exceed this bottom line.

Then there are a hundred words of keywords. The one hundred-word keywords are separated by that space. However, Xiaomi’s word segmentation and word combination are not as smart as Apple’s. So if you put very long words together, it may not be divided into so many words. The suggestion is to use four characters as one word.

Xiaomi's weight is similar to that of Apple. The higher the ranking of the keyword, the higher the chance of being covered. Xiaomi’s coverage of competitor words is not high, so if you can avoid setting competitor words, do so.

Then there is the daily download and activation volume of Xiaomi APP, which is very helpful for keyword ranking and keyword coverage. Like every time I updated the APP before, the number of downloads would increase, and the keyword coverage and ranking would rise. But it won't last long, it will return to its original state in one to two days.

6. OPPO

Its keyword coverage is more difficult than VIVO's. Because they can't capture descriptive keywords like Xiaomi, Meizu, or App Store, their main ones are titles and subtitles.

The OPPO title can be different from the application software, and it reads the package name in the APK. So if you want to add a subtitle to your original title, you need to submit a request to your technical staff and add keywords and subtitles to the apk.

Then OPPO also attaches great importance to the weight of front-end downloads. If you do CPD for OPPO, it will not have a big impact on keyword coverage. But it will improve the ranking of your core keywords, which can also increase the coverage of some long-tail words.

7. VIVO

If the VIVO keyword is covered, it is only linked to the name. Many apps used to have very long subtitles, but now it’s hard to save them.

I have tested it and found that it is not easy to save if the length is more than twelve characters. Moreover, the keywords in the title can be combined at will. And if the keywords in your title can be repeated, it can increase the weight of the keyword and improve the initial ranking.

VIVO’s natural volume is also very helpful in improving keyword rankings. After I updated VIVO's app market, the natural volume increased and the keyword ranking improved significantly, but like Xiaomi, if the natural volume is not sustained, it will return to its original state.

8. Meizu

For Meizu, it is title plus subtitle. But before, Meizu could add up to fourteen characters, but now it is limited to ten.

But for Meizu, one can set 100-word keywords in the background. Through testing, Meizu's word combination and word splitting algorithms are worse than Xiaomi's, and it is not easy to cover competitor keywords. Specifically, the closer you are to the front, the greater the weight.

9. Other small markets

As for other small markets, I have tried small application markets such as Mumayi , Hammer, and Lenovo. Currently, the one with the best effect is Hammer. Although the volume is not large, you can use its title to make a keyword TOP1 or TOP3.

4. How Android ASO improves conversion rate through metadata

1. Title

Because the title has a lot of weight, many people set words such as hot words. This will cover the keywords, but if your title is not simple and easy to understand type. You can’t let others know what your product does at first glance. Such a title doesn't make much sense.

I think the title should be simple and easy to understand, not more than five words. If you want to add keywords, you can add them in the subtitle.

And for titles, you can use repetition when necessary, so that it can be catchy. This also makes it easier for users to remember the brand.

For example: Happy Match 3 and Meitu XiuXiu . I think these two are good, but if your brand is well-known, you can directly use your brand word as the title.

Many people refer to big applications when naming their products. This is indeed effective in the short term, but from a branding perspective, it does more harm than good because it can easily confuse others. Of course, it would be different if you had a vest bag.

2. Icon

When we design an icon, if it can reflect the core function, like ofo, it is very good, so that people can see at a glance what your APP does.

Secondly, it would be better if it can resonate with users. This is mainly done through colors and cartoon images to resonate with users. The second is direct expression through words. For example, the icon of Meituan is just the two words “Meituan”.

Then there is another method which is to use image footers. Here I want to talk about the usage of the icon subtitles. Many APPs will put the core functions of the product. For example, if I am a gold investment , I will put gold investment at the bottom of the APP. I personally think this usage is not very good.

For example: Ele.me will take advantage of the hot topics and often change the text below in conjunction with some marketing activities . For example, if you are investing in gold, you can write the fifth anniversary or something.

3. Description

Many mobile phones usually display the first three lines, so you should pay close attention to the contents of these first three lines. For example, some app markets allow you to change these descriptions without updating them.

Directly update the description content without updating the APP. So if there are any marketing activities, you can make changes.

This is a bit like Apple’s promotional text, and it can be updated at any time. Of course, for the first three lines of this description, I suggest that you first promote yourself appropriately and tell others how great you are.

For example, for the 360 ​​camera, it will say that eight million people are using it, and that it has been recommended as a premium product .

Then the second thing is to make use of public opinion. There was an APP that seemed to be recommended by many media outlets before. It is also written under the description, of course this is taking advantage of social opinion. Finally, you should add your contact information at the end of the description and provide a feedback channel. This tells users that you are legitimate.

If there is a problem, others can find you through this channel, and you can also provide timely feedback if any questions arise. Tell others that I am not a three-no product.

4. Comments

Everyone should know the comments. Some Android markets have artificially swiped reviews, so the risk isn’t very high, but the OPPO and Huawei markets have strict controls on app reviews.

For example, for Huawei, even if you are a real person, you may be warned if you post more than five comments a day.

So what are the free means? The first method is to guide users to leave comments, but you should not induce users to give positive reviews. This can easily be discovered and punished by the market.

Another dumbest way is to exchange good reviews. When I first started exchanging positive reviews, I did it through a QQ group, and I could also ask others to add keywords, brand words, etc. in the comments.

5. Screenshot

I believe that many of you take screenshots to show some core functions of your application. However, some apps don’t do this, such as Tencent Video , which will create different app screenshots based on the recently popular dramas.

This is just to take advantage of the popularity, and if Tencent Video has a hit drama, they might even change the subtitle. The purpose of doing this is mainly to highlight the differentiation.

In fact, it is best if your screenshots are high-resolution images. Some app stores will require you to use its phone skin. In this case, it is best to use the latest phone skin.

6. Text guidance

Anyone who does copywriting should know this, and there will be guidance within the app. The main content of many APPs’ copywriting is about what awards they have won or how many users they have.

For example, in the case of financial management, there will be some big endorsements. If it has a state-owned background, these will be included in the screenshot to improve user conversion .

5. Some pitfalls of CPD delivery

Because I don’t use all channels, I will focus on the pitfalls of some app markets I have used:

If the budget is not high, you can give priority to search terms.

The user quality of Baidu's store, Baidu Mobile Assistant and the like is not particularly good.

I feel that 360 is a huge pit. If you are rich, you can choose 360 ​​Mobile Assistant . Its main feature is that its traffic growth rate is relatively fast, and new users are increasing rapidly, but there are almost no conversion registrations.

Then let’s look at the search terms. Since 360 ​​itself is not very large, sometimes the search terms you set may not be consumed, but the traffic from the search terms is more accurate, and the quality of users acquired is also relatively high.

How to tell if it is a scam? One is that consumption has increased exponentially; the other is that only activations have increased, while the number of registered users remains basically unchanged.

OPPO does have a large number of users. But before launching it, you must pay attention that it has a welfare club that is turned on by default. The quality of users acquired through this channel is very poor because they are not real users. He encourages others to download by providing some benefits. It is equivalent to a points wall in an app market, so if you want to invest in OPPO , it is best to apply to the media to shut it down first, and then continue to invest.

The quality of Huawei users is still acceptable, but it has a pitfall, and that is its brand name. If you don’t apply to the app market to remove brand words. He will default brand words to CPD traffic. In that case. It is equivalent to diluting your natural energy. Dilutes your CPD amount. It's like you spent more money.

Source: Shan Xinghua