More practical APP ranking optimization methods and techniques

In recent years, it is not uncommon to see apps that have entered everyone's field of vision by relying on their super keyword setting capabilities. There was the legend of Himalaya "whatever you search for, it can be found there", and then there was the story of Niuguwang "handling the stock keywords with 10,000 popularity". This made the operation partners distracted and painstakingly studied shortcuts, hoping that one day they could shine with keywords. Here we remind everyone that only by laying a solid foundation for APP keyword optimization can you make a legend.

I believe that some friends who have already done APP operation have some understanding of ASO . In fact, ASO originally meant the optimization of APP on the iOS side. Later, it gradually evolved into the optimization of APP on various channels of iOS and Android. On the iOS side, because Apple's App Store occupies the vast majority of the market, the general optimization strategy is aimed at the App Store market, while on the Android side, there are dozens of large and small markets such as 360, App Store , Xiaomi, etc. The rules of each market are not only the same, but also the optimization of iOS and Android is very different.

1. APP keyword settings

The main purposes of APP keyword setting are nothing more than two: to increase the volume-attracting effect and to cover more keywords. Therefore, only keywords that meet these two conditions can be considered "reasonable" keywords.

1. Keyword weight

The higher the keyword in the front of the Keywords, the greater its weight; keyword weight ranking: APP Title > Keywords > APP Description > IAP item Name/Description, that is, application name > keyword tag > description > in-app purchase name or description.

APP Title and Keywords duplication: When the same keyword appears in the APP Title and Keywords, the weight cannot form an additive effect and will only be counted once. Therefore, if the same keyword appears in the Title, it should not appear again in the Keywords to avoid wasting characters.

Use subtitles to strengthen keywords: The APP Title uses a main title plus a subtitle. In addition to introducing the function of the APP, the subtitle should also focus on mentioning more keywords. For example, the subtitle of Xiaokaxiu, "The most popular lip-syncing APP, a shooting artifact with built-in beauty and makeup functions", mentions keywords such as "performance", "acting", "beauty", "makeup", and "artifact", which can be said to be thoughtful.

2. Build a good keyword library

Before doing ASO, first build a keyword library for your own products. In the first phase, you don’t need to think too much about what keywords you should use. Mainly use them for APP titles, keywords, and introductions. If you really don’t know what to write, just pull down the keywords of your competitors, and then bring in the current popular keywords. Build a keyword library for your own products by category, and then gradually adjust, optimize, and add new categories during verification in the later stage.

3. Constantly change keywords and verify step by step

Once the keyword library is ready, start verifying these keywords, querying the popularity of each period, removing the unsatisfactory keywords from the shelves and replacing them with new words for further verification. In the gradual update, continuously optimize the high-hot keywords, and finally get a relatively stable high-hot keyword structure.

4. Perform keyword updates and maintenance rhythmically

Because the keyword updates of AppStore need to follow the version updates, it is impossible to do it anytime and anywhere like SEO . Although the speed of AppStore review has been greatly improved, it still takes two or three days.

Considering that too frequent version updates actually cause interference and harm to users, it is more reasonable to maintain a certain rhythm of keyword updates and maintenance. Moreover, ASO is a long-term process, and the effect of frequent updates in the short term is not as ideal as imagined.

5. Follow and comment

Comments are also a point that ASO should pay attention to, and its main purpose of influence is achieved through keywords in the comments.

However, we can strike a balance when making reviews. The basic method of making reviews is to cooperate with other products. I download your product reviews, and you download my product reviews. Of course, the reviews are pre-edited with their own keywords. The other party just used his iPhone. This is an extremely time-consuming and energy-wasting process.

There are two ways to make comments: one is to post 20 to 30 comments every day, and spend two or three hours every day on commenting, which may bring me an increase of 20 to 40 points, and my ranking will basically stabilize in a small range; the other is to post about 30 comments today, which will bring me an increase of 50 to 60 points, and my ranking will rise a bit. The next day or the day after tomorrow, I will take a break and not make any comments, so my ranking will drop again. Then I will post about 30 comments again, which will bring me an increase of 50 to 60 points, and my ranking will rise again.

Both methods are acceptable, but the first one takes up too much time in daily work, and the input and output are not balanced. The second one maintains the ranking in a relatively stable range by intermittently posting comments, and achieves a certain increase in downloads. On average, the final effect may be similar to that of the first one, but the input is obviously much less, which may be more balanced and worthwhile in terms of input and output.

As for how to post comments, please shout in the market QQ group. There will be a lot of people who will actively communicate with you and they will learn it once you start chatting.

6. About foreign AppStores

Generally speaking, you can also give certain attention to foreign AppStores, such as the Japanese, American, Australian, etc. Although the search volume in foreign regions is very small or almost non-existent, fortunately, there is almost no large-scale keyword optimization in foreign regions. As long as you do it, you can basically achieve your optimization goals.

In addition, it is said that doing a good job of keyword optimization in foreign regions also has a certain impact on the ranking and popularity of the mainland region. For example, doing a good job of optimizing the keywords in the Japanese region will help to increase the popularity of the keywords in the mainland region.

7. Some points to note

You can try to include some big company or big product names in the APP introduction, which may bring unexpected opportunities and results.

Don't choose overheated words. There is no need to do so because everyone is playing with this word. When the scale is small, it is basically impossible to get to the front. Because in the ranking of the same keyword, AppStore basically ranks according to the number of downloads, so there is no need to waste time and energy on such hot words that have no chance.

There should be no repetition in the title, keywords and introduction. Repeating a keyword repeatedly will not bring any obvious effect. Instead, it will make the repeated word take up character space and waste more possible opportunities.

8. The key to ASO is persistence

Generally, it takes 3-5 months for ASO to show results. ASO is not an immediate effect like paid promotion , but a long-term maintenance process. The purpose of ASO is achieved through slow growth.

Although it is boring and there is almost no change every day, but isn’t persistence the process of quantitative change leading to qualitative change?

2. APP screenshot method

While text goes a long way toward creating a strong screenshot, most of your time should really be spent getting the visuals right. Screenshots, rather than text, are what drive downloads, so visual elements can engage users within seconds.

1. Video

It is said to be effective and was heavily promoted after it was launched on the AppStore. Editors are very interested in products with videos.

But the reality is that it is impossible to effectively confirm whether the editor has a cold, and the production of a video requires too many requirements and is extremely troublesome. This is probably the reason why most non- game apps don’t make videos!

Based on your own actual situation and taking the input-output ratio into consideration, if you have the resources and dare to give it a try, you might as well make a video. It is always better than nothing.

2. Naked screenshots

The so-called "naked" means taking a screenshot directly on the mobile phone without any design modification.

The advantage is that the content of the APP itself is clear at a glance, and users can know in advance what the downloaded APP will look like without downloading it, reducing the cost of blind knowledge.

The downside is that naked screenshots generally don’t look very good. In this world where appearance is everything, it doesn’t amount to a visual rape for either editors or users. Therefore, it may affect the chances of editors recommending the app, and also affect the user’s first perception, so they may not download or even click on it.

3. Designed screenshots

In contrast to naked screenshots, it means packaging design for the naked screenshots of the APP.

Generally, background colors, text descriptions, phone cases, etc. are added to make the app look good at first glance. Moreover, a brief text description can clearly introduce to users what the app is, what it can do, etc., which helps editors and users fall in love with it at first sight.

3. Recommended Products

Pure editorial recommendation, human perception and emotion determine whether an APP is displayed.

The main influencing factors should include: exquisite UI design, a world where appearance is dominant; adapting to the trend of the times, for example, when Apple's new design style comes out, follow it, when Apple's iTo uc h comes out, follow it, etc., the editor is more fond of it and you like it too; making the product look classy, ​​some products pretend to have American design interaction style, and as a result, they are recommended by editors.

4. APP ranking

An app with a good ranking in the market can promote its popularity and increase downloads. In addition, a mobile app can also use ASO optimization methods to get a good ranking in the app store, and use ASO optimization tools as an aid.

1. Overall ranking

The overall ranking refers to the AppStore's overall ranking, including the paid ranking and the free ranking .

What basically affects the overall ranking is the number of downloads. Whatever the number of downloads is, it is ranked there. There is nothing much to say. Everyone thinks that a good product is a good product in theory, so it is reasonable and logical to give it more exposure.

In addition, the AppStore overall ranking is also frequently updated, so if you pay attention to the overall ranking, please pay attention to the update period and frequency, and set aside some time to make records. If you want to operate well, you still need to spend time and energy to find out this pattern. It would be too boring to just peel the "crayfish" and put it into your mouth.

2. Category ranking

Category rankings are also mainly determined by download volume.

However, the flexibility of category ranking lies in that you can analyze the rankings of various categories by studying and comparing them. You can choose a category that is close to your own products and where competition is not so fierce, which will make you much more profitable than just throwing it away randomly.

For example, a drawing app can be classified as a social app , a tool app, or even a photography app. In that case, you should carefully study the competition among the three categories, such as social app, tool app, and photography app, and what kind of download volume ranks in which position. Then, you can comprehensively compare the rankings of products with the same ranking position in the three different categories in the overall list, make a compromise, put your own product in the most appropriate position, and maximize the download benefits.

5. APP Search

The search rules are mainly based on the application title, subtitle, keywords, and developer name set in the APP, and are used to perform effective search and display according to the matching degree and weight ratio.

1. Popular searches

Popular searches are those recommended in the AppStore search menu, which are generally the products with the highest search volume within a certain period of time.

But careful friends should have discovered that the popular searches we usually see are almost all weird things. Are there people who often wonder if they are too unsociable? Why can so many people search for such a completely uninteresting APP, such as "Buddhist scriptures, video compression, Wudong Qiankun, Driving Bang, Macau******, group buying Dianping", etc., and countless people search for them every day? Then why is it not ranked very high in the overall ranking?

In fact, one thing is that popular searches can be generated by paying. There are professional companies and professionals who will help you generate them after you pay them, with a smile on their face. If you have any questions, please ask in the market QQ group.

On the other hand, some search keywords may become popular not because of the efforts of only one company, but because several or dozens of products with the keyword are used together, thus achieving a cumulative effect and boosting the popularity of the keyword. Ultimately, everyone benefits.

2. Recommended Search

Recommended search refers to a bunch of related words (keywords) recommended after I enter them in the search, just like entering one or two words in Baidu and it will recommend a bunch of words that I might want to enter.

This is quite user-friendly. In many cases, on the one hand, it helps us associate what we might want, and on the other hand, it gives us what we are looking for after we enter as little text as possible, saving the subsequent text input.

But what’s the secret behind recommended search? In fact, this is mainly related to the number of downloads. If your product has reached a certain amount of downloads in the category, generally speaking, if it ranks within the top two or three hundred, it basically has a chance to appear in the recommended search.

Therefore, let’s increase the quantity and ranking first. If you don’t grow up, you will never grow up. If you grow up, you will always have the opportunity to grow bigger!

6. How to optimize APP ranking?

Generally speaking, factors that affect search rankings include: search volume, download volume, activation volume , short-term activity, number of comments, etc. Several platforms on the market also use these parameters to achieve this. The main factors that affect the optimization level are as follows:

1. The weight of the product itself

There are many factors that affect the weight of the product itself, including the number of users, activity, new additions, etc. When a product is really terrible, even if it is optimized to the first place through channels, it will eventually be replaced by other products, unless it is really rich. The product itself is the real king, and optimization is just a means to add icing on the cake and increase product exposure.

2. Keyword weight

The weight of each keyword is different. The more popular the word, the higher the product weight, and the more natural traffic it brings. Of course, high returns correspond to high risks. The higher the weight, the greater the difficulty and risk of operation. Therefore, it is very important to choose a platform. The user quality of the platform directly corresponds to the high risk factor. Choosing a reliable platform will help you avoid many detours.

3. Ranking of apps under keywords

The ranking of keyword APP has a direct impact on optimization. For example, for APPs ranked outside the top 100, few users search and download them. In this case, is there no future for the keyword you are optimistic about? NO, when God closes a door, he will definitely leave a window for you. Of course, in this case, God has left two windows for you.

The first window: subtitle optimization. When you find that your keyword is ranked hundreds of miles away, resolutely put this keyword in your subtitle. After the updated version, you will find that the ranking of the keyword you are concerned about will rush forward like a rocket.

The second window: When you do not want to change the subtitle based on brand considerations, then you should be down-to-earth and start by optimizing the keywords with large optimization space. When optimizing these words, the weight of the product will be greatly improved, and the rankings of all keywords under the corresponding APP will steadily increase. Although it is not as simple and crude as the subtitle, it is indeed a path to healthy development.

4. A set of data sharing on optimizing search rankings within 100 to TOP3

Due to the uncertainty and real-time nature of product weights, keyword weights, and keyword rankings, the following data is only for rough reference:

Weight 4600-5000 Level 2000-5000

Weight 5000-6000 Level 3000-7000

Weight 6000-7000 Magnitude 6000-10000

Weight 7000-8000 Level 8000-15000

Weight 8000+ Level 15000+

5. Comments

If you want to increase the number of keyword coverage or increase the ranking of existing keywords, an effective way is to put these keywords in the comments. Keywords that appear at a high density in comments will, firstly, increase the chance of being included, and secondly, improve the ranking of existing keywords.

This directly leads to many operations partners being busy exchanging reviews with various companies all day long. It is understood that many people exchange reviews for the sake of the five-star rating. I would like to remind everyone that when exchanging reviews, ask the other party to include keywords as well. You will find that the rankings of these keywords will be greatly improved.

This raises another question: how many comments will have a significant impact on the ranking? Since the popularity of each keyword is different, the quality of the comments is also different, and the daily additions of each APP are different, so the scale also fluctuates. But I can give you a simple reference. For keywords with a popularity below 6,500, if you make 10 to 20 comments a day, the ranking will be significantly improved. For keywords with a popularity above 6,500, if you make 20 to 50 comments a day, the keyword ranking will be significantly improved.

7. Domestic Android Channels

When negotiating cooperation with the Android app market , the first step after regular inclusion is paid recommendation. If the relationship is strong and the app is popular, it is possible to negotiate free recommendation. The second is paid advertising, including regular banners and forum pinned ads. Finally, there are forum activities. Whether or not to pay has to be negotiated door to door, and providing prizes to users is always inevitable.

1. Payment

There is no doubt about the domestic Android channels. If you want quantity, you have to pay first. There is no room for negotiation on how much quantity you will be given based on the amount of money you pay.

Not to mention the payment, just shout in the market QQ group and a lot of people will come to you. Prepare the money and don’t think too much about other things. At least I haven’t experienced this stage yet.

2. Downloads

If your download volume is large enough to rank high, then you may always be so awesome. On the contrary, if you have no download volume, you may remain so for several years. That is, the strong become stronger and the weak become weaker, and the weak basically have no chance of becoming strong, unless you pay to increase the volume, and then it will be easy later. The prerequisite is that you first have to have the money to increase the volume.

3. Free activities such as first release

No matter it is the first launch or other free activities, in the final analysis, it still has to be favored by the editor, which is basically similar to the AppStore's boutique recommendations. Fortunately, there are more markets and relatively more opportunities to participate. If App Store doesn't work, maybe 360 ​​will do. If Meizu didn't make the list, maybe Huawei would. To do free activities in the domestic Android market , the first thing is to be patient. Cherish every opportunity as if you were chasing a girlfriend and treat it with a thousand percent sincerity. Maybe pie in the sky will fall. Haha, I'm so confused.

The road to ASO is long, and I will continue to explore. If you have more experience to share, we can learn from each other!

Mobile application product promotion service: APP promotion service Qinggua Media advertising

The author of this article @马海祥 is compiled and published by (Qinggua Media). Please indicate the author information and source when reprinting! Site Map