App Store Optimization (ASO) - Best practices, tools, KPIs & Challenges. A basic guide to app marketing success.

2. • 55 person marketing agency located
in Udim
• Global market only
• Zynga, Playtika, Scientific Games,
Tinder, Miniclip, Gett and others
• Inbound – ASO & SEO
• Performance marketing – Google
and Facebook teams

3. • Buzz word – voodoo
• App page management
• Texts:
o Titles, Descriptions, short
descriptions, keyword lists
(hidden)
o Graphics: Icons, feature
graphics, screenshots
What is ASO

4. Search
Optimization
Conversion
Optimization

5. Increased paid traffic
• Branded searches: no difference
• Non-branded searches: Keyword visibility – page views – installs
Reduced CPI
• Better conversion rates
• Acts as a landing page for keyword purposes
Gateway to other marketing efforts

6. • Anyone who owns an app
• Not necessarily with an agency though…
• Going from 65 to 80 to 95
• Expensive tools
• As a rule of thumb – any app that has over 1-2K daily installs
should consider getting professional ASO assistance
• Can not replace a holistic marketing strategy, but is a crucial
marketing channel

7. It’s all in the DNA
• Google Play – Search
Understand what users might search for
• iTunes – Music
Needs to be told what users might search for

8. iTunes
• Titles
• 100 characters keyword list
• Combinations
• Title: Wow Vegas Casino Slots
• Keyword list: las,video,bonus
• Targeted Queries: Las Vegas,
Video Slots, Casino Bonus, Las
Bonus
Google Play
• Titles
• Short Description
• Description
• Google “reads” the app description
• Keyword density
• Synonyms
• Not as sophisticated as the web
algorithm

10. iTunes
Two first screenshots
30 seconds video
Large clear fonts
Offers/advantages
No native experiments tool
Google Play
• Icons
• Any YouTube video
• Large fonts
• Offers/advantages
• Native experiments tool

12. Metric Taken from Issues
Keyword rankings Sensor Tower/ AppAnnie/ Mobile Action
External tools, traffic is an estimation
(excluding than iOS US)
Impressions iTunes’ systems
iOS only, sampled data
Page views iTunes & GP’s systems
Sampled data in iOS. Not easily
accessed in GP
Organic installs GP’s systems, attribution platform
Calculated as a subtraction – not fully
accurate
Conversion rates Calculated
Can only look in terms of trends. GP
provides bench marks

13. • SensorTower/AppAnnie/Mobile Action
• Store Intelligence – estimations of installs by country
• App Intelligence – Keyword rankings, category
rankings, reviews, competitors, app update timeline

15. Google Play Developer Console
Upload apps
See statistics
User Acquisition – Page views, installs, broken down by country
Experiments
Comment to Reviews
iTunes Connect
Upload apps
See statistics
User analytics – impressions, page views, installation – sampled
No native experiments console

17. StoreMaven/SplitMetrics
Duplicate the app store page
Actually a web page
Provide a link to send traffic to
Plenty of insights
Costly – non-converting traffic
Tests only a part of the funnel
Tests one type of traffic

18. Lack of data
• No attribution of keyword to install
• Higher rankings in some keywords, lower rankings in other
𝑂𝑟𝑔𝑎𝑛𝑖𝑐𝐼𝑛𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑙𝑙𝑠
= 𝐴𝑆𝑂 + 𝐸𝑥𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑛𝑎𝑙𝐹𝑎𝑐𝑡𝑜𝑟𝑠(𝑃𝑎𝑖𝑑𝐼𝑛𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑙𝑙𝑠, 𝑅𝑒𝑣𝑖𝑤𝑒𝑠, 𝐶𝑟𝑎𝑠ℎ𝑒𝑠, 𝑆𝑜𝑐𝑖𝑎𝑙𝐶𝑎𝑚𝑝𝑎𝑖𝑔𝑛𝑠, 𝐹𝑒𝑎𝑡𝑢𝑟𝑖𝑛𝑔, 𝑆𝑒𝑎𝑠𝑜𝑛𝑎𝑙𝑖𝑡𝑦)
𝑅𝑎𝑛𝑘 = 𝐾𝑒𝑦𝑤𝑜𝑟𝑑𝑇𝑎𝑟𝑔𝑒𝑡𝑖𝑛𝑔 ∗ 𝐹𝑎𝑐𝑡𝑜𝑟𝑠(𝐼𝑛𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑙𝑙𝑠, 𝐼𝑛𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑙𝑙𝑠𝑉𝑒𝑙𝑜𝑐𝑖𝑡𝑦, 𝑅𝑒𝑣𝑖𝑒𝑤𝑠, 𝑅𝑒𝑡𝑒𝑛𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛, 𝐶𝑣𝑅, 𝐸𝑟𝑟𝑜𝑟, ? )

19. • Directing positive only reviews
• Buying reviews
• Incentivized reviews
• Negative ASO
• Burst campaigns
• Bot Installs
• Brand names as keywords
• Keyword incentivized traffic
• Top Grossing Refund

20. KPIs – important keywords
Ad hoc solutions
• Comparing before/after changes (Tinder)
Breaking data/changes between
countries
• Comparing Android to iOS (Gett’s Offline
campaigns)
• Comparing trends to competitors
(Slotomania)

21. Similar trends in keyword rankings for developers

22. • ASO as a long term process
• Modifications based on results
• iOS – check and replace keyword by keyword
o Look at phrases, not at individual words
• Android – Look for low hanging fruits (high traffic queries that
rank at #10-60)
o Allow at least 3 weeks between iterations

23. Slot
Machines
Slots
Vegas
Slots
Slots

26. • ASO is somewhat of a black box
• General funnel is search – impression – page view – organic install
• Tracking difficulties in every stage
• Anyone who claims to have it figured out is being dishonest
• ASO is a crucial part of any marketing plan, but is not a holistic
strategy
• Basic ASO is fairly simple – any app developer can (and should)
practice it