A guide through an app store marketing toolbox, AppCod.es. - App Store SEO - Competitor Tracking - Promo Code Dispenser

1. a practical
App Store SEO
tutorial
( using the new iOS 10 data )

2. 3k - 150k
free downloads
using only
App Store SEO
you can achieve
$300 - $6000
in sales
( based on our experience and the stories we’ve heard from our users )
per month
or

3. this is a
search phrase
people type it
on their phone in
the app store search

4. those are
search keywords
this is what you give to Apple

5. search
phrases
iTunes
keywords
≠
- what people search for
- you track their position
- usually whole phrases
- what you give to Apple
- just 100 characters
- single words
- based on search
phrases you want to
position for

6. Positioning 101
1. brainstorm your search phrases
2. prepare appropriate search keywords
App name & dev name also matters, so don’t repeat
it in the keywords. App description, on the other
hand - doesn’t matter.
Unlike Google SEO, there is not much more you can
do if Apple doesn’t put you on top of the result list.
That’s why you should focus on looking on phrases
with little competition, not just high popularity.

7. The difference from Google SEO
Your goal is not to improve your position.
Your goal is to find the search phrases that work.
That is because there is no known way to improve
your position for a search phrase
The best you can hope for is to find phrases that
work, and forget the ones that don’t

8. think of phrases
(not just single words!)
that people may
be searching for
search phrase
racing game
cars game
game car
highway
fast racing
custom car
drag racing games
gt racing
crash

9. racing game
cars game
game car
highway
fast racing
custom car
drag racing games
gt racing
crash how many
results show
up for each one?
search phrase
34407
35884
225
17
2609
42
79
15
144
result count

10. search phrase
racing game
cars game
game car
highway
fast racing
custom car
drag racing games
gt racing
crash
34407
35884
225
17
2609
42
79
15
144
result count
98
40
43
15
71
33
72
25
43
popularity
good phrases
because count < 100 & popularity > 5

11. search phrase
racing game
cars game
game car
highway
fast racing
custom car
drag racing games
gt racing
crash
34407
35884
225
17
2609
42
79
15
144
result count
98
40
43
15
71
33
72
25
43
popularity
“perhaps worth a shot” phrases
because count < 500 & ok popularity

12. search phrase
racing game
cars game
game car
highway
fast racing
custom car
drag racing games
gt racing
crash
34407
35884
225
17
2609
42
79
15
144
result count
98
40
43
15
71
33
72
25
43
popularity
“forget it” phrases
count > 500, regardless of popularity

13. racing game
cars game
game car
highway
fast racing
custom car
drag racing games
gt racing
crash
choose iTunes keywords
search phrase result count popularity
34407
35884
225
17
2609
42
79
15
144
98
40
43
15
71
33
72
25
43
robots,on,wheels,game,sexy

14. robots,on,wheels,game,sexy track your position
in the store
search phrase
racing game
cars game
game car
highway
fast racing
custom car
drag racing games
gt racing
crash
result count popularity pos.
34407
35884
225
17
2609
42
79
15
144
98
40
43
15
71
33
72
25
43
20
3
15
2
30

15. abandon phrases that don’t work (pos>10)
search phrase
racing game
cars game
game car
highway
fast racing
custom car
drag racing games
gt racing
crash
result count popularity pos.
34407
35884
225
17
2609
42
79
15
144
98
40
43
15
71
33
72
25
43
20
3
15
2
30

16. search phrase
racing game
cars game
game car
highway
fast racing
custom car
drag racing games
gt racing
crash
result count popularity pos.
34407
35884
225
17
2609
42
79
15
144
98
40
43
15
71
33
72
25
43
8
3
2
iterate until every single word
gives you a position <10 for a phrase
highway, custom, car, gt, racing

17. search phrase
racing game
cars game
game car
highway
fast racing
custom car
drag racing games
gt racing
crash
result count popularity pos.
34407
35884
225
17
2609
42
79
15
144
98
40
43
15
71
33
72
25
43
essence of AppCodes
8
3
2

18. essence of AppCodes

19. our other features

20. results as they appear
in the App Store

21. automatic hints
detecting most
common mistakes

22. a quick preview of
your chances and
competition levels

23. competitor download
estimates & ratings

24. a guess of
competitor
iTunes keywords

25. blog & press mentions
(for most popular apps)

26. and if you mark your
competitor here…

27. and if you mark your
competitor here…
and click the
“competitors” tab…

28. You get all your competitors in one place!

29. Words popular in their descriptions

30. Words appearing in their iTunes keywords

31. Press releases & press mentions all in one place
(perfect when trying to figure out which journalists to approach)

32. keep in mind:
good SEO
is just a step towards
good sales

33. you need to have
a good conversion
rate as well

34. Make sure that your app is good enough
- it’s not yet another flashlight/dictionary/photo app
- a game with less than supreme quality
but first and foremost - it needs “user appeal”
How to do it?

35. Where is your target market?
Do you talk to users from that market?
What are your reviews on that market?
e.g. we’ve seen devs from Europe claiming they
target U.S. but spending 90% of their
communication in their home countries
true story:
- oh yes, we target U.S - says a dev
- how many reviews do you have there?
- we don’t track those stats outside of Germany

36. - did you ask anyone outside of your friends & family for a review?
- did you discuss the idea on web forums? and on reddit subreddits?
- did you visit a local meetup/barcamp and talked to real people about it?
- did you talk to bloggers about your idea?
“Well, I posted on that one forum one time, and nobody replies”
Don’t blame the forum. It’s either your pitch, or your idea that is lousy -
you’ve got work to do. If you cannot find at least a dozen people in the
Internet, who will be excited by your concept, even the best seo won’t
help you.
Did you talk to your users?

37. Treat your first screenshots as
an advertisement!

38. Explain what the app does!

39. even if your
app is horizontal
make the first two
screenshots vertical
you’ll have more space in
the store this way

40. check app ratings in
your target country
(we recommend
AppFigures for that)
and ask explicitly for
reviews, using AppIrater

41. - conferences
- barcamps, meetups
- wherever your target audience hangs out
- see who wrote about your competitors, approach them as well
Most failures we’ve seen were because
either the product was lousy, it had lousy
screenshots, or the authors didn’t talk
to their customers.
Talk to the real people

42. Your next steps
1. build your competitor list
2. brainstorm the search queries
3. figure out the new keywords
4. update your app
5. make sure you have good screenshots
and you ask users for the reviews
6. iterate iterate iterate

43. and don’t forget to tell your colleagues about
www.appcodes.com
click to visit

44. btw. we also recommend these books
good basics of PR interface design design in general
(we’re unaffiliated with the book authors)

45. and if you’re building a game, watch this
do you have a similar passion?
Plenty of people try to build a game because they heard it’s a good business, or they heard of
this guy from “Ow My Balls” who had a smashing success. But you cannot achieve success in
games unless you live and breathe them.
This is different from tools, business and any other kind of apps, where you can usually get
decent income while working part time. In case of other apps, it’s all about carving out your
own niche. In case of games, it’s about building a supreme product - there arguably are fewer
niches.
(we’re unaffiliated with the movie authors)

46. Thanks for reading
www.appcodes.com
click to visit