5 Reasons Why Your Mobile App Needs an SEO Strategy

mobile seo stratagy

The digital world is like an endless ocean, with an unimaginable amount of data and information. The vast space gives everyone the opportunity to be seen but is also like quicksand that will quickly pull you into the “cloud” of invisibility. It does not matter much if the concept for your app is unique—you will remain hidden from the sight of your users until you adopt a well-planned SEO strategy. 

Did you know that just like a website needs a good SEO strategy, even your mobile apps require a little something called ASO or app store optimization? 

Keep reading to learn some quick search tricks up your sleeve to reach out to more customers and enhance your brand reach. 

Let’s get started!

    What is SEO? 

    Have you ever noticed how you use search engines? A Google search is all about the keywords. Artificial intelligence doesn’t read or even respond well to long articulate sentences—it quickly connects dots via the keywords on the search engines. 

    SEO or search engine optimization does exactly that, making sure that your search results are relevant and your experience is almost effortless. In short, SEO makes Google search and your life easy. 

    There will always be a bunch of other companies making the apps and writing the same content as you are but SEO gives you a chance to overtake all of them and gives you better visibility on the search results.

    SEO is like a super quick librarian that can quickly jump from site to site and within seconds provide you with the information that you require. In the case of a website, the librarian is a bunch of small bots that crawl the webpages and comes up with the most relevant information to you. 

    The process of SEO requires specific SEO tools and plugins. SEO tools can notify you about the overall health of your website in terms of keywords selections and its organic usage throughout the website. It helps discover potential weaknesses and opportunities for improvement. 

    Correct usage of SEO tools and plugins is crucial for the success of your website. 

    App store optimisation (ASO) is a subset of SEO. It makes sure that your apps are visible to your customers and your brand reach is wider.

    What is App Store Optimization?   

    The world has condensed into the palm of our hands; into our mobile phones. These tiny devices have conquered our lives by making almost every essential requirement of our life possible. May it be social interactions or money transactions, you name it and it does it all.

    Naturally, mobile devices require apps to perform all these activities, so there is a fantastic opportunity for business in this arena. It is not surprising that app stores are loaded with numerous apps which perform almost the exact function. 

    App store optimization is what is going to make your app stand out from the crowd, by making sure that you are visible to your customers in the search results of Google Play Store, Apple App Store, etc.

    App store search results also function in a similar manner to how other search engines work. It works on keywords to highlight your app organically to the users. 

    Should you be optimizing your app?

    The answer is a big and bold ‘yes!’ 

    Not only do you require app store optimization but also search engine optimization to enhance your brand reach, to be visible to your customers, and also to be found by new customers. 

    What do you do when you come across a problem? You Google it, right? With the solution, Google immediately also suggests the apps that can help you with that problem.

    This is exactly why you need optimization so that when your customers are looking for a solution, Google suggests your app as a solution.

    You might feel that your app is only relevant in the app store, why should you focus on search engine optimization then? It is because only 40% of app discovery happens through the app store search, the rest happens through channels like personal connections, social sharing,  advertisements, company websites, other search engines, and more!  

    This makes it crucial for you to consider a good SEO strategy to rank higher in the recommended apps list. 

    The case for mobile app optimization

    Optimization enhances visibility, and visibility comes with a set of wonderful perks for your company and your app.

    1. Can grow your organic installations.

    The first thing that comes to your mind when thinking of expanding your reach is definitely advertising, that is how you might be reaching or planning to reach customers. 

    Well, advertising comes with a huge cost and in some cases, it might be draining money way more than you are gaining from it. 

    If the app store optimization and SEO are taken care of, then there are chances that you can save your company from losing massive chunks of money and, in turn, also grow profit naturally through organic installations. 

    When customers are searching for apps that are relevant to their requirements, they may come across your app and get an app preview as well if your app is well optimized.

    This preview snippet contains the app name, icon, number of downloads, reviews, average rating, and a short description of your app. This is like the first impression for your customers which ensures greater chances of users to hit the download button. 

    This thread of action continues organically when your customers promote your apps through social sharing if they like your app guaranteeing an organic reach to more users. 

    Social sharing also certifies the trust of your customers. Hence, new customers who trust their acquaintances who posted about your app automatically trust your app. 

    2. More relevant users discovering your app

    You may reach out to many, and the numbers of users might be looking good too, but what really matters is if they need your app or not. 

    In the case of optimizing your app on the app store as well as search engines, the users who are looking for your app, or perhaps the keywords that are relevant to your app, are directed to your page. This makes sure that with the right keywords, you can attract customers who actually want to discover the app and are willing to hit the download button. 

    There are always chances of mistakes while describing what your app does or while adding the category under which it falls. App Store Optimization picks the right keywords for which to optimize the app so that the most relevant users can find and download your application.

    To put it into an analogy, SEO basically acts like nectar for the customers who get as attracted to your app as bees would to the flower. 

    3. Increased revenue opportunity

    When your app is gaining wider visibility, you can reach out to more relevant customers and might see a higher organic growth in the number of users. This will automatically increase your revenue through a corresponding increase in the number of downloads. 

    SEO strategies can be quite promising in terms of revenue enhancement as well as stability in terms of reach. In the case of advertising, a considerable amount of money is drained in order to gain some visibility with great chances of failure. 

    In fact, once the advertising stops, your app might face a significant dip in the number of installations and reach causing stagnancy in progress and even loss.

    A significant boost in revenue is also dependent on the design of your mobile app. Since the world has shifted online, the visual aesthetics of your app is what entices your customers. 

    It’s not enough to ace your visual mobile app design only to grow revenues but to also stay relevant in the app market via app designs. 

    Think for yourself, will you hit the download button of an app that looks pale and dull? Now imagine that you put in the effort to be visible to your customers and they are unfortunately repelled by the appearance of your app.

    All your efforts will go down the drain and you don’t want that, so a nifty little trick to hold your customers is to work on your mobile app design.

    4. Improving your brand reach on Google

    Google has become synonymous with search engines. We don’t say “check this on the search engines” but “Google it”. It’s not just a brand but the act of using the internet has been named after a Google search itself. 

    Google in many ways is the monopoly of the internet, not literally but in the minds of the majority.

    You may have noticed your mobiles have pre-installed Google Play Store or App Stores. Chrome might also be installed on your device, especially in the case of Android. We come across the term Google so many times in a day that it has become our comfort zone. 

    Naturally, Google becomes the most important space where you need to ensure your business development. Being featured on Google’s search results is also one of the best ways to also gain credibility. 

    With a good keyword selection, SEO can ensure you reach the right customers and be found easily on the google search. 

    5. Chance of appearing on App packs 

    App packs are literally a group of apps that google suggests to the users, the ones that appear on the mobile search result page. 

    In this fast paced world, we heavily and unknowingly rely way too much on search engine results to do the heavy work for us. We do not have time to sit and look for options and get overwhelmed by the myriad and diverse options available.

    This proves to be a great area to exploit for app creators to increase their app downloads with the right app store optimization and app SEO. App creators can make sure that Google suggests their apps to the people who search for apps that can fulfill their requirement. 

    App packs are the bundle of apps that will appear immediately when users would search for specific phrases online. 

    Appearing on app packs means that you get to display your icon, name of the app, the number of downloads as well as the rating right in front of your customers. 

    The moment your app becomes part of the app packs, it catches attention with its prominent visual display. 

    Just imagine being referred by Google itself — the credibility of your app would immediately skyrocket. 

    For the above magic to happen, you need to have a great SEO strategy in place and utilize app page optimization. 

    We are living in the times of algorithms and pixels. You need to be thorough about the ways you tweak the algorithm to get ahead of the others. 

    If SEO and app store optimization are not taken care of, the artificial intelligence of Google will not take you seriously and will keep pushing you down the search results.

    Prioritize to Optimize! 

    Yes, we al know the competition is crazy. Only having high-quality content and unique features will not help if you cannot be in the visibility range of your audience. 

    Your audience will never even know that you exist, let alone your dream of penetrating the market. 

    However, a fool-proof way to make sure you are on highlight is to optimize your app on app stores as well as on the search engine results. 

    Optimizing your app can make sure that you rank higher in the search results. 

    It’s time to prioritize optimization. Get started today!

    This article was written by Mark Quadros, a SaaS content marketer that helps brands create and distribute rad content.  On a similar note, Mark loves content and contributes to several authoritative blogs like HubSpot, CoSchedule, Foundr, etc. Connect with him via LinkedIN or twitter

    Share
    facebook
    linkedin
    twitter
    mail

    Subscribe to our blog

    Sign up to receive Rock Content blog posts

    Related Posts

    Want to receive more brilliant content like this for free?

    Sign up to receive our content by email and be a member of the Rock Content Community!