The app ecosystem is growing quicker than almost any other ecosystem has before, and the shift from desktop web to mobile app is happening faster than even the most optimistic predictions thought. Traditionally, the Moz blog hasn't included much content about mobile, the app ecosystem, and app marketing. Rand has written before about his thoughts on App Store Optimization (ASO) and mobile apps, but with the dramatic shift in consumer attention to mobile, times are changing. Your goal as a digital marketer is to reach customers where they are, which increasingly is their mobile devices (smartphones, tablets, etc.) and through the app stores.
As CEO of an app store optimization and app marketing tools startup, I'm deep into the world of the app stores, following the algorithms and helping our customers make sense of this brand new playing field. We are still at Day One in the app ecosystem. It's changing fast and every new announcement (like iOS 7) brings big changes to app marketing.
Today, I'm incredibly happy to be writing a beginner's guide to mobile app marketing on the Moz blog. I'll talk briefly about all app marketing channels, but I'll focus on ASO (SEO for the app stores). This post is a high-level overview of app marketing; not meant to make you an expert in any one aspect, but meant to give you the spark you might want to begin looking at specific parts, such as ASO.
Mobile App Growth Continues to Explode
Let's start with a quick overview of the app ecosystem.
The ecosystem as a whole is very young, with the iOS App Store launching just five years ago in 2008. Generally speaking, over the last five years it has quickly become a two-horse race, with iOS and Google Play being the main competitors. No doubt, there are other viable contenders playing for third, such as Amazon, Microsoft, and RIMM, but iOS and Google Play are clearly leading the pack.
Both iOS and Google Play are very close in total number of downloads, with iOS surpassing 50 billion total downloads and Google Play surpassing 48 billion in May. With exceptions, the general rule is that iOS apps produce far more revenue than Google Play apps. Internationally, the game can change quite drastically depending on your country. For example, in developing countries such as India and China, we see other Android platforms and app stores coming up quickly. Here's a great look at international market share in mobile.
App marketing has matured tremendously, just as the ecosystem as a whole has. It started with very simple channels such as CPM banners in other apps (these were basically the equivalent of, "Honey, I shrunk the web banner"), then came more complex, but less user friendly channels such as incentivized installs ("Out of poker chips? No problem, get 10 more just by installing this other app"), and then quickly moved towards better paid channels (CPI - Cost Per Install, video, and so on). App marketing is now moving towards a better blend of paid and organic channels, such as app store search, social, and more. Sound familiar?
How Do Users Find Apps?
Unlike the web, there's no great way to determine exactly where your downloads come from. Instead, app marketers rely on studies, anecdotes from other marketers, and data from platform owners (Apple, Google, etc.) to find out what the most effective and used channels are for app distribution.
Two big studies which many ASOs point to come from research firms Nielsen and Forrester (click through to see the full study results, rather than my edited versions below). Both studies show that inbound, organic channels in the app store are the biggest drivers for downloads. In particular, both agree that search in the app store is the single largest channel, with 61% of consumers finding apps through app store search.
Moreover, some of best data, if not fully complete, comes from the platform owners themselves. Google Play's Head of Search and Discovery, Ankit Jain, recently shared a wonderful quote about the magnitude of app store search in his presentation at Google I/O:
Just like on the web, organic app store search is only one component of Inbound App Marketing. Inbound in the app ecosystem comes in many different flavors, including search, social, top charts, web-to-app, and more. One in particular to note that is different from the web is the Top Charts in an app store.
Distinct from app store search, the Top Charts can be an incredible driver of downloads for your app, especially if your app is a general consumer app. Getting into and managing your Top Charts position is an art and science in and of itself, one which could warrant an entire series of blog posts. One of the most interesting facets of the Top Charts is how you can use paid marketing as lighter fluid for inbound marketing, by essentially buying your way into the Top Charts.
Be careful, though: Apple doesn't like those who blatantly game their system, and could try to find a way to reject you from their store (think Panda or Penguin for apps). Additionally, I believe that the Top Charts are a short-term game in the app stores: they were moderately interesting with 100,000 apps, they're bought by marketers at a couple million apps, and they'll be useless with 100,000,000 apps.
How Does App Marketing Differ From Web Marketing?
In many aspects, app marketing is significantly different from web marketing. It's important to recognize which of your skills will translate and which additional skills you'll need to learn.
First, the app ecosystem really is a two-horse race, and those horses couldn't look any different. In the web world, if you're thinking about search, there's really only one contender most SEOs look at (sorry, Bing). In the app ecosystem, however, you have to make a very specific decision as to which platform(s) you want to focus on based on developer resources, marketing resources, and so on. Each platform works in a completely different manner (especially in search), so it's important to know that you'll really have to focus on each one independently.
Photo credit to Paolo Camera
The web and app ecosystems differ because there is no attribution in the app ecosystem. By default, the app stores are gatekeepers, and it's very difficult to see where your installs come from. This can depend on which platform you're on (and is certainly more the case in iOS), but it exists in both platforms. So, while on the web you often get to see where your visits come from (even if Google is hell-bent on user privacy and increasing the (not provided) keyword), it is the norm in the app stores to never know where your installs come from, even at a high level. There are some tricks to this which I'll outline below, but just remember, attribution in the app stores is hard.
Lastly, it's still Day One in the app ecosystem. That means we still have a lot of growing up to do. In particular, the long-tail is still growing and learning what it will take to build successful businesses. I often equate the app ecosystem to the web in the late 90's: search algorithms are still being created, and the money is still concentrated in the head publishers. This provides a great opportunity for those willing to take the plunge and be around early on in the process, but it requires an understanding and willingness to put in the time to try to help mature the entire ecosystem through education and evangelism.
Here's a graph I often draw of how I see the app ecosystem landscape: a few publishers make a lot of money, while the majority make very little, with almost no middle. Compared to the web ecosystem, where there is a fat middle of businesses who make an interesting amount of money, the app ecosystem needs to continue to grow and push this curve out to look more similar to the web. I believe this will happen, just as it happened with the web over the years.
How to Optimize for App Store Search Engines
Let's dive into search in the app stores, and how the search engines differ based on platform.
First things first; remember I mentioned that the app ecosystem reminds me of the web in the mid-to-late 90's? Keep that picture in your head when you think of search. App store search hasn't been "figured out" in the same way that Google "figured out" search on the web. Simply put, we're still in AltaVista mode in the app ecosystem: something better than Yahoo's directory provided, but not incredibly sophisticated like Google would become in a few more years.
Just like the web has on-page and off-page SEO, apps have on-metadata and off-metadata ASO. On-metadata ASO include factors totally within your control and are often things dealing with your app store presence. Off-metadata ASO include factors that might not be entirely in your control, but which you can still influence. Here are a few of the most important knobs and levers that you as a marketer can turn to affect your search performance, and some quick tips on how to optimize them.
On-Metadata
App Title
An app's title is the single most important metadata factor for rank in ASO. It's equivalent to the <title> tag in your HTML, and is a great signal to the app stores as to what your app is about. On the web, you want your title to include both a description of what you do (including keywords) as well as some branding; both elements should also exist in the app store. Be sure to include the keywords, but don't be spammy. Make sure it parses well and makes sense. Example: "Strava Run - GPS Running, Training and Cycling Workout Tracker"
Description
Patrick Haig, our VP of Customer Success, likes to break descriptions down into two sections: above the fold and below the fold (sound familiar?). He says, "Above the fold language should be 1-2 sentences describing the app and its primary use case, and below the fold should have a clear and engaging feature set and social proof." We'll dig into some of the differences about the description field across platforms below.
Keyword Field
The Keyword Field in iOS is a 100 character field which you can use to tell iTunes search for which keywords you should show up. Since you only get 100 characters, you must use them wisely. A few tips:
- When choosing your keywords, just like on the web, focus on relevancy, search volume, and difficulty.
- Don't use multiple word phrases; break out to individual words (Apple can combine them for you).
- Don't repeat keywords that are already in your title (and put the most important ones in your title, leaving the keyword field for your secondary keywords).
- Separate keywords with commas, and don't use spaces anywhere.
Icon
Consumers are finicky. They want apps which are beautiful, elegant, and simple to understand. Your icon is often their first interaction with your app, so ensure that it does a great job conveying your brand, and the elegance and usefulness of your app. Remember, in search results, an icon is one of the only ways you can convey your brand and usefulness. Think of it as part of the meta description tag you'd create in SEO. For example,SoundCloud does a great job with their icon and branding.
Screenshots
The most important rule to remember when creating your screenshots is that they should not be screenshots. They are, instead, promotional graphics. That means you can include text or other graphics to tell your app's story in an interesting, visual way.
Especially in iOS, where the card layout shows your first screenshot, it is incredibly helpful when an app displays a graphic which explains the app right up front, increasing conversions from search results to viewing the app page and, ultimately, installing the app.
The best app marketers also use their screenshots promotional graphics together to create a flow that carries the user through the story. Each graphic can build off the previous graphic, giving the user a reason to continue scrolling and learning about your app.
Here's a great example of using the screenshots effectively by our friends at Haiku Deck.
Off-Metadata
Outside of your direct control, you'll also want to focus on a few things to ensure the best performance in ASO.
Ratings
Every app has a rating. Your job as a marketer is to ensure that your app gets a great overall rating. Rating is directly tied to performance in app store search, which leads us to believe that rating is a factor in app store search rankings.
Reviews
Similar to ratings, you want to ensure that the reviews your users write about your app are positive. These reviews will help increase your conversion rate from app page views to downloads.
Link-building
This is discussed further below, but suffice it to say, link building to your app's page in the app store matters for Google Play apps. Given you all are SEOs, you know all about how to rock this!
How Do iOS and Google Play Differ In App Store Search?
The differences in the platforms mean that there are different levers to pull depending on the platform. Google Play and iOS act completely independently, and often, quite differently. The differences are wide-ranging, but what are a couple of the main differences?
In general, the way to think about the differences is that Google is Google and Apple is Apple. Duh, right? Google has the built the infrastructure and technology to learn from the web and use many different data points to make a decision. Apple, on the other hand, doesn't have indexes of the web, and comes from a background in media. When in doubt, imagine what you'd do if you were each of them and had the history each of them has.
Here are a couple concrete examples.
Description versus Keywords
In iOS, there's a keywords field. It's easy to see where this came from, especially when you think of iTunes' background in music: a song has a title (app title), musician (developer name), and then needs a few keywords to describe the song ("motown," "reggae," etc.). When Apple launched their app store, they used the same technology that was already built for music, which meant that the app title, developer name, and keywords were the only fields used to understand search for an app. Note that description isn't taken into account in iOS (but I expect this to change soon).
On the other hand, there is no keyword field in Google Play; there is only a description field. Thus, while iOS doesn't take the description into account, in Google Play the description is all you have, so be sure to do exactly the same as you do on the web: cater your content towards your keywords, without being spammy.
Leveraging PageRank in Google Play
Another big difference in iOS and Google Play is that Google has access to PageRank and the link graph of the web, while Apple does not. Thus, Google will take into account the inbound links to your app's detail page (for example,https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.symantec.mobilesecurity) as a factor in Google Play search, while Apple has no such factor.
How To Measure Success In App Marketing
It's very difficult to measure success in app marketing in the same way you can measure success in web marketing. This is especially true when you're working with inbound channels. It's still early, but it's continuously getting better, with more tools and services coming out all the time to help marketers understand success. Here are some of the ways I recommend measuring success in the app store today:
Search Rankings
Just like on the web, a great way to measure your success in app store search is to track your ranking for specific search terms you care about over time and versus your competition. Rank tracking is incredibly valuable for ASOs to understand their progress.
Top Charts
Top Charts, especially Top Charts within a particular category, do a great job of allowing you to understand your success in relation to the rest of the apps in your category.
Ratings and Reviews
Just as ratings and reviews will help your ASO, they are also great metrics to track over time for how you're doing with your app marketing. Keep track of what users are saying, how they're saying it (pro tip: listening to their language is a great way to do keyword research!), and what they're rating your app.
Downloads
Taking it one step further, correlating your search rankings to downloads will allow you to understand the effect your increased ASO is having on your app performance. One way we do this is to integrate with iTunes Connect and overlay your search rankings with your downloads so you can visually see how closely related any one keyword is with your downloads. It's not perfect, but it helps!
Conversion and Revenue
At the end of the day, revenue is the most important metric you should be understanding. Of course, you should be tracking your revenue and doing the same correlation with search performance. In addition, you should watch your conversion rate over time; we often see apps whose conversion rate soars with an increase in ASO because the users are so much more engaged with the app.
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