197 billion mobile apps were downloaded in 2017.
That figure should be music to the ears of mobile app developers everywhere. Put the right app in front of enough people, and you stand to make a lot of money.
However, with so much competition it can be hard to stand out from the crowd.
Interestingly though, a large proportion of apps are found outside the app store. In fact, 27% of mobile apps are found through search engines instead.
Meaning search engine optimization (SEO) can play a significant role in your app’s potential success. Indeed, over a quarter of your app’s downloads could come through effective SEO. Want to know how to use it to help rank your mobile apps?
Keep reading for a mobile SEO app ranking guide that’ll do just that.
6 Mobile SEO App Tips for Better Rankings
Making an app is one thing. Getting it out there and known to a wider audience is another. Maximizing your app’s ranking is a great way to achieve app success.
Check out these 6 tips to make it happen. However, if you’re struggling, it can pay to work with professional marketing agencies, like this company.
In the meantime, the following tips will help get you started.
1. Find the Right Keywords
Keyword research is as important to app SEO as it is to traditional SEO and marketing overall.
The goal’s the same: you want to find words with a high search volume and minimal competition. This will give you the best chance of ranking on SERPs.
You can use various tools to find the keywords. Google’s Keyword Planner is a good one to get started with. From there, use the keywords (without overstuffing them) in your app’s title, subtitle, description and so on. That way your app has a better chance of showing up in search results.
2. Seek Reviews and Ratings (Positive Ones!)
Google is all about the user experience.
Essentially, they want their users to get the best experience possible from using their search engine. That means they put a lot of effort into putting higher quality content at the top of page 1.
Positive ratings and lots of awesome reviews for your app will tell Google it’s worth ranking higher. Likewise, Google’s bots will actually crawl the reviews for your app.
Positive reviews will rank higher. Oh, and lots of positive ratings and reviews will stimulate further downloads.
It’s a nice snowball effect. But it begins with creating a great app that people want to rate and review.
3. Get Links to Your App
Backlinks are fundamental parts of any SEO.
Google picks up on them. They’re interpreted as votes of confidence.
Lots of backlinks from reputable, well-known sites, is a big bonus for any content. The same goes for your app.
Aim to get high-quality backlinks to your download page or listing on the app store. It isn’t enough to just get masses of links via a black-hat SEO strategy. Google is clever enough to know what’s happening. And you’ll get punished for it in SERPs.
Get links from various sources. Your own website and social media is a good starting point. From there, start with outreach: tell influencers about your new app. Stimulate conversation on online forums, create press-releases, and offer guest posts in exchange for links.
4. Enhance App Store Popularity
ASO stands for app store optimization.
It’s all about how well you rank in the app store.
It works hand in hand with SEO. Higher app store rankings will facilitate improvements to your SEO.
Guess what happens when your ranking in SERPS improves? That’s right, better ASO! It’s a nice reciprocal relationship.
You can find tools to help you improve your SEO. App Radar is one of them that you could try.
5. Improve Your Click-Through Rate
Click-through rate (CTR) is essential to SEO, and all-around business success.
You want and need people to see your link on SERPS and click it.
Low CTR means lots of people see the link and fail to click. This tells Google that it isn’t popular with its users. The rank will drop accordingly. The same is true in the app store.
You want to maximize your CTR in both domains. This often starts with a great download page.
Your copy has to be spot on. It should be easy to read, in short sentences, and broken up with pictures. Your images should be clear and visually appealing too.
Show your app and its finest features in action.
6. Regularly Update Your App
The most popular apps on the app store are those that get regularly updated.
It needs to stay fresh and appealing in order to maintain its popularity. Likewise, you may also experience bugs that need to be fixed. Again, do anything you can that enhances the user experience.
Listen to the reviews for specific feedback. They can be a gold mine for relevant information about improvements and updates that are required.
Make sure you tell everyone (aka Google) about your latest update too. Include a notification on your product page. While you’re at it, announce the update on your website too.
Time to Get Ranking
There you have it: a mobile SEO app ranking guide to improving your app rankings in no time!
In a saturated market, it’s harder to get your app to stand out from the crowd. Nicely, the app store isn’t the only place your app can be found.
Far from it. Many people now find and download their apps through search engines. That’s why mastering mobile app SEO is so crucial to success.
Hopefully, the tips we’ve included here will help you do just that. Many of the typical SEO principles are transferable to apps. However, there are a few that are unique.
Keep them all in mind and you’ll be ranking highly on SERPs in no time at all.
Did you like this piece? Looking for more app-related information? Click here to learn how to build an app without an expert.
