Mobile app development is expensive and time-consuming. In addition, there are millions of mobile applications, and new ones are constantly appearing, one way or another, competing for the user’s attention.
What does this mean for you as a mobile marketer, ASO manager, or indie developer?
To stand out and succeed, you need to focus on increasing traffic to your app, apart from creating a great app. This article talks about one of the most popular tools — app keyword promotion.
What are keywords?
A keyword is a word or phrase related to something a user searches for online. When users search for something on the App Store or Google Play, they will see search results with the most marketable apps with the search query.
A keyword invokes the same path when used as a single word or phrase. For example, the keyword “puzzle” will be covered by “puzzles for kids” and “block puzzle.”
The algorithm keeps track of the relationship between search queries and applications, showing the keywords associated with the query. When one app gets more clicks and downloads through search results compared to the other apps in the same genre, the algorithm considers it more relevant. It also subsequently ranks it up in the search results, giving it a higher priority.
The more closely related keywords you have, the better the traffic you will generate on your app. Due to this, new users can find your app by entering the desired phrase or keywords you are ranking for on the App Store or Play store.
How to find the right keywords for your app?
First, consider all possible organic keywords with which users can associate your app.
There are several ways to do this:
- Brainstorm terms or phrases related to your product or service
- Draw ideas from the category and industry of your product
- Think about the user’s problems that your product can solve
- Drive ideas from the reviews that your users have dropped on App Store and Play store
- Check your competitor’s keywords
- Use keyword autosuggestion
- Formulate search requests on Google Keyword planner based on the above information
The best way to collect keyword clusters is to combine multiple ways and get as many keywords as possible. To know more about keyword optimization, read the article “All you need to know to promote your app by keywords in 2022.”
How to choose the correct keyword for your campaign?
Now that you know what keywords are, and how to find them. Let’s speak about how to choose the correct keywords for your campaigns and promotions.
If you are a beginner, choosing long-tail app store keywords can be the best option! They are not just cheaper, but also more effective to promote. It is difficult to boost short-tail iOS app keywords and popular search terms as they are too competitive.
Initially do not choose to compete with leading apps in your niche. Instead, use search terms or keywords that are 4 to 5 words long for your first promotion campaign. Eventually, it will be easier and more effective to improve your mobile keyword ranking.
When you get a lot of installs for a relevant keyword Google’s algorithms rank your app better on App Store and Play Store. Thus, you can use keyword promotions as a marketing strategy to increase the number of organic installs for particular keywords.
Add keywords to your app’s title and description. This will help the algorithm associate your app with the keywords and improve your mobile keyword ranking. However, just adding keywords to your app store listing won’t be enough to increase traffic.
You’ll also need to promote your keywords through marketing campaigns. This will help improve the app’s position in the app store search.
Case Study: Keyword promotion for Android and iOS apps
To understand how many installs you need in order to rank for a keyword, you must run a test campaign. We advise choosing 4-5 keywords with 20 downloads each and starting 2-3 days of promotion.
This will help you understand keywords for which your position has changed and for which you need more installs. Perhaps some keywords will be too competitive and require higher install volume.
You can track changes in the position of the app’s ranking in the developer console and on the Keyapp’s platform. You should regularly track your progress and adjust your campaign. Watch the Keyapp’s Support Team video explanation to learn more about app promotion.
Below are examples of apps promoted in multiple countries for different keywords. Pay close attention to position changes and installs to repeat this marketing strategy for your apps.
01) The above screenshot shows the results of keyword promotion campaigns for the app “Stats Plus for Instagram Followers Report Analyzer,” — a popular app for Instagram analytics. Keyapp’s team promoted the app in the USA with different keywords having medium and high popularity for 5 days with 529 installs.
As evident, there are no changes in position for keywords “Instagram stats “and “insta admirers” because they have high popularity, and you need to get more downloads if you want to promote your app by them.
For example, the “stats plus” keyword reached 1st rank after the promotion. On the second screenshot, you can see the download volumes. It’s recommended to organically increase the daily number of installs for Android apps as it brings the best outcomes.
02) Here you can see an example of an iOS app. You can set up a campaign for 1-3 days and increase install volume for the subsequent campaigns. Moreover, having more installs to rank your iOS apps would be best. The most important thing for the IOS algorithm is having an equal distribution of installs for each day.
For any concerns or to start your keyword promotion campaign, contact Keyapp managers. They will assist you with app promotion and create a strategy that will help you get more installs. Enjoy your promotion and easily grow your app’s DAU or MAU.