A Comprehensive Guide to Mobile Apps Marketing and SEO

For mobile apps developers, the competition is fierce in getting noticed on app marketplaces. Properly optimizing and promoting your app within Apple’s App Store, Google Play Store, Amazon and others are only one part of the task. Creating a strong web and social media presence for an app goes a long way to ensuring its future.

If you’re a mobile apps developer actively trying to promote an app, Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and App Store Optimization (ASO) should definitely be a pillar of your strategy. Here are some surefire tips to getting your app noticed in all the right ways.

While there are ways to boost the success of your existing mobile app, the best time to seek success on app stores is well before launch.

Selecting the right name for your app goes a long way in cementing good branding. Make sure you pick a name that sticks in people’s minds as this will help you stand out from competitors. As you grow, you will also begin to see your App and website rise in rankings as its attached to your branding when users search for your app by title.

Selecting the right keywords to target with your SEO and ASO is also important. Trying to keep them in line with each other will make things easier in the long run. Make sure you go after keywords specific to your app, not just large volume, as doing so will hurt your app if users reject it. ASO is even more dependent on user retention than SEO is, and if you start losing interest it will be hard to regain.

Utilize Web Presence Effectively

If you have a website for your development team or app, make sure to create a page that focuses on your end goals. Your main mission is to get as many app downloads and new users as possible, so create a landing page focusing on that goal specifically. Show download links, screenshots, testimonials – everything to get the user interested in your app.

There’s also the chance you may not be using websites outside of your own either. Many app review sites and directories allow you to submit your app to help get noticed. A quick Google search for app review sites + your niche can yield a few new places to turn to for exposure. Reaching out to influencers in your space can also yield crucial SEO backlinks and put you in front of new potential users.

Gauge Your Competition & React to Match It

The first step to outranking your competition is to understand them. You can calculate how much effort you need to outrank a competing app in your category by analyzing app store charts.

By utilizing a mobile app analytics service for your app, you can identify the gap between your current placement and where you’d like to be. From there, it’s just a matter of how much effort you want to put in, either paid ads or promotion effort to reach there. Once you’ve noticed a swell in rankings, organically let your app find its placement. From there, you can schedule when to create another push effort to rise even higher the next time.

As the mobile smartphone industry continues to advance, the chances for your app to become a utility for a new wave of users grows as well. Optimizing your mobile app for popular marketplaces is a key to getting you there.