Be Discoverable- Here’s How Your Product Can Rank better on the App Store

September 2021, approximately 75,000 mobile applications were released on the Google Play
Store. If your app was one among those, question is whether your product is discoverable in
the App Store.

In a time where technological advancements make it easier for individuals and any organization to create an app, making sure your application development process is rendering your product discoverable by your target audience can make or break your business. Among the 2,200,000 apps on the Play Store, your app has to come at least in the top 500 for users to discover, install and try it. This blog explores upon how to stay relevant and increase discoverability, especially when the odds are not in your favor?

A good strategy to increase discoverability involves optimizing your app, its quality and the meta content surrounding it to be aligned with what users and the app store search engines are looking for.

App Store Optimization

Search Engine Optimization or SEO is now a full-fledged area of study and practice where
web developers and content creators tweak their content to rank better in Google’s search
engine page results. App store optimization (ASO) is a similar process, where you need to
have a good idea of who your target audience is so that you can tailor everything inside and
outside your app so that it shows up when your customers are searching for it.

Just like in SEO, the best way to climb up the ranking on an app store is to create bug-free,
quality content in your apps. Your content usually ranks better if it answers searcher queries
accurately. Similarly, if your app genuinely helps your target audience resolve their issues,
there will be an organic growth through recommendations, reviews and positive comments.

Even though your app might provide amazing solutions to your user’s problems, it might still
not impress your target demographic if it is riddled with bugs. Therefore, it is always a good
idea to put your app through professional quality testing processes so that you can filter out
any glitches or malfunctions that may crop up as more people start downloading and using
your apps.

If the use case of your application is such that traffic influences the stability of your user experience, quality assurance test is a must. Shelling out the money now is the recommended option, than paying the price later when your app doesn’t scale fast enough.

Analyze Competition

Analyzing your competitors and their products is a must no matter what industry you operate
in. Competitor analysis will give you an idea of what kind of practices your contemporaries
are adopting to stay on top of the game – integrating those methods into your larger
marketing strategy will show your users that you are at par with the best in the industry and
therefore trustworthy.

Competitive analysis will also help you make your app unique – if you are offering similar
services as other app developers. Without adding anything unique or special to your brand,
your customers are likely to stick to the apps that have been in the market for a longer time,
with better ratings.

Once you catalogue the features and services offered by your competitors, try to add flows and options that are unique to your brand so that your customers feel the need to try it out and switch to your app instead of your competitors. More users will leave positive ratings if your services are genuinely helpful, and one of the most used criteria to sort apps on Stores is through user ratings This will increase your downloads and help you rank higher – slowly and organically, but steadily.

Improve Meta Content

One of the most under looked aspects of ASO is Meta Content. Meta content constitutes text and images that accompany your app on the App Store – the quality and attractiveness of your icon, the title of your app on the Store, the pictures the customers see when they click on your app and the content that the search engine crawlers come across when they filter through your app.

Given short attention span of app users, they are less likely to linger on if they don’t find it impressive enough. This is why you should optimize the content before you release your brainchild out into the world. Build impressive icons, headers, logos with the help of professional designers. Ensure a high-quality image that fits current aesthetic trends goes into your icon – customers will not feel like clicking on it if they don’t find it attractive or ‘modern enough’.

While you should avoid titles that are clickbait, it is always ideal to have keywords in your
app description. Figure out what your target customers could potentially search for when
trying to find an app like yours. The primary keywords can also be put in your title but avoid
having a tacky and lengthy header.

Even the in-app screenshots matter to your customer – make sure the screenshots are honest
yet enhanced so that the customer gets a good feel of. If the UI of the app is attractive, your
customer will be tempted to give it a try. Even if your app’s actual design is impressive, your
user may not give it a chance if they find the in-app screenshots to be low quality. The right
color scheme and minimalist designs can go miles when it comes to capturing your
customer’s fancy.