I was musing recently on various marketing channels integration and a question crossed my mind, although absurd I would still share it. How can we integrate both ASO and SEO to grow a particular product? After all we integrate social media and website to achieve a marketing mix. So how can one also mix ASO, SEO and Social media marketing together to grow a product?
Then it struck me that most of us might not have heard of ASO or its technical difference from SEO, so before answering my question or debating its possibilities, I will indulge you, with a breeze through of both concepts.
First, SEO means Search Engine Optimization, this is well known by web developers and for everyone who wants more traffic on their website. For a blogger or startup that lacks the required capital to engage in Ads campaign, then he has to focus on building blocks of quality and relevant content organically to appear on Google Search, whilst major brands that have the finance and resources can quickly stay at the top of search engines through paid ads and keyword research. Although I strongly advice that you compliment both to achieve major success and stay on top.
Now, talking about ASO, which means Appstore Search Optimization and is very similar to SEO, however the major difference between them is that SEO is for websites and ASO is for App Stores like Google Play or Apple AppStore.
Both ASO and SEO are specialized marketing tactics to drive users to apps or websites. That would make them actually one in the same. Developers and marketers use Google, Yahoo and a plethora of other search engines to try to acquire new users to their website. They also use Google Play, iTunes and other app stores to acquire new users to their app. This does means that they can both be mixed in marketing. You can use SEO to promote your products and services and further gain more customer advocacy by building an app for your services and taking advantage of ASO to increase the app awareness. Adweek says it better “ASO takes over where SEO leaves off”
However the question posed is how can we fully optimize Appstore Search and how is it technically different from SEO? The difference, however, lies on the method you use to optimize your apps and websites for each of these discovery platforms.
For SEO, backlinks, keywords, page speed, authority and a ton of other factors impact where your website ranks in search engine algorithms. Looking at the actual algorithms, web SEO relies on an established process that includes ‘on-page’ metadata (i.e. your content, title tags, description, etc.) and then ‘off page’ backlinks that Google uses to validate the relevance of your content/topic/keywords. The more backlinks, the more relevant Google may view your webpage. But when you look at App Store Optimization, there is a totally different methodology.
With ASO, the App Store determines what methods you use to influence discoverability. For instance, with iTunes, the keywords used in your company name, title, keyword field and in-app purchase names are the only terms you’ll exist for. Where you rank, however, is impacted by retention, engagement, rankings, ratings, etc.
Google, however, uses more traditional web methods to surface apps in their Google Play search. The title is important, but also the description (not mentioned for ITunes). Google crawls the app description to find common keywords that it should rank apps for. They then use similar factors as iTunes to determine where you rank.
Apple doesn’t look at backlinks or anything outside of App store for the purpose of their search algorithm. Instead, it looks to targeted keywords in your app submission (which are vetted by humans to ensure relevancy) and end user reviews. If your metadata isn’t entirely on point, your app’s chances of being found reduce drastically.
On my next post you will get relevant tips and techniques to properly and effectively optimize your Apps Search on App Store. Note that there is no difference in the goals of app store optimization and search engine optimization. It’s the methods through which you optimize, that are the differentiator.
I was musing recently on various marketing channels integration and a question crossed my mind, although absurd I would still share it. How can we integrate both ASO and SEO to grow a particular product? After all we integrate social media and website to achieve a marketing mix. So how can one also mix ASO, SEO and Social media marketing together to grow a product?
Then it struck me that most of us might not have heard of ASO or its technical difference from SEO, so before answering my question or debating its possibilities, I will indulge you, with a breeze through of both concepts.
First, SEO means Search Engine Optimization, this is well known by web developers and for everyone who wants more traffic on their website. For a blogger or startup that lacks the required capital to engage in Ads campaign, then he has to focus on building blocks of quality and relevant content organically to appear on Google Search, whilst major brands that have the finance and resources can quickly stay at the top of search engines through paid ads and keyword research. Although I strongly advice that you compliment both to achieve major success and stay on top.
Now, talking about ASO, which means Appstore Search Optimization and is very similar to SEO, however the major difference between them is that SEO is for websites and ASO is for App Stores like Google Play or Apple AppStore. Both ASO and SEO are specialized marketing tactics to drive users to apps or websites. That would make them actually one in the same. Developers and marketers use Google, Yahoo and a plethora of other search engines to try to acquire new users to their website. They also use Google Play, iTunes and other app stores to acquire new users to their app. This does means that they can both be mixed in marketing. You can use SEO to promote your products and services and further gain more customer advocacy by building an app for your services and taking advantage of ASO to increase the app awareness. Adweek says it better “ASO takes over where SEO leaves off”
However the question posed is how can we fully optimize Appstore Search and how is it technically different from SEO? The difference, however, lies on the method you use to optimize your apps and websites for each of these discovery platforms.
For SEO, backlinks, keywords, page speed, authority and a ton of other factors impact where your website ranks in search engine algorithms. Looking at the actual algorithms, web SEO relies on an established process that includes ‘on-page’ metadata (i.e. your content, title tags, description, etc.) and then ‘off page’ backlinks that Google uses to validate the relevance of your content/topic/keywords. The more backlinks, the more relevant Google may view your webpage. But when you look at App Store Optimization, there is a totally different methodology.
With ASO, the App Store determines what methods you use to influence discoverability. For instance, with iTunes, the keywords used in your company name, title, keyword field and in-app purchase names are the only terms you’ll exist for. Where you rank, however, is impacted by retention, engagement, rankings, ratings, etc.
Google, however, uses more traditional web methods to surface apps in their Google Play search. The title is important, but also the description (not mentioned for iTunes). Google crawls the app description to find common keywords that it should rank apps for. They then use similar factors as iTunes to determine where you rank.
Apple doesn’t look at backlinks or anything outside of App store for the purpose of their search algorithm. Instead, it looks to targeted keywords in your app submission (which are vetted by humans to ensure relevancy) and end user reviews. If your metadata isn’t entirely on point, your app’s chances of being found reduce drastically.
On my next post you will get relevant tips and techniques to properly and effectively optimize your app search on App Store. Note that there is no difference in the goals of app store optimization and search engine optimization. It’s the methods through which you optimize, that are the differentiator.