a practicalApp Store SEO

tutorial

5th April 2013

3k - 150k free downloads

using onlyApp Store SEOyou can achieve

$300 - $6000in sales

( based on our experience and the stories we’ve heard from our users )

per month

or

this is thesearch phrase

people type it on their phone inthe app store search

those are thesearch keywords

this is what you give to Apple

search phrases

iTuneskeywords≠

The most important thing.

Your goal is not to improve your position.

Your goal is to find the search queries which work.

That is because there is no known way to improve your position for a search query.

Positioning 101

1. brainstorm your search queries2. prepare appropriate search keywords

App name & dev name also matters, so don’t repeat it in the keywords. App description, on the other hand - doesn’t matter.

Unlike Google SEO, there is not much more you can do if Apple doesn’t put you on top of the result list. That’s why you should focus on looking on phrases with little competition, not just high popularity.

racing gamefighting gamelaser gamewheelsrobots

think of phrasesthat people maybe searching for

search query

racing gamefighting gamelaser gamewheelsrobots

>100>10090>100>100

how manyresults show

up for each one?

search queryresult count

racing gamefighting gamelaser gamewheelsrobotsrobots on wheelsrobot gamesexy robotsfighter robots

>100>10090>100>1001015305

good phrasesbecause count < 30

search queryresult count

racing gamefighting gamelaser gamewheelsrobotsrobots on wheelsrobot gamesexy robotsfighter robots

>100>10090>100>1001015305

bad phrases( too much competition )

search queryresult count

racing gamefighting gamelaser gamewheelsrobotsrobots on wheelsrobot gamesexy robotsfighter robots

>100>10090>100>1001015305

robots,on,wheels,game,sexy

choose your iTuneskeywords based on this

search queryresult count

racing gamefighting gamelaser gamewheelsrobotsrobots on wheelsrobot gamesexy robotsfighter robots

>100>10090>100>1001015305

robots,on,wheels,game,sexy

5th3rd31st

track your positionin the store

search queryresult count pos.

racing gamefighting gamelaser gamewheelsrobotsrobots on wheelsrobot gamesexy robotsfighter robots

>100>10090>100>1001015305

5th3rd31st

improve the keywordsby removing the ones which

don’t work

search query pos.result count

racing gamefighting gamelaser gamewheelsrobotsrobots on wheelsrobot gamesexy robotsfighter robots

>100>10090>100>1001015305

5331

essence of AppCodes

search query pos.count

essence of AppCodes

our other features

if name doesn’t fit the grey bar, it will be truncated in the App Store Search

results as they appear in the App Store

quick preview of the result count etc.

see app popularity at a glance

download estimates via Xyologic

our guess of app iTunes Keywords

you can mark your competitors here

then click the “competitors tab”

then click the “competitors tab”

words popular in their descriptions & names

words within their iTunes keyword list

press mentions, press releases

beware!good SEO

≠good sales

you need to havea good conversion

rate as well

Brutally speaking,make sure that your app is not crap

- it’s not yet another flashlight/dictionary/photo app- a game with less than supreme quality

but foremost - it needs “user appeal”

How to do it?

Where is your target market?

Do you talk to users from that market?What are your reviews on that market?

e.g. we’ve seen devs from Europe claiming they target U.S. but spending 90% of their communication in their home countries

true story:- oh yes, we target U.S - says a dev- how many reviews do you have there?- we don’t track those stats outside of Germany

- did you ask anyone outside of your friends & family for a review?

- did you discuss the idea on web forums?

- did you visit a local meetup/barcamp and talked to real people about it?

- did you talk to bloggers about your idea?

“Well, I posted on that one forum one time, and nobody replies”Don’t blame the forum. It’s either your pitch, or your idea that is lousy - you’ve got work to do. If you cannot find at least a dozen people in the Internet, who will be excited by your concept, even the best seo won’t help you.

Did you talk to your users?

The first screenshotneeds to explain in detail what the app is supposed to do

even if yourapp is horizontal

make the screenshot vertical*

* - unless you’re Rovio,if you’re Rovio, people already know what your game does

see?

by the waycheck the amountof ratings in your target country(we recommendAppFigures for that)

and ask explicitly for reviews, using AppIrater

- conferences- barcamps, meetups- wherever your target audience hangs out- see who wrote about your competitors, approach them as well

Most failures we’ve seen were becauseeither the product was lousy, it had lousyscreenshots, or the authors didn’t talkto their customers.

Talk to the real people

Your next steps1. build your competitor list2. brainstorm the search queries3. figure out the new keywords4. update your app5. make sure you have good screenshotsand you ask users for the reviews6. iterate iterate iterate

and don’t forget to tell your colleagues about

support@appcodes.com

btw. we also recommend these books

good basics of PR interface design design in general

(we’re unaffiliated with the autors)

and if you’re building a game, watch this

do you have a similar passion? Plenty of people try to build a game because they heard it’s a good business, or they heard of this guy from “Ow My Balls” who had a smashing success. But you cannot achieve success in

games unless you live and breathe them.

This is different from tools, business and any other kind of apps, where you can usually get decent income while working part time. In case of other apps, it’s all about carving out your own niche. In case of games, it’s about building a supreme product - there arguably are fewer

niches.

This is a version 1.0 of this presentation.Anything missing? Let us know.

support@appcodes.com