How to Increase App Visibility with the Best SEO Tips

Creating an app is just the beginning, its creation and success are what move forward. What's the next step you need to take? What are you doing to make it popular or to make it known to more and more people? The next step is to focus on App Store Optimization (ASO) and Search Engine Optimization (SEO). Along with websites, apps also appear on the search engine results pages (SERPs) with an install button. Here's how Google has done everything for mobile devices – about a quarter of people find apps on search engines like Google, and that's one of the reasons app developers should focus on search engine optimization for an app.

In addition, today no application is unique. There should be multiple applications that primarily or don't do the same thing. Most of us don't feel comfortable choosing a new app old and well-known. So, to stand out among other similar apps, you need to work on your app's SEO.

SEO is nothing more than the process of getting traffic to your web page (learn more on hackr.io) from search engine results. This is a free or regular advertisement, as opposed to paid search advertising. All major search engines like Google and Yahoo have search results that are ranked and displayed based on search keywords.

Apart from ASO, mobile app marketing through SEO plays an important role. Many confuse these two concepts with each other and their meaning compared to the other. While both are equally valuable in order for an app to better promote itself, SEO works in search engines, and ASO only works in app stores like Google Play (for Android) and App Store (for iOS). In addition, SEO pushes the customer to visit the app store, and ASO convinces the client to install the app.

While the "why" of the importance of SEO for apps is almost clear, let's move on to the "how."

Improve app visibility in mobile web search

While ASO and SEO are different, as long as we're on app visibility, both need to work at the same time – both aim to drive traffic through search queries.

Marketers believe that app stores are places where consumers find the apps they need. However, this is true to some extent. With the advent of search engines and the growing number of mobile users, internet search has become one of the easiest sources of app discovery. It's often the case that someone just puts a category in a search, and all the relevant apps seem to solve the consumer's problem. In mobile web search, the app can be found in:

• Request for a specific app/App bundle: You must have seen a set of apps displayed after searching the web. So, what it is is just a group of relevant apps that are best suited for a search keyword.

Each app in the app bundle has its own name, icon, rating, and price (unless the app is free), as well as an extension arrow that displays more appropriate apps (if available) when clicked.

These apps depend on the operating system and device and are directly linked to the Google Play and Apple app stores.

App packages appear mostly when keywords related to a game or task appear in the search, such as "puzzles," "task scheduler," etc.

ranking factors for an app package:

They're not much different from ASOS. Keywords don't matter here as Google uses its own algorithm to rank the app. But an app that ranks well in app stores is likely to perform well in mobile web search.

On page: URL, app title/title, short description, and description

Off-page: User ratings/reviews, installations, and page authority/backlinks.

* Depends on OS

Single fragment:

One snippet is the app's normal search result. It includes the name of the application, the rating, and a small description. Along with this, the install button appears. However, app search results on Android and iOS are slightly different.

Organic search results-

Organic search results mean that a mobile user is searching for a specific brand name/specific name of your app – your app appears in the SERPs.

It's basically one snippet of your app at the top with a title, rating, icon, and a small description, with an install button with a redirect to the Google Play Store.

Application Indexing-

App indexing is not new. Previously, it displayed only those applications that are installed on the phone, but today it shows new applications. App indexing is nothing more than deep links in your app – it helps Googlebot index context and allows the user to navigate directly to the app's content from Google's search results. This is for your old users as well as for new users. If a consumer has your app installed on their phone and they're looking for something related to the app, the SERPs show all of the app's content. This will take your user back to the app or re-engage them.

For new users, if keyword search is relevant to your app, the search engine prompts you to install your app.

• Subject: The most important thing is that the name of the application is catchy enough because this is the first thing that the user sees. Keywords placed in the title are important for app store search algorithms. So, find the keyword most often searched for – spend more time on it.

• Keywords: The principles of how keywords work for ASO and SEO are similar. Essentially, you need to focus on the keywords that drive the most traffic and, of course, are the most relevant to your app.

Take the time to research keywords. And while you're doing that, don't fill your app's description with the same keyword over and over again – Google can lower your rankings for that. And that's essentially one of the reasons why even some popular apps have a lower rating.

Use latent semantic indexing to boost your SEO – it's always best to tell Google what your keywords and content mean internally, and whether they are the same concepts or not.

Be careful when finding keywords and suggested ones, always choose those that have low competition.

Positive ratings and reviews:

Feedback is the point to success in any business. Good user ratings and reviews will not only encourage more users to download your app but will also help to rank higher compared to other similar apps.

Encourage users to leave positive reviews about the app – this way search engines will crawl those reviews for keywords, making your app visible. Not to mention, users often look at the rankings before downloading any app.

Quality Backlink:

When we talk about backlinks, it is desirable that they are good and of high quality. Quality backlinks increase your app's ranking on Google.

By the way, promoting your new page on social networks requires cooperation with influencers, applications also need high-quality backlinks. Invite other websites/media outlets to talk about your app. Place a link to your download page on your site (preferably in the header).

Monitor the performance of your application:

For Android: Add your app to Google Search Console and analyze your app's SEO performance.

• View impressions
• Analyze search click-through rates
• Find keywords to drive traffic in the Google Play console
• Track backlinks with ahrefs – find out your app's URL ranking

- Domain rank (Apple and Google)

- find several different referring domains

– the number of organic keywords that work best

Conclusion:

By now, you've already realized that an app can get the highest rankings with SEO. In fact, this is one of the most necessary factors affecting the entire game of the application.

SEO for an app can be similar to SEO for websites, although the rules and algorithms differ to some extent. The common belief that consumers only find apps in app stores is not true. Many people search for apps in the SERPs.

Most app developers don't really invest in ASO and SEO, and this often results in low rankings for their apps. Ultimately, it's a search that makes your app popular, apart from other factors. Improve your online visibility with the right apps and web development.

As stated above, the key is a single snippet, keywords, app packages, app name, backlinks. SEO factors that keep your app running and promote it. Also, the name of the app is relatively important. Either way, it's best to give your app a one-word name – shorter names are better for phone screens.