# ASO Monthly #23 March 2018: New Features — Redesigned Play Store Listings, App Video Trailers, Google Play Instant…

- Link: https://phiture.com/asostack/aso-monthly-23-march-2018-new-features-redesigned-play-store-listings-app-video-trailers-66085209cdd0/
- Published: 2018-04-04T08:33:25+01:00
- Author: Mantvydas Lisauskas

#### … App Store CVR benchmarks

⌊ASO Monthly #23 March 2018- New Features — Redesigned Play Store Listings, App 
Video Trailers, Google Play Instant… -min⌉⌊ASO Monthly #23 March 2018- New Features—
Redesigned Play Store Listings, App Video Trailers, Google Play Instant… -min⌉

_Greetings to everyone! Would like to introduce myself, I am Mantvydas (or just 
easier to call me Mantas), have been working and researching on ASO topics for the
past 3 years. As of now I’m part of the Phiture ASO team and next to optimizing 
app store presences for our clients, I will be contributing to the ASO monthly series
to help everyone be up-to-date on what is happening in the awesome and intriguing
App Store Optimization world!_

_In the _[_ASO Monthly-series_](https://phiture.com/asostack/)_ by _[_ASO Agency_](https://phiture.com/)_
Phiture, we reflect on the previous month and shed a light on trends in app store
optimization, algorithm changes, insights in conversion rate optimization and tool
updates._

[_Subscribe_](https://mobilegrowthstack.us16.list-manage.com/subscribe?u=4d2da17c757d7c515b6d50d6a&id=2e141c3528)_
to receive ASO Monthly via email._

#### **March 10 — Google is testing a new design for its Play Store app store listings**

At the beginning of March, it was [reported](https://android.gadgethacks.com/news/google-is-testing-redesign-for-play-store-app-listings-0183354/)
by GadgetHacks that Google has started testing new designs for their app store listings
for various cases. New designs of the listing page are shown to users before and
after installing the app (see screenshots). In the latter case when users have already
installed an app, they are prompted to leave a rating for the app more prominently.

⌊Play Store page before and after installing the page (Source GadgetHacks) WHATSAPP-
min⌉⌊Play Store page before and after installing the page (Source GadgetHacks) WHATSAPP-
min⌉

_Play Store page before and after installing the page (Source [GadgetHacks](https://android.gadgethacks.com/news/google-is-testing-redesign-for-play-store-app-listings-0183354/))_

#### **March 12 — Google Play Store enhanced rich formatting**

![Tweet by Guillardo](https://phiture.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/tweet-by-Guillardo-
min-280x300.png)

_Tweet by Guillardo_

A new useful feature has been released for Google Play developers. Redirect URLs
can now be inserted more easily into the app long description without adding extra
character count with HTML tags. This will definitely help everyone out who would
also like to share more information about the app or the business itself on their
landing pages.

#### **March 13 — Google Play autocompletes the Search**

_⌊Google Play screenshot by Timur Taepov via ASO Slack group⌉⌊Google Play screenshot
by Timur Taepov via ASO Slack group⌉Google Play screenshot by Timur Taepov via [ASO Slack group](https://phiture.com/asostack/aso-stack-slack-group-3757fc2aff0f/)_

Google changed the web search autocomplete suggestions, which now includes the mix
of search terms and brand names. This may lead to search score shifts among the 
search terms. Autocomplete suggestions have been modified for the web search, mobile
search remained the same, offering app names with icons for the brand and popular
search terms.

#### **March 14 — App Store feature impact analysis by AppBi**

AppBi have come up with a report, in which they analyzed different angles of App
Store featuring in the US over time. Game of the Day, App of the Day, The Daily 
List features get the biggest exposure. The three account for about 60% of all the
themes.

⌊App Store featuring volumes by type (via AppBi)⌉⌊App Store featuring volumes by
type (via AppBi)⌉

_App Store featuring volumes by type (via [AppBi](http://attach.appbi.com/res/appbi_mgnt/attach/20180302441333359572.pdf))_

Main highlights from the AppBi [report](http://attach.appbi.com/res/appbi_mgnt/attach/20180302441333359572.pdf):

 * Apps from Games and Education categories are most likely to be featured
 * 53% of featured apps had a 4.5 star rating (8% rated below 3 stars)
 * 27% of feature apps are paid, most of them are less than $5

Since the new iOS 10 App Store update, it was hard for the ASO specialists to measure
the actual impact of the app featuring. App Annie have recently released a new free
function, that shows featuring impact on both App and Play Stores.

#### **March 13 — Backlinks tracker & Keyword density in the text descriptions by AppTweak**

For their current and potential new users, AppTweak has a released a new functionality
which allows to check, analyze and spy on competitor keyword density of the app 
stores text assets. With this new functionality, the ASOs will be able to make more
efficient and better decisions in the keyword research and optimization cycle.

One more useful feature — Backlink Tracker — by AppTweak tracks top 10 backlinks
for Google Play apps, including the link power for the app.

⌊Backlinks tracker by AppTweak⌉⌊Backlinks tracker by AppTweak⌉

_Backlinks tracker by AppTweak_

#### **March 14 — AppFollow Category CVRs benchmarks**

AppFollow folks now make it possible to answer one of the most bugging questions
for ASO marketers “What is a good conversion rate?” by [having analyzed](https://blog.appfollow.io/appfollow-benchmark-what-is-it-about-a6d7baa013db)
the main App Store metrics: App Units/Impressions, App Units / Product Page Views,
and Page Views/ Impressions. The data can be filtered by source, country, and date.

⌊Average App Store (Search) conversion rates in February, 2018 (USA) by AppFollow⌉⌊
Average App Store (Search) conversion rates in February, 2018 (USA) by AppFollow⌉

_Average App Store (Search) conversion rates in February, 2018 (USA) by AppFollow_

While Apple does not reveal any benchmarks for developers to compare their CVR to,
Google Play reveals the data on Category benchmarks on the Developers Console under
Acquisition reports tab.

⌊Google Play Developer Console, Category CVR benchmarks⌉⌊Google Play Developer Console,
Category CVR benchmarks⌉

_Google Play Developer Console, Category CVR benchmarks_

#### **March 16 — Google Play Store: App Video Trailers**

App marketers now have a new way of reaching their potential audience with an app
video feature [launched](https://techcrunch.com/2018/03/15/google-is-launching-playable-in-game-ads/)
by Google on the Play Store. Visitors who browse the store listings will now see
video ads of the promoted applications in the Play Store without being redirected
to the YouTube page. This will help in convincing visitors by highlighting main 
app features or showing cool game graphics. For now, the feature does not allow 
auto-play of the video but maybe in the future, we will see such thing as on the
Apple App Store.

> App Video Trailers as a new ad format coming to Google Play Store. [#UAC](https://twitter.com/hashtag/UAC?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw)
> [#SEA](https://twitter.com/hashtag/SEA?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw) [#ASO](https://twitter.com/hashtag/ASO?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw)
> [pic.twitter.com/Cdadb0leCz](https://t.co/Cdadb0leCz)
> — Stefan Bielau (@StefanBielau) [March 16, 2018](https://twitter.com/StefanBielau/status/974530966151561216?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw)

#### **March 19 — Google Play beta-tests Instant Games**

Android Instant feature which was released last year got accompanied by [Google Play Instant](https://android-developers.googleblog.com/).
Now, game developers are able to offer the user a bit of a game (similar to demos
we had years ago) to try the game out before making a final decision in downloading
it. Marketing and sharing the games has become easier for both developers and users.

The [collection](https://play.google.com/store/apps/collection/promotion_300308f_instantgames)
of the instant games is limited as the feature is in closed beta, though it includes
some big publishers’ names: Clash Royale, Playtika, MZ etc. The Google Play team
plan to release the feature publicly until the end of the year.

 

_Source [Android Developers blog](https://android-developers.googleblog.com/)_

On this day, Apple also announced some updating of app listing elements between 
releases: “Starting in April, you’ll be able to edit your app’s support URL, marketing
URL, and “What’s New in This Version” text when submitting a new version of your
app”.

⌊iTunes Connect Console⌉⌊iTunes Connect Console⌉

_iTunes Connect Console_

#### **March 30 — Google Play: New elements of Google Play app page**

⌊New elements on app’s listing page: Category ranks, a tip for lite apps⌉⌊New elements
on app’s listing page: Category ranks, a tip for lite apps⌉

_New elements on app’s listing page: Category ranks, a tip for lite apps_

The application’s position in the category is now shown on the Google Play Store
listing, also meaning that visitors have to scroll down further for the app’s screenshots.
This will possibly reduce screenshots’ impact on converting users into downloads.

As Android Police [report](https://www.androidpolice.com/2018/03/31/play-store-now-recommending-lite-apps-users/),
Google recommends downloading lite versions of apps, if those are available. The
message on the Play Store page includes lite app name and size, the “View” button
will take the user to its own Play Store listing.

#### **Interesting blog posts:**

 1. [Google Play Developer Console tutorial](https://medium.com/googleplaydev/a-guide-to-the-google-play-console-1bdc79ca956f)
 2. [Research on ASA ads cost by Categories, by Splitmetrics](https://splitmetrics.com/blog/apple-search-ads-cost/)
 3. [Sequential testing tutorial by AppTamin](https://www.apptamin.com/blog/pre-post-analysis-itunes-connect/)
 4. [Feature graphic spy feature from TheTool](https://thetool.io/2018/google-play-feature-graphic-viewer-spy)
 5. [Growth hacking story by Aaptiv](https://medium.com/@EAgarwal/how-i-learned-to-stop-worrying-and-love-working-capital-39917e86041d)
 6. [Gabe from Incipia explains Search Ads data on tracking LAT conversions](https://incipia.co/post/mobile-app-marketing-industry-updates/apple-search-ads-shows-limit-ad-tracking-lat-conversions/)

#### **Thanks, that’s it from us for March!**

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#### **Previous ASO Monthly editions:**

 * [February 2018](https://asostack.com/aso-monthly-22-february-2018-new-play-store-beta-search-interface-keyword-dances-happening-11846e4acf3e):
   New Play Store beta search interface, keyword dances happening.
 * [January 2018](https://phiture.com/asostack/aso-monthly-21-january-2017-installs-via-keywords-on-google-play-new-design-of-app-store-web-6c8acb081059/):
   Installs via Keywords on Google Play, new design of App Store web.
 * [December 2017](https://asostack.com/aso-monthly-20-december-2017-search-ads-basic-introductory-pricing-and-pre-orders-on-app-store-4081941ab0ff):
   Search Ads Basic, Introductory pricing and pre-orders on App Store etc.
 * [November 2017](https://asostack.com/aso-monthly-19-november-2017-black-friday-in-the-stores-apk-size-vs-d17cb53dcd29):
   Black Friday in the Stores, APK size vs. Play Store conversion rate
 * [October 2017](https://asostack.com/aso-monthly-18-october-2017-646f651afad8):
   New Search Ads countries, Play Store installs per search term coming (?)
 * [September 2017](https://asostack.com/aso-monthly-17-september-2017-6b1c8a8e1f21):
   The launch of the ASO book, the launch of iOS 11…
 * [August 2017](https://asostack.com/aso-monthly-16-august-2017-f123461eb6): UACs,
   video previews, subtitle rankings…
 * [July 2017:](https://asostack.com/aso-monthly-15-july-algorithm-changes-and-more-ios-11-news-a2156d7a7fbd)
   Algorithm changes and more iOS 11 news…