Simplified screenshot uploading and much more in ASO this month…
Hello, world!
Peter and Derek here. We are App Optimization strategists for M&C Saatchi Mobile in NYC. We’ll be filling in for Moritz for the month of August. Some tidbits, discoveries, and thoughts about the app stores below!
July 28:
App Store started a Spanish Twitter account signifying its push into LATAM, a highly volatile market with high growth potential.
This is a big consideration for the LATAM market considering that the App Store only offers two other accounts worldwide. First, the English App Store, and second, App Store Games.
For those with a presence in the Spanish speaking markets, make sure that localization is prioritized.
To date, the Twitter account has garnered 94.4K followers.
July 29:
Developers are using the presidential race to game the App Store.
A search query for “Trump” returned 2,109 results, while the search query for “Hillary” returned 334 results. Most of the apps resulting from the search were unrelated to either candidates.
It’s important for developers to take advantage of the opportunity of trending keywords to boost organic impressions. Although it is recommended to stay away from keywords that are unrelated to the main features of the product.
Use the various ASO tools available to monitor trending keywords.
August 3:
App Store breaks records for developer payout at $52B since the launch of the App Store to date. Last year, around this time, Apple’s payout was approximately $42B.
App Annie, earlier this year, estimated App Store revenues to reach $102B buy 2020.
This news is an interesting addition to the conversation the app industry continues to have around the slowing growth, death of the App Store, or the app boom being over.
Even if the App Store is slowing and maturing, I feel strongly about its capabilities in exploration and innovation to prevent major deceleration and jumping the curve into its next growth cycle.
August 5:
The community reports a drop in rankings in several regions. We’re speculating that the App Store is changing its algorithm.
The impact to the App Store is currently unknown.
August 8:
Apple makes developers and marketers lives easier. There is now a simplified screenshot submission process.
Previously, developers and marketers were required to upload preview images for all screen sizes. Now, developers and marketers can upload one set of images per device family, such as the iPhone.
Screenshot settings can be modified using a new Media Manager section, which enables developers and marketers the ability to customize images for smaller or larger screens.
August 8:
Google Play Store phases out +1s linked to Google Plus. This is bigger effort in phasing out Google Plus from other Google properties.
August 14:
Google started categorizing app features within the review section. The features are categorized by Google but the ratings are crowdsourced by the users.
This is adding an additional layer to the reviews section, essentially providing a good summary of the sentiment around the app features.
It appears this is one step closer to what Appbot.co provides as a service. Maybe at some point, Google will provide some sort of sentiment analysis for marketers.
August 17:
In July, Storemaven published their findings on a study that reaffirmed that first impressions do matter. The study further discusses areas that impact conversions based on first impressions.
Storemaven continues to push our understanding of user behavior within the App Store. It’d be interesting to see how these learnings will direct the production of the different elements within the app store landing page as these factors have a large impact on conversion rates.
August 30:
HOTTEST TOPIC THIS MONTH
App Indexing became a thing in late 2013 and has continued to garner interest from the search community since.
App Indexing’s biggest contribution has been aiding the discovery of your app via web search and reducing the friction to direct users to your app.
People will search for related content, your app will appear in the search results. They can directly launch apps from the SERP. If users don’t have your app, an install card will show up in the SERP.
The latest initiative, Google has taken app discovery a step further to enable users to find content within your app from your device. iOS has similar capabilities within its Spotlight feature.
Apple and Google continue to remove friction to help users discover solutions to their problems.
App Indexing will continue to play a bigger role in organic discovery and is a must for all apps.
Other lot of articles on Google’s In Apps this month:
https://thetechportal.com/2016/08/31/google-in-apps-search-android/
http://www.theverge.com/2016/8/31/12724058/google-android-in-apps-search
August 30:
App Tweak releases a comprehensive guide to ASO. The document clearly labels all the factors, specs, and actionable recommendations.
This document is a must for anyone who is a beginner in ASO.
Thanks, that’s it from us for this month!
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Let’s discuss in the comments, and like always: if you have noticed anything related to ASO, please let me know on Twitter or reach out to [email protected].
