Apple launches search ads, and much more App Store Optimization News from October 2016
In this month’s edition of ASOMonthly, I want to take the chance to introduce myself to you guys as the newest member of the team at Phiture. I will be sharing my knowledge about ASO, mobile growth and my general enthusiasm for everything related to App Marketing on the mobilegrowthstack.com. We will be starting this edition with early learnings on Apple’s new search ads, covering important updates of ASO Tools and wrapping it up on how you can use this information to strengthen your ASO strategy.
Summary for October:
- 10/3 AppTweak introduces to support keyword search volume directly from Apple Search Ads
- 10/5 Official Search Ads Release in the US Apple App Store
- 10/5 Google Play lets users stream paid apps before making their buying decision
- 10/6 The Google Play Store finally made 8 new categories visible
- 10/15 The screenshot annotation and localization tool AppStoreOptimization.io rebranded to Appure.io
- 10/18 Incipia shares a few conclusions as how to best use Apple search ads to compliment your ASO strategy
- 10/26 Daniel Peris, the creator of the new ASO Tool “TheTool” launches a private closed beta
- 10/28 Apple imposes restrictions on app-rating prompts
- 10/31 Appsflyer’s first learnings from 100,000 installs with Apple’s new Search Ads
October 3: AppTweak introduces support of keyword search volume directly from Apple’s Search Ads
In the heated battle to the number one ASO tool, AppTweak gained first-mover advantage with Laurie Galazzo tweeting “This is HUGE! Apple has finally unveiled Keyword Search Popularity! Available now on AppTweak.” Even though other ASO tools like Mobileaction quickly adopted, Apptweak was the first ASO tool providing actual insights into the traffic scores for each keyword by utilizing the newly available keyword data by Apple.
October 5: Official Search Ads Release in the US Apple App Store
With the release of Apple’s Search Ads on the 5th of October, app marketing publications are currently overflowing with information about how to take advantage of them as an early adopter. While we are currently just getting insights in keyword popularity in the US, Apple made a huge step forward creating transparency and encouraging App developers to optimize their Apps for search.
October 5: Google Play lets users stream paid apps before making their buying decision
AndroidPolice reports that chosen paid apps in the Google Play Store can now be streamed for 10 minutes directly to users’ devices before they have to buy the app. Considering how unpredictable users downloading free apps are and how high the perceived threshold to download a paid app is, this may give users a better first impression of the app than watching a video or taking a look at the screenshots alone. Thus, paid games should nail the first impression they make on the user to increase the probability of a sale and subsequent retention.
October 6: The Google Play Store finally made 8 new categories visible
App Marketing expert Marina Mazeina tweeted on the 6th of October: “The 8 new categories in Google Play are now visible in the Google Play Store”, and shed light on something App marketers should take advantage of. Why? Because less crowded categories also mean a higher chance for improved category rankings which will ultimately lead to a positive impact on keyword rankings.
October 15: The screenshot annotation and localization tool AppStoreOptimization.io rebranded to Appure.io
The screenshot tool Appure wants to make your life easier by giving you all functionality on hand to build and manage your screenshots on a single platform. Oleksii Sribnyi (@codemanki), the maker of the tool, also added new features — such as landscape mode and screenshots with an iPhone 7 — to the freemium tool.
October 18: Gabe Kwakyi from Incipia shares a few conclusions as how to best use Apple search ads to compliment your ASO strategy
Search Ads are not just another way to buy users; they can bolster your overall ASO strategy. When we take into account that, according to Splitmetrics, the CTR of the promoted search result can get as high as 50%, the number highly differs from Google Search, where reports show that only around 2% click. This shows how important it really is to consider search ads and use them complementary to your category-boosting strategy, as well as to increase your keyword ranking gradually as downloads increase.
26 October: Daniel Peris, the creator of the new ASO Tool “TheTool” launches a private closed beta
The ASO tool “TheTool” — which claims to be the first utility providing performance-based ASO officially opens its private beta. They want to become your go-to tool to connect all insights into how your organic installs affect metrics like category rankings, installs and revenue.
October 28: Apple imposes restrictions on app-rating prompts
If you are a developer you might be familiar with this view. Piet Brauer tweets that Apple became aware that many Apps are trying to generate only positive reviews on the App Store. That tactic is now officially prohibited. There are some workarounds to make it less visible to Apple review staff by only prompting users who have already been around for some days, but be aware that the big brother is watching you.
October 31: Google Play Store fights spam installs
Kristian Rabe (twitter: KristianRabe) tweeted about a post on the Android Developer’s Blog stating that Google Play improved their detection and filtering system to stop fraudulent installs, fake reviews and incentivized ratings.
October 31: Appsflyer’s first learnings from 100,000 installs with Apple’s new Search Ads
Appsflyer published a report into their first results with the new Search Ads. The report is based on 50 Apps with 50,000 keywords and 100,000 installs and shows the initial results these apps had and how Search Ads match up against other UA channels. One of the main points you should consider for your ASO strategy is the fact that the average keyword length of search queries is 2.4 words, with 24% of the keywords containing more than 3 words.
Also, make sure to check out these reads from October:
- Paul Malicki the former CMO of EasyTaxi shares all his knowledge about mobile growth in his new book “The Chief Mobile Officer’s Guide to Growth”
- The Apple Search Ads Blueprint by Gabriel Machuret
- David Gudai: A nice little overview of Apple Search Ads and its big glaring problem
- Gabe Kwakyi: Apple App Store Category and Keyword Rank Change After Pausing Search Ads
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].
Previous editions:
- May 2016: App Store broken + 5 localized store listing experiments…
- June 2016: Announcement search ads…
- July 2016: Google Play Store testing with 2nd ad…
- August 2016: Simplified screenshot submission… (by Peter)
- September 2016: 50 character title-rule… (by Gabe)
