The Covid-19 pandemic saw increased online activity, including gaming, with more people signing up to a wide range of gaming platforms. Online casino sites saw a tremendous increase in the number of members, with more gamblers signing up to take advantage of incentives such as online casino Australia no deposit bonus games. Consequently, there has been increased activity in the developers’ world, with professionals working around the clock to release products to meet the growing demand.
Today, games account for 21.8% of the app store, and it wouldn’t be a surprise if the number grew beyond this. If you are in the gaming app business, this is a wake-up call as it hints at how much competition you have. You have to develop strategies that will make your gaming app stand out in the crowd.
App store optimization (ASO) is what you need to climb up the visibility ladder and encourage people to download it. Here are ASO strategies to improve your app’s visibility, downloads and conversions, and revenue.
- Find the Right Keywords and Know Where to Use Them
Keyword research is critical to your ASO strategy. It is instrumental in showing you the phrases users are searching for in relation to gaming applications when done correctly. You will find keywords that you can use to make your application visible through keyword research.
Thanks to keyword research tools, you can easily find keywords of interest. That is keywords that your competitors are ranking for, even those that have not been harnessed fully. Mid-traffic keywords would be suitable for your app as they don’t have too much competition, and at the same time, they can improve your rank on app stores.
While finding the right keywords is vital, it is even more important to know where to place them and where to use them. Which are the most critical areas to have keywords? Including keywords in the app name or title, subtitle, and description is recommended.
You are encouraged to add keywords anywhere, but be careful not to overuse them.
- Optimize the Visual Assets
How often have you clicked on an app or downloaded it because of the appealing visuals? Probably countless times. Worth noting is that eye-catching applications get the most clicks and downloads on the apps store.
Ensure your visual assets are appealing, unique, and adequately represent your gaming app’s message. Your icon is one of the most important visual assets to optimize as it is the first thing users will see. Make it stand out and relatable to your brand.
Include screenshots as they tell the users more about your application, and using the visuals, they can decide to download it.
- Ratings and Reviews
No matter how great your gaming app is, users will only be influenced to download it if there are positive reviews and good ratings. Remember, there are hundreds of thousands of applications in your category, probably offering the same game type. A good rating will make your app stand out and get many downloads.
Also, the app stores usually prioritize applications with good reviews and ratings. Search engines like Google, for instance, use factors such as retention, use engagement, and star rating to decide rank position.
How do you optimize your reviews and ratings on the app store? First, choose the right time to ask users for reviews and rate your application. Allow them to interact with your gaming application before asking them to rate their experience.
It is also worth segmenting your users depending on how often they engage with the application. Users that visit the app regularly are more likely to give a high rating, so these should be the users to target.
Avoiding nagging users for ratings and reviews will prevent unwanted outcomes such as bad reviews and, worse, deleting your application. However, responding to reviews will earn you favor with the users.
- Optimize Your App Size
Applications with sizes that are too large are not suitable for your ASO. The smaller the size, the more clicks and conversions you will likely get. Remember, bigger applications cannot be downloaded using 3G and 4G connections, and therefore, your apps should not exceed 100MB and 200MB for Google Play and App Store, respectively.
How can you optimize the size of your gaming applications? Start with reducing the enumerations of your application as they tend to add the size of the classes.dex file of your gaming applications. Remove the parts of the game engine that are not in use as they unnecessarily increase the size of your gaming app.
Resources such as sound files, pictures, and models that are not in use should be removed to reduce the size of your gaming application. This way, you can make your gaming apps more downloadable.
- Build Links
Backlinks are link-building resources you can leverage for ASO. How do you do this? You can get influencers and other authority websites mentioning your applications. Backlinks will enhance your ASO and improve your SEO and visibility.
While at it, ensure you get quality backlinks by getting mentions from relevant websites.
Take Away
App store optimization can be a great way to enhance the visibility of your gaming app and drive its success. Keyword research, optimization of visual assets, ratings and reviews, and app size optimization are ways you can earn the favor of search engines for a higher ranking on the app store.