In most instances, the first thing that pops into your head when it comes to search optimisation for mobile apps is App Store Optimisation (ASO). What most don’t know, is that you are also able to use Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) to increase the amount of downloads for your app.
We all know that web pages show up in search engine listings, however, it is not the same for mobile app profile pages. This barrier can be overcome by building a microsite or a landing page for your app. This is a key way to leverage traffic to your app from the web.
Your app downloads are no doubt going to increase with the higher flow of traffic to your website through the visibility of your page.
Below are some key factors to consider in order to increase the visibility of your app in the search engines and in turn boost downloads.
Latent Semantic Indexing (LSI) – In order for Google to know what to rank your page for it is crucial to have a relevant set of keywords on your microsite or landing page.
LSI keywords can play a large role in having your landing page known in the Google search results even though it’s quite the common thing to use Google Keyword planner tool to uncover the right keywords.
LSI keywords are closely related words, or synonyms that assist Google in detecting what your page is about. Google can detect what the search relates to, for example if “cars” is searched, whether it be related to the movie or the vehicle.
http://www.apptentive.com/blog/15-mobile-app-development-trends-look-2015/
Some ways to determine LSI key words are as follow:
- LSI keywords appear when you type a word in the search engine and a list on words appear below
- In the search results, Google will highlight the words that are relevant
- Google also displays a list of words at the bottom of the page that relate to your search
It is also wise to write blog posts that include your target LSI keywords and remember, its not about the repetition of the main keyword, but more that these LSI keywords are included.
Building backlinks – Another crucial SEO strategy to increase your search ranking is to add backlinks to your apps microsite or landing page. Identifying authority websites to do so is important and this helps a lot with the ranking for search listings.
Firstly, you would identify your biggest competitors in the market are and that are popular in the app store charts. Following this you would utilise the Cognitive SEO or ahrefs tools to search the pages that link to the competitor’s app. Finally, you would have to contact the author to consider including a link to your app after you have sifted through the relevant blogs or websites that list the competitor’s app. You will need to mention why your app should be listed and of course not all will respond, but once this is actioned you will notice a great difference in your search rankings.
Reduce bounce rate – Time spent by visitors on the page and bounce rate are important aspects that affects a pages ranking and this is tracked by Google’s algorithm.
The longer the amount of the time spent on a webpage, the greater the ranking in Google. Google doesn’t want people to quickly return to their search because they haven’t received the correct results so it aims to help land people the most relevant information.
This is why the results need to be of the highest relevance to the user. There are strategies to increase the users time spent on a landing page when even given that its just a product information page:
Talk about the product you are solving rather than the app’s features. State a problem and then identify a resolution to it for the user in order to bait them.
This strategy can help to increase the amount of time spent on your microsite or landing page and Google will give it a higher ranking as it is seen as a more relevant search result.
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