In a recent survey, when asked what the core of marketing is a lot of marketing enthusiasts chose creating great advertisements, spending huge on marketing platforms, understanding the right audience, etc.

Though all of these are important elements in marketing, understanding the customer psychology and playing with human behavior remains to be the most important and core principle of marketing.

On the other hand, it is equally important to understand the target platform and adopt the best optimization practices tailored to that particular platform.

The two major app stores are Google’s Play Store and Apple’s App Store. ASO stands for app store optimization and in this chapter, we will discuss the best ways to optimize your app for both these stores.

Key differences between optimizing your apps for Play Store and App Store.

#1 App Title / App name

App title plays an important role in product discovery, identity, and brand familiarity. 

→ Apple App Store: Apple lets you coin your app name with up to 30 characters. And you can not use special characters or emoticons in your app titles.

→ Google Play Store: In Google Play Store you can coin app titles with up to 50 characters. Google also facilitates you with an option to add emojis to your title.

#2 Short Description / Subtitle

This section helps your readers and potential app users to get a quick overview of the app.

→ Apple App Store: Apple does not have this feature called ‘short description’. It has an exclusive alternate that’s named as ‘subtitle’. You are allowed to use subtitle texts up to 30 characters. 

• Here are some best practices followed in writing effective app subtitles for Apple’s App Store.
• Don’t repeat the keyword or word that’s already used in the app titles.
• Use this space to highlight a key feature of the app or its biggest benefit. 
• Bonus cookies if you can incorporate a secondary keyword.
• Another key factor you need to keep in mind is its search intents.     
• Make sure that this subtitle copy is conversion-focused.

→ Google Play Store: You can compose a compelling ad copy for a short description of your apps on Play Store with up to 80 characters. 

Here are some key considerations you need to keep in mind when you optimize your short descriptions for Play Store.

• Google Play Store allows you to do A/B testing on your short description copies.
• Unlike app stores, you can use emojis in your short description copies.
• Since you have a relatively longer field to display your short description, you have a better chance to incorporate your keywords and enhance your conversion rates and app discovery. 

#3 Promo Text

This is an exclusive feature of Apple.

→ Apple App Store: You can compose a promotional text that explains the features and the highlights of the app. The maximum number of characters allowed is 170. This feature can be used to enhance conversion rates. 

→ Google Play Store: The Promo text option is not available on Google Play Store. 

#4 Description

This space is used to give a detailed message to the users about the app. Covering the different aspects of the app, its scope, purpose, and objective you can use this option effectively to convince your users to download your app.

→ Apple App Store: You are allowed to use up to 4000 characters. In Apple, this content doesn’t impact the search results.

→ Google Play Store: Google also lets you use the same 4000 number of characters. The key difference is that with Google this content impacts the search results. 

#5 Keywords Field

This is an exclusive feature of the Apple App Store. 

→ Apple App Store: You can add different keywords that are separated by a comma (with no space) with a total character count of up to 100 characters. This is purely for app store optimization and this is not visible to the users. You can use this feature to incorporate the keywords recommended for your app that are not used on the app title, description, or subtitle copies. 

→ Google Play Store: This feature is not available on Google’s Play Store.

#6 Icon

Using a brilliant and vibrant graphic helps your app be remembered forever in the market. When it comes to the app icon, both the Google Play Store and Apple App Store share the same kind of impact on the CTR and TTR. There is no fundamental difference largely.

#7 Category

This section helps increase the chances of featuring your app on the respective categories when the particular category is searched for.

→ Apple App Store: Apple has unique categorization options namely main, secondary, and subcategories based on whether it is a gaming app or a general app. 

→ Google Play Store: Google features all the apps – both general and games – with one main category section. 

#8 Feature Graphics

This is an exclusive feature that is available only on Google Play Store. 

→ Apple App Store: This feature isn’t available.

→ Google Play Store: This feature impacts the conversion rate positively when used effectively. You can use this feature to share the highlights of your app graphically.

#9 Screenshots

Sharing the demo screens of your app helps your users get a quick preview of your app without even having to install it. 

→ Apple App Store: Apple lets you add up to 10 screenshots. This has a direct impact on the conversion rate and app download rate.

→ Google Play Store: Google lets you add up to 8 screens. But the best part is that you can customize your screenshots based on the devices (smartphones, tablets, smartwatches, etc.) This has a direct impact on the app download and retention rates.

#10 Videos

Promotional videos and slideshows can be added to your app page. Both Google Play Store and Apple App Store let you add videos of this sort. You can create crisp, compelling, storytelling, and engaging videos that convince your viewers to download the app. 

#11 Installs

This refers to the number of people/times your app has been downloaded and installed. Featuring this figure on the app page helps your potential customers understand how many of their fellow people have installed this app. The higher this number, the more likely are people to trust your app and download it. 

→ Apple App Store: Apple keeps this number private. This number has an impact on app search, features, and top charts. 

→ Google Play Store: With Play Store, this number is publicly viewable by everyone. This impacts app search, features, top charts, as well as conversion rates. 

#12 Ratings & Reviews

This section is a comprehensive view of all the feedback, reviews, and ratings made by your app users.

→ Apple App Store: With Apple, there is a country-wise segmentation of reviews. Based on the app versions also, the app reviews are segmented. You also have the option of replying to the comments.  

→ Google Play Store: With Google Play Store, there is a global display of reviews that includes user reviews from all countries. Options to reply to the reviews are also available. Google has an additional option of a language-wise display of reviews and ratings.

#13 Average Rating

This refers to the average number of all the ratings. People are more likely to trust apps with reviews 3 or more (out of 5).

→ Apple App Store: The average rating is also segmented and categorized country-wise just like all the ratings and reviews. There is a cumulative rating too, that is displayed based on the versions and app updates. 

→ Google Play Store: Similar to the ratings and reviews, the average rating is also displayed globally. 

Understanding the different aspects of both these stores – app stores and play stores – helps you propel and steer your marketing efforts in the right direction. To drive more visibility to your app and increase downloads, you need to adhere to the app store’s guidelines and adopt these industry-leading practices. It has been studied that more than 59% of companies launch their apps on both stores and spend huge effort to optimize on both platforms. 

If you are looking for a free consultation on how to optimize your app on these platforms in the right way, feel free to get in touch with us.  We would love to hear from you. Siam Computing houses an expert team of certified app technology specialists, UI and UX designers, developers, coders, programmers, testers, consultants, and other skilled professionals. With over a decade of experience in creating robust app solutions to meet a broad spectrum of client’s needs, we have hands-on experience and in-depth knowledge and understanding of technology.