ASO: The Master Article

1- Welcome to the ASO Course!

Welcome to the ASO Course written by me, Nemo!

While writing this course, I worked as a Head of Marketing Technology for Markets.com, a CFD Trading Broker. You are going to write something.

Are you here to become an ASO specialist?

If yes, congrats since you will start with a potential mobile marketing channel. ASO is quite a new channel at the moment. Not so many brands, as well as marketers, are aware of this channel’s importance. If you have this ASO job opportunity, it may positively change your entire career path.

This ASO Course gives you the fastest way to start the job. Let’s see what you can get from it:

• Get a concrete knowledge background of ASO
• Learn how to use ASO Tools
• Can immediately begin working on ASO tasks
• Know how to leverage ASO agencies for quicker success
• Efficiently track, analyze and optimize the ASO performance

2- Do you fit an ASO role?

Answer this question before we begin!

It’s undeniable that ASO is “sexy”. However, there are specific difficulties that you should be aware of in advance.

A- ASO has the same concept of Test > Result > Optimize as other digital channels. However, ASO’s results may show slower progress, making you feel impatient sometimes.

B- Moreover, ASO requires daily manual performance measurements that some people may find it’s boring. I have to be very honest here!

Due to the 2 points above, ASO specialists are required to have these four characteristics:

• Patient
• Meticulous
• Logical
• Hard Working

And trust me, it will be very satisfying once ASO starts performing!

3- ASO Introduction

What is ASO?

Per Apptweak:

App Store Optimization (ASO) is the process of improving an app’s visibility in the app stores with the objective of increasing organic app downloads. Apps are more visible when they rank highly on a wide variety of search terms, maintain a high position in the top charts, or get featured on the store.

In other words, we can explain the scope of ASO through two missions:

Mission 1: Get the app ranked as high as possible in the App Store for relevant keywords

• Increase the number of ranked keywords: Get as many ranked keywords as possible
• Increase the ranking of keywords: Get the keywords you get ranked… to rank higher

Mission 2: Get as many Installs as possible from ranked keywords

It’s meaningless if you get many Top-1 keywords, but the number of installs is small.

Thus, the ASO specialist is required to carefully track the keywords that generate the most installs and optimize them.

Understand the funnel of ASO

This funnel shows how users engage with ASO. By understanding the touch points from a big picture, you can imagine how to optimize the whole funnel along the way.

• User opens App Stores (Google Play – Appstore)
• User searches for specific terms
• User sees see the app shown on the Search Result Page
• User clicks to learn about the app
• User downloads the app
• User takes in-app actions (Registrer – Purchase – More)

Why is ASO important?

Per my work experience, ASO is the most profitable channel and fundamental for stable growth. These are the reasons:

• A channel with the lowest CPA among all acquisition channels
• DIRECTLY receives traffic from all paid sources to convert them. If you run UAC in other paid channels, the traffic will all be directed to the App Page to download the app. And the App Page is the biggest asset managed by ASO.
• INDIRECTLY received traffic from other paid sources. For example, the user saw ads on Facebook but didn’t convert on Facebook. Instead, they go to App Stores to search for the brand name and convert via ASO.

Important ASO Metrics

There is an entire article about ASO Metrics in this course. However, it’s important to brief you on the essential ASO Metrics in this first lesson.

Ranked Keywords: How many keywords have you ranking for?

Ranking: What is the current rank of a specific keyword?

Conversion Rate (= Installs / Visitors)

CPI (= Total Cost / Total Installs)

Registration Rate (= installs / Registration)

Other Action Rates (= custom formula, depends on what matters to your business)

4- Tasks of an ASO Specialist

To become successful in ASO, you are required to build a solid Initial ASO Setup with constant optimization. We have a separate article to talk this topic in the course. However, I would like to give you a list of ASO Tasks for your quick understanding.

Tasks of an ASO Specialist

5- ASO Tools & Platforms

We have different ASO tools, each offering you a unique power to do your job.

You should know what tools they are and then flexibly use them for different purposes

Tools & Platforms	Purpose
Apptweak	ASO ASA Keyword Research Monitor newly ranked keywords Test quality of Metadata Competitor spying & analysis
Appsflyer	Analyze in-app conversion rate & user behavior of ASO Creatively use for other purposes
Google Play Console	For Android Change & adjust the app page (Metadata, Screenshots…) Read terms + conversion insights Other insights of the app
App Store Connect	For iOS Change & adjust the app page (Metadata, Screenshots…) Read terms + conversion insights Other insights of the app
Google Play (Android)	For Android Conduct daily live search for monitor keyword rankings
AppStore (iOS)	For iOS Conduct daily live search for monitor keyword rankings
Keyword Ranking Report	To manually input daily new ranked keywords & ranking data
Agency Management Sheet	To manage the agencies’ services & expenses
Ranking Visualized Dashboard	To view & analyze the ASO ranking data
All Channel Visualized Dashboard	To view & analyze the performance data of all channels

6- Some experiences from me, Nemo

Before continuing, you may read this article from Apptweak:

https://www.apptweak.com/en/aso-blog/beginners-guide-to-app-store-optimization

When I started with ASO, I only read articles from Apptweak as they provide sufficient information for a starter. I owe Apptweak many thanks. Besides their great ASO tools, they also offer a high-quality blog for self-learning.

Thus, I recommend you to learn my ASO Course in the first week, then move to Apptweak blog for broader discovery. A quick comparison:

Apptweak Blog:

Fully cover fundamental knowledge for your long-term growth. They frequently update the ASO changes & new tips & tricks.

My ASO Course:

The ASO Knowledge is structured in a solid framework to ensure that you can do your ASO job immediately. I built this course based on my actual work experiences, and it is straightforward without redundancy.