Mobile Apps come with their retail solution. Selling software over the net right into the device that uses it is something that everyone envies. The best part of this is that any third person can sell apps on the App Store. Apple App store was the first entrant in this game in 2008. Apple did a due diligence of any App that was sold on the Store. Google soon came with Google Play Store selling Apps for Android Mobile phones.

Those days anything that was on the store was sold as there were not many apps to choose from and novelty had its value. Soon people started realizing that they had downloaded too many Apps, many of them never been used. The number of Apps on the store on the other hand started multiplying.

The Store soon started having sections like Latest, Most Downloaded, and Thematic pages to help people choose Apps. They also solicited reviews, however the number of downloads was never disclosed.

The App store soon had to provide search facilities for Apps based on keywords. However, unlike html pages there was no keyword metadata to deal with. So, the App stores had to develop their algorithms for ranking Apps. Apple seems to have a straightforward way to rank Apps, it was based on number of downloads. Google play store seems to have a mixed criterion for ranking.

The next step was logical, just like SEO we have ASO (App Store Optimization).

What is the main criterion for ASO?

1.Title: The title of your App is definitely considered to map it to segments and presence of keywords helps. While you may have a catchy name to your App, it will not be categorized in the correct vertical unless it has a keyword.

2.Keywords: Keywords are important for ASO but you need third party Apps to find your ranking. You will find rankings change week to week depending on the ranking of other Apps. It is better that you mange your keywords well instead of changing them to suit every shift.

There are other criteria for ASO too:

1.Number of Downloads: Number of downloads is very critical to prove the popularity of an App. Some stores also consider other numbers like number of installs, number of removals, change in downloads over a month and so on.

2. Ratings and Reviews: All stores solicit for ratings and reviews. While it is not possible to programmatically analyze the reviews and ratings, being subjective cannot be considered too. However, the number of reviews and ratings matter.

There are many companies offering app store optimization services in India.