Smartphone manufacturers continuously upgrade their pre-installed apps in their smartphones, tablets, and smartwatches to enable users to perform certain mobile tasks.
However, given how diverse and closely-knit our offline lifestyles are with our online and virtual ones, these primary apps may not always be enough – sparking the need to download more. Thus rises the importance of mobile app development.
According to recent data posted on app download and usage statistics, app downloads saw a sharp rise in the first two quarters of 2020 with a total of 38 billion downloads compared to Q4 of 2019’s 28.7 billion. That’s a nine billion jump in downloads for both Google Play Store and Apple App Store.
The numbers for app downloads made during the second half of 2021 are yet to be crunched, but with the rapid adoption of virtual and digital spaces during the recent pandemic, experts say you can expect a sustained upward movement. Specifically, projections say that Google Play Store app downloads may shoot up to a whopping 196 billion – a pie you can very well get a slice of, as long as you play your cards right.
While the numbers point to a positive direction for the bigger industry of mobile app development, it can mean the worst for you. Because a growing industry means a bigger field for competition. And, if you’re not armed with the proper app store optimization tools (ASO), you might just get eaten out by bigger fish.
In the presence of big and vast competition, using ASO tools will help significantly improve your application download count and visibility, in tandem with your app store optimization strategies. As an SEO company in the Philippines with years of app store optimization services under our belt and skillful mastery of various app store optimization tools, let us help you out.
What is App Store Optimization (ASO)?
SEO? Weren’t we just talking about mobile app development and downloads?
Yes, we were. But having a mobile app existing in app stores won’t be enough to get it downloaded; for that, you’ll need advanced SEO skills so you can optimize for higher app store visibility.
This process of taking utilizing professional SEO skills in promoting apps in app stores is what we now call, ASO or app store optimization. This specialized practice allows you to increase your mobile app’s app store search results ranking – earning it greater visibility, click-through rates (CTR), and increase its chances of getting downloaded.
Incorporating the right techniques and strategies from the app store optimization guide will help your mobile apps rank higher, therefore increasing traffic on your app’s page. This will then translate into more downloads and users using and downloading your app more often.
Why do you need ASO?
While the primary goal of ASO is for apps to be downloaded and installed, secondary goals include audience engagement, positive application reviews and ratings, increased brand exposure, and an additional marketing channel.
Some mobile app marketers also use other digital marketing techniques such as paid advertisements in social media and blogs to drive potential customers to their app store page. While these techniques are useful, app store optimization is still the best strategy to use for gaining organic installs for free. Also, with proper keyword optimization, the chances of your application being found by relevant users increase.
What are the types of ASO Tools?
In line with the ASO trends for 2021, you can step up your strategies and monitor their performance by using app store optimization tools. ASO tools can be grouped into six classifications and are designed to help you optimize your app in the best possible way for more visibility.
- Review and sentiment analysis tools. User reviews and ratings influence potential users on whether to download your app or not. Giving prompt reactions or replies to user comments will help you gain trust and satisfaction from your current app users. App store optimization tools under this category are designed to help you better analyze your user ratings and review content. This will then allow provide you with insights on how to update your app accordingly. Some tools also enable you to reply to all comments efficiently. There are also tools that help decide to whom, when, and how rating prompts should be presented.
- A/B testing tools. A/B testing for ASO is a technique to determine and analyze which versions and elements of your app marketing materials have the greatest impact on conversions. These conversions can either be in the form of initial downloads, recaptures, and others.
- Search ads optimization tools. Advertising campaigns for your apps will help increase their app store, download count. Careful planning, however, must be made to determine how and when ad campaigns should be implemented, to make sure they are effective. To help with this, app store optimization tools in this category will be of great help to you.
- App store intelligence tools. Efficient marketing planning and competitive analysis are made easier by using app store intelligent tools. These tools show application marketing trends and estimates of your competitor’s performance. These allow you to study your competitors’ app downloads, revenue, market penetration, and advertising spend trends. These pieces of information can help you craft your ASO and marketing approach such that it will surely increase your app download count and revenue.
Top app store optimization tools
To guide you on ASO, here are the best app store optimization tools you should be using. The following apps are sure to push your app to the top of App Store ranks.
1. Mobile Action
Aside from being a useful app keyword optimization tool, Mobile Action is a mobile data intelligence tool useful for gaining reports and information for any app on app stores and the marketplace. App store optimization is only a part of the features that this app offers. It also has a useful set of features for App Store Connect and Google Play Console, social media analysis, and more. You can also use this app to measure an app’s business value and track an app’s progress over time.
2. Sensor Tower
Sensor Tower is another excellent ASO tool that has a lot of features for improving your app ranking on App Store and Google Play. With this tool, you can track your keyword rankings, get insights on your competitor’s keywords, see estimated app store traffic, and more. You can also use this tool to measure an app’s business value and track an app’s progress over time.
Key products and features:
- ASO Intelligence includes four tools to help you with keyword optimization such as Keyword Tracking, Suggestions, Keyword Intelligence, and Competitor Tracking. With these tools, you can track the keywords that your competitors are using and see how well they rank for those keywords. You can also get ideas for new keywords to use based on what your competitors are targeting.
- App Analytics tells you how your apps compare to other apps in terms of popularity (based on the number of downloads) and income (based on how much money the app has made). It also looks at the words that people use when they write reviews of your app.
- Market Intelligence is a feature that helps you estimate how many downloads and revenue your app can get. You can use their algorithm to figure out how many users you need to beat your competitors.
3. PrioriData
Another helpful tool you can use to improve your app store optimization strategies is PrioriData. This tool is known for its App Market Explorer which can be used to track competitors’ ranking, reviews, and ratings. PrioriData also has a useful set of features for App Store Connect and Google Play Console, social media analysis, and more.
Key product and features:
- Keyword Intelligence: Determines which keywords should be used on the app’s metadata as well as in optimizing the app store page.
- App Intelligence: Monitors how apps and their competitors perform on different app stores in different countries.
- Market Intelligence: For analyzing the trends in specific app categories across countries.
- Usage Intelligence: Used for conducting research on trends in the app market.
PrioriData’s Starter plan starts at USD100 per month, the Business plan for USD500 per month, and a customized price for the Enterprise plan.
4. ASOdesk
This tool has three ASO-specific products for keyword optimization: Keyword Analytics, Keyword Explorer, and Keyword Charts and Competitors. The unique features of this tool include app analytics and “organic intelligence” used to gain a deeper understanding of search traffic in-app store searches.
Key product and features:
- Keyword Analytics, Keyword Explorer, and Keyword Charts and Competitors: These three tools work together to help you find the right keywords to use for your app as well as track your keyword rankings.
- App Analytics: This feature helps you understand how your app is performing and where you can improve.
- Organic Intelligence: This is a feature that gives you insights into the search traffic for your app so that you can understand how people are finding your app and what keywords they’re using.
5. TheTool
This app store optimization tool is effective for making the right app store optimization strategies based on data from 93 countries.
Having a wide source of data, this tool is good for conducting powerful keyword research. It is also good for tracking app installs (organic and not) and presenting the conversion rates and other important details that influence an ASO strategy.
Key product and features:
- Keyword Explorer is a powerful keyword research tool that gives you access to data from 93 countries.
- The App Store Optimization Report is a useful tool that allows you to track your app’s progress over time and see how you’re doing in terms of keyword rankings, organic installs, and more.
- The App Install Tracking tool lets you track how many people are installing your app (organic and not) and see the conversion rates.
6. Keyword Tool
This tool generates keyword suggestions based on an app store’s auto-complete function. This enables you to discover hidden keywords that may come in handy when optimizing your apps.
Key product and features:
- App Store Keyword Suggestions: This feature enables you to discover hidden keywords that may come in handy when optimizing your apps.
7. AppCodes
This app store optimization tool offers a keyword prediction tool. This tool will help you see what keywords your competitors are targeting. It will also help you predict where your app will rank on the app store for a given keyword.
Key product and features:
- Keyword Prediction Tool: This feature highlights your competitor’s choice of keywords to determine keywords that have a high competition rate.
- App Store Rankings Prediction: This feature will help you predict the specific position of an app on the App Store rankings for a given keyword.
8. AppTweak
This ASO toolkit has a wide range of features that are useful for keyword research, competitor analysis, app store optimization, and more. This tool aims to increase the number of your app’s organic users through its tools and algorithms by maximizing the potential of your App Store visibility.
Key products and features:
- ASO Reports: This feature gives an overview of your app store optimization strategy performance. Your app’s metadata elements are scanned and scored with actionable recommendations you can follow to improve your app page. With this feature, you can also perform a competitive analysis of your competitors.
- Keywords: This feature has three tools: keyword picking, analysis, and monitoring. With this, you can see the performance of certain keywords over time as well as other metrics important for keyword optimization.
- Mobile App Analytics: This enables you to track the overall performance of your app over time, get the data of download, conversion rate, and revenue estimates.
9. AppFigures
AppFigures is an app store optimization tool that has the power to compile all your app data and turn it into customizable comprehensive reports useful for your ASO planning. You can also use this tool to track your app’s rankings, reviews, and more.
Key products and features:
- Track your sales, downloads, and in-app purchases.
- If a user gives a review, an email will notify you so that you can check and respond.
- Monitor you and your competitor’s app performance with their hourly updated ranks.
- Monitor the usage of your apps by active users and any crash incidents as well as other useful data.
- Track the performance of your ads and revenue across different networks, apps, and countries.
- Determine which apps top the ranks in different categories in any country.
10. Gummicube
One of the leading app store optimization tools known for its app store intelligence software and services, Gummicube offers a wide variety of products to help businesses with their app store optimization strategies. Its App Store Optimization Platform is a SaaS product that delivers actionable insights and recommendations for improvements in your app store listing.
Key products and features:
- ASO Service: A full ASO service designed to make businesses focus on developing their apps while Gummicube does all the ASO strategy.
- DATACUBE Software: This software is designed to understand the search intent of users when searching for apps on app stores, to maximize app visibility and downloads.
- Live Focus Groups: This feature is a focused group testing designed to give feedback for split multivariate testing of design features on app pages such as icons and screenshots to determine which is more effective.
- Gnome Escape: A community where apps can be featured and reviewed by users of this tool.
11. Apptentive
This is a customer feedback and analytics tool used by app developing companies to improve their app ratings and increase engagement with users. Using the data from customer feedback, this tool helps companies get a glimpse of customer-centric decisions, sentiments, even hidden issues to promote brand loyalty to their customers.
Key products and features:
- In-app campaigns: With this feature, you can create customizable in-app messages to improve customer engagement.
- App Rating: You can increase your app rating by using Apptentive’s Ratings Prompt tool which will send a message to customers who have given your app a certain number of stars.
- Messaging: Open two-way communication with customers through in-app messaging so that you can quickly resolve any issues they may have.
- Voice of the Customer Insights: Get feedback from customers through surveys that Apptentive will send to them.
12. Appbot
This tool comes in handy for monitoring application users’ feedback. It tracks your app reviews on app stores and different platforms so that developers are made aware of all praises and issues users may have with the app. Appbot also analyzes the sentiment of these reviews, giving developers a better understanding of how users feel about their app.
Key products and features:
- Integrations: Appbot integrates with a number of project management tools such as Slack, Trello, and Zendesk.
- Auto-responding to reviews: Appbot can be set up to automatically respond to app reviews on the App Store, Google Play, Amazon Appstore, and Windows App Store.
- Multi-language support: Appbot can translate reviews into over 30 languages.
13. AppFollow
This reviews management tool supplies analytics to mobile app developers based on reviews and search result positions. Another unique feature of this app store optimization tool is the ability to reply to all received user reviews via email and other integrations and give automatic translations of each review which helps increase user engagement.
Key products and features:
- App store monitoring: AppFollow automatically collects reviews from the App Store, Google Play, Amazon Appstore, and Windows App Store.
- Review management: AppFollow allows you to reply to all reviews from one place, as well as get automatic translations of each review.
- App store optimization: AppFollow provides ASO analysis and keyword tracking so you can optimize your app listing and increase your app
14. SplitMetrics
This tool allows mobile app developers and marketers to optimize the conversion rates of their apps on app stores. A special feature of this tool is that it allows developers to experiment on their creatives for their app’s marketing copy and pages on app stores for varying demographics.
This tool can be used to split test all features from icons, videos, and colors to help motivate potential users from hitting that download button.
Key products and features:
- A/B Testing: You can test different creatives for your app’s marketing copy and pages on app stores.
- Audience Insights: You can segment your audience by demographics such as age, gender, location, and interests.
- Creative Management: You can manage all your app’s creatives in one place and collaborate with your team.
15. StoreMaven
This app store optimization tool is used to make app store testing fast, accurate, and affordable. It allows developers to test different creatives for their app’s marketing copy and pages on app stores. A/B testing can be done on icons, videos, and colors to help motivate potential users from hitting that download button.
Key products and features:
- Dedicated design studio where you can conveniently create designs for your various app store pages.
- You can also analyze the impact of your design, features, and placement to measure how these affect the conversion rate in your app. These features include icons, titles, ratings and votes, screenshots, videos, and descriptions, to name a few.
16. TestNest
Another A/B ASO tool you can use is TestNest. It allows you to create a number of experimental pages, to determine which will yield an increase in traffic and downloads in your app store pages. You can send your own traffic to the experiment landing page you made to see if it lives up to your expectations. Moreover, you can also gain insights into how visitors interact with your app store page.
Key products and features:
- A/B Testing: TestNest allows you to test different creatives for your app store pages.
- Visitor Insights: You can see how visitors interact with your app store page.
- App Store Optimization: You can optimize your app listing to increase your app’s visibility.
17. SearchAdsHQ
This is an Apple Search Ads Optimization platform by SplitMetrics. With this tool’s help, app marketers can launch ad campaigns on a scale while effectively monitoring both the buying attitude of users; the ad performance ensures ROI growth. Moreover, it also allows you to collaborate with your team and manage all your creatives in one place.
Key products and features:
- Campaign Management: You can manage your Apple Search Ads campaigns on a large scale.
- Performance Monitoring: You can monitor the performance of your ads to ensure ROI growth.
- Creative Management: You can manage all your creatives in one place and collaborate with your team.
18. SearchAds by Mobile Action
This app store optimization tool is created for Apple’s Search Ads. This tool provides you with everything you need for creating and managing Search Ads campaigns to promote your apps that bring revenue and maximize your budget. You can also track your ad campaigns and measure their success with this tool’s help.
Key products and features:
- The tool provides insights on keyword ranking, app store optimization strategies, and competitor analysis. It also offers tips on how to improve app store conversion rates.
- The tool provides insights that can help app developers improve their app ranking and visibility in app store search results.
- Offers tips on how to improve app store conversion rates.
The tool can help app developers improve their app ranking and visibility, and it can also help them improve their app store conversion rates.
19. adAhead
This app store optimization tool is an Apple Search Optimization Platform that provides GEO reports and COHORT analysis to understand your break-even point, custom ad scheduler, duplication option for ad groups, and keyword rank monitoring.
Key products and features:
- Multiple accounts dashboard that can accommodate up to 500 Search Ads accounts.
- Single dashboard for all metrics in one place.
- Timezone filter for non-US traffic within US storefront campaigns.
- Optimization of in-application events, ROI, subscriptions, etc.
20. App Annie
This app store optimization tool helps business owners and digital marketers better understand the app market landscape by providing application analytics and market data.
Key products and features:
- App Analytics: A free product for you to track your app’s performance in relation to usage, downloads, and revenue.
- Store Stats: This is also a free product used for basic ASO where you can access your data metrics, including historical rankings, keywords, ratings, and reviews for apps.
- Market Data Intelligence: A premium product designed to give you detailed insights into your user’s behavior and demographics. This will also give you market data metrics for available major mobile apps.
- Advanced search filters
- Keyword and competitor tracking
- Keyword rankings analysis
21. Apptopia
To help make quick and wise decisions about business strategies based on the mobile app economy data, business owners and digital marketers use Apptopia.
Key products and features:
- Download and Revenue Data: Get information about your daily download data containing information about your app’s performance as well as revenue breakdowns acquired from paid downloads, in-app purchases, and advertising revenues.
- Daily and Monthly Active Users: Track how often users open and use your apps and those of your competitors.
- Assess all app markets and determine consumer trends.
Various application store optimization tools offer similar services but may own unique features when it comes to keyword optimization and market intelligence. Depending on the size of your business and marketing goals, you can find the right app store optimization tools that are perfect for your needs and budget.
22. App Radar
This app optimization tool functions as a ranking tracker that helps you identify which exact keywords to use so you can optimize for better indexing. You can also edit your app store listing and your app reviews with it.
Key product and features:
- Evaluate App Store Rank and Visibility: Understand which factors influence your keyword rankings and conversion rates in App Store and Google Play. App Radar has more than 25 million keywords and tracks all of your app store rankings.
- Edit App Store Listings and Implement Keywords: App Radar all-in-one- app optimization tool can help you make your ASO workflow not only more efficient but also more effective. You can add, manage, and analyze your app store listing and app locales in just a few clicks.
- Reply to user reviews and track app ratings: Establish and build a loyal relationship with your users by replying to your user review. You can also find bugs to fix and gather feature requests directly from your users.
- Make data-driven decisions for app store ads: App Radar system has indexed millions of app keywords and app store ads to provide you with the most data-driven tools that will ensure that your search ad campaigns are performing at their best.
23. Kumulos
Kumulos is a mobile app messaging and management platform that’s trusted by thousands of app developers and marketers. Kumulos manages billions of Application Programming Interface (API) calls and messages a month.
Key products and features:
- Messaging: Start meaningful conversations and offer a seamless personalized experience across desktop and mobile. Increase engagement wherever you find your users with Mobile Push Notifications, In-App Messaging, and Web Push Notifications.
- Analytics: Kumulos Mobile App Analytics includes Behavioral Analytics that help inform you of how users interact with your app – giving you insight on how to further optimize for in-app conversions. User Experience (UX) Analytics, on the other hand, helps you understand the experience of using your app from the users’ perspectives. You’ll know exactly where your users are encountering problems. User Sentiment Analytics, additionally, helps inform you of what your users are saying about your mobile app and capture feature ideas.
- Developer Tools: Manage the backend of your app with Mobile Backend as a Service (MBaaS) – the easy way to handle the server side of your app. It offers Crash Reporting, and Application Programming Interface (API) endpoint monitoring to ensure seamless UX.
The subscription plans come with no contract, pay as you go, and pay for what you use for pricing.
24. Adjust Audience Builder
Adjust Audience Builder can split audiences into sub-groups, which makes it very simple to run A/B tests on controlled samples. Compare performance when you switch to creative, attribution settings, or even ad partners when targeting the same audience and apply it to your entire strategy.
Key product and features:
- A/B Testing: Test different app store creatives, App Store Search Ads, ad copy, ad placements, ad partners, and attribution models to see what works best for your app.
- Audience Segmentation: Split audiences into smaller sub-groups so you can send them different App Store creatives or App Store Search Ads.
- App Store Optimization: Get help with your app store listing by optimizing your app store creatives, App Store Search Ads, and keywords.
- App analytics: Track your app’s performance and see how different audiences are interacting with your app.
25. Checkaso
This ASO tool rates your ASO performance, gives you custom tips on how to improve it, and provides the needed tools for it. It lets you track your app ranking in App Store and Google Play, see the progress of your keywords rankings, and compare them with your competitors.
Key product and features:
- Make data-driven decisions: Checkaso helps you analyze only relevant keywords and track your app rankings.
- Text editor: Grow your app audience by using the text editor to cover as many keywords on your app page as possible and translate it for different locales. This can help you make it easier to find your app all over the world.
- Ratings and reviews: Use ratings and reviews to improve your app with wanted features and bug fixes.
- ASO automation: Get customized tips for your ASO strategy, keywords, and competitors to make better decisions.
26. ASOTools
ASOTools is an AI-powered App Store Optimization tool that analyzes your app and provides ASO recommendations. It also allows you to track your app ranking, see the progress of your keywords rankings, and compare them with your competitors.
Key product and features:
- Search Ads Automation: Get more conversions with ASOTools’ Search Ads Automation feature.
- ASO Insights: Get ASO insights and recommendations from ASOTools’ AI-powered algorithm.
- Localization: ASOTools offers localization features to help you reach a global audience.
- New Features: ASOTools is constantly adding new features to help you optimize your app store listing.
27. Store Mockups
Store Mockups is a platform that provides App Store and Google Play screenshots as well as video previews. With over 3,000 templates, you can create high-quality visuals for your app store listing.
Key product and features:
- App Store Screenshots: Use Store Mockups’ templates to create high-quality App Store screenshots.
- App Store Video Previews: Use Store Mockups’ templates to create high-quality App Store video previews.
- Google Play Screenshots: Use Store Mockups’ templates to create high-quality Google Play screenshots.
28. Appfigures
Appfigures is an App Store Optimization tool that lets you track your app ranking, see the progress of your keywords rankings, and compare them with your competitors. It also provides ASO insights and recommendations.
Key product and features:
- ASO Insights: Get ASO insights and recommendations from Appfigures’ AI-powered algorithm.
- Keyword Tracking: Appfigures lets you track your keywords and see how they’re performing.
- Competitor Analysis: Appfigures lets you compare your app to your competitors and see where you stand.
- Localization: Appfigures offers localization features to help you reach a global audience.
29. App Radar
App Radar is an App Store Optimization tool that lets you track your app ranking, see the progress of your keywords rankings, and compare them with your competitors. It also allows you to optimize your app store listing and create App Store Search Ads.
Key product and features:
- ASO Automation: App Radar’s ASO automation feature helps you optimize your app store listing.
- App Store Search Ads: App Radar lets you create App Store Search Ads and track their performance.
- Keyword Tracking: App Radar lets you track your keywords and see how they’re performing.
- Competitor Analysis: App Radar lets you compare your app to your competitors and see where you stand.
Key takeaways
App store optimization tools are important so you can skillfully improve your app-specific metrics by providing you insights not just on app performance in the search context, but user context as well. Investing in them may entail a cost, but those are small matters compared to the invaluable insights it provides you in your mobile app development pursuits.
Don’t make the mistake of investing in one too late in the game. Remember that, tools are valuable in your practice so that you:
- Save both time and money. These tools also offer suggestions that help you determine how to scale your ad campaigns, which keywords to use, and which app store page design is more engaging and appealing to your potential customers. Based on the insights these tools offer, you can determine what actions and budget you need to do and provide to gain more conversion.
- Stay updated with changes in the app store landscape and consumer behavior. This data is crucial for your mobile app marketers to develop optimization strategies based on the users, competition, and industry. You must be quick to pick up on the changes in the trends so that you can adapt with agility and sustain your business growth.
- Develop meaningful app experiences. Above all, the insights you gain from these apps should be used towards building and improving apps in such a way that they provide meaningful experiences to your end-users. That said, strive to foster a collaborative relationship between your development and marketing teams, so that they can work together in achieving this goal.
Did we miss some of your favorite app store optimization tools in this list? Let us know in the comments, and if you need further help in improving your ASO, make sure to reach out to us on Facebook, LinkedIn, or X. We’d be happy to help you out!