ASO: Once upon a time in the (wild, wild) west. ASOConference, Berlin 2019

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Hello world. I’m @thomasbcn

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A few pioneers...
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Featuring Brook Lenox, Gabriel Machuret, Stefan Bielau, Daniel Peris, Ian Sefferman

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First resources & tools!
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Featuring Gabriel Machuret, Stefan Bielau, MobileJazz, Appcodes, MobileDevHQ, Distimo, Daniel Peris

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The AppStore 10 years ago…
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ASO 1.0 = mostly keywords
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• Add keywords to your title
• Fill your kwd field (smartly)
• Done!

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Credit @KristianRabe
Big brand fails = Startup opportunity
Low competition

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255 char. in title: stuffing galore!
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ASO fails
Credit @gymster, @stefanbielau, @kristianrabe @ilyakuh

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ASO fails
More examples:
“ASO design nightmares” by ASOstack.com

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Black hat…
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“Browse” ASO back in the days :
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2013: 700k downloads
1 week featuring: 2,8m!
"It's a magic button that they hit,
and you get drowned in cash“, Ken Soto
2015: 3m in 5 days
Massive featurings!

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“Browse” ASO back in the days :
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Massive organic uplift
+ cheap incent traffic
= high ROI burst

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#FAAD was a thriving strategy
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Not only fairy tales…
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“Name that song”
indie dev was threatened by a trademark
infringement notice by „Name that tune“
developer; changed into “Who sing it Game“:
Downloads dropped by x10, sales by x2

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Fast forward a few years….
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Interest for ASO has exploded
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A booming ecosystem!

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It’s still the far west…
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ASO game changers : metadata updates
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2016: Apple restricts titles to 50 characters
2017: Apple reduces titles to 30 characters with iOS11
but adds a 30 char. subtitle

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ASO game changers : RIP burst
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Organic uplift decreases, incent fades out:
charting is no longer a sustainable tactic
“For every paid install, apps get an average of
1.5 additional organic installs.”
TUNE, “The multiplier”
2014
“Remember the good old days? Those are gone
The organic multiplier has decreased significantly”
Danielle Blumenstyk Peterman
2017

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ASO game changers : iOS11+ Featuring
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ASO game changers : Keywords data
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2015 (Google.com) organic keywords
2016 ASA “Search Popularity” index
2018 Play Store organic keywords*
201x ASO tools provide guesstimates
2019 Still no reliable source…

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ASO game changers : Pay to play!
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2015 Play Store search ads
2016 2nd ad placement in search…
2017 Display ads (without data report)
2017† RIP keywords UAC

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ASO game changers : Pay to play!
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2016 Apple Search Ads (US)
2017 6 new geos (CA, AU, UK..)
2018 6 new geos (Europe & APAC)
+ Creative Sets
2019 46 new geos (=59)

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No ASA?
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Cannibalization is proven. So is organic loss…
Paid placement :
- 37% of the whole screen
- 47% of available real estate
#1 organic might come below the fold…
+ no data, no party!

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ASO keeps changing… do you?
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Keyword ranking dances
Localized keyword (ES>MX, AU..)
Indexed experiments
Vitals as a penalization factor
Play Store multiple redesigns…
Personalized featurings
Appstore API
Pre-registrations
Try now / Instant apps
Promoted IAP
Ratings reset (iOS), recent ratings (Play Store)
Countless UI & data bugs in the consoles…
…

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ASO in 2019 : a holistic discipline
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Organic search is just one part of the ASO puzzle
• Search “ASO meets ASA”
• Browse Charts, App of the day, story,
collection, related apps
• CRO! Conversion is the name of the game

30. © Thomasbcn 2019
ASO in 2019 :
title, subtitle, keyword field
Icon, screenshot, header,
app preview(s)
App weight
Vitals
Engagement, uninstalls…
[Black hat]
Ratings & Reviews
Localization
Localized kwd fields!
Promo text, description
what’s new
Promo IAP, icon, description
Featurings (inc. Search)
Category Charts
Search Ranking
App Bundle
ASA!
Creative Sets
A/B test
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What’s next?
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The future of ASO is happening in front of you