The App Store is like a bustling shopping mall, housing numerous stores. These millions of stores within it strive to attract visitors, and, naturally, all of them prefer to open their stores in the most prominent and busy areas of the mall rather than hidden corridors. This way, they can be easily noticed by those who come in. Similarly, in the App Store, the primary goal for every app is to become more visible and stand out.

This is why finding effective ways to maximize your app’s visibility and drive conversions is crucial. App Store Optimization (ASO) and Apple Search Ads are two powerful resources in your hands, and when used in harmony, they can supercharge your app’s success because they support each other’s efforts to reach the right audience.

In this blog post, we’ll explore how you can harness the synergy between ASO and Apple Search Ads to achieve better conversion rates and unlock the full potential of your mobile app. Let’s start with brief explanations.

  • App Store Optimization is like the milestone of your app’s success. It involves optimizing various elements within your app’s rankings on the App Store. These elements include your app’s title, keywords, icon, screenshots, and description. The main goal of ASO is to improve your app’s visibility in organic search results and increase its chances of being downloaded.
  • Apple Search Ads, on the other hand, is a paid advertising platform specifically designed for promoting apps within the App Store in different placements. These can be search results ads, Search tab ads, Today tab ads and product page ads. Think of them as TV commercials for your company and you are deciding which channels to broadcast your ad.
  • While ASO, Apple Search Ads, and various paid marketing approaches can influence your app’s performance on their own, their potential for success multiplies when they’re thoughtfully integrated.

There’s a valuable insight to consider – running effective Apple Search Ads campaigns for specific keywords, especially those closely aligned with your app, may lead to an increase in paid installs. Over time, an uptick in paid installs can positively influence your app’s overall performance, potentially resulting in improved organic rankings for those same keywords

Let’s now dive into how to combine these two powerful app marketing strategies to make your app stand out in the market and make it more visible than ever. Here are 4 reasons to combine Apple Search Ads and ASO efforts that our experts suggest.

  1. When you combine your strategy for ASO and Apple Search Ads, winning keyword auctions becomes an easier process. If your app already ranks organically for certain keywords, your chance of succeeding in Apple Search Ads auctions for those same keywords increase significantly. Conversely, achieving success in Apple Search Ads can bolster your organic strength for specific keywords, creating a symbiotic relationship. Winning auctions, even with lower bids, becomes more attainable for keywords where you already hold organic ranking.
  2. Imagine you’ve researched and chosen the ideal keywords for your app through Apple Search Ads. Your campaign structure and match types are perfectly configured. However, some relevant keywords that you anticipate would perform well fail to utilize their allocated budget, despite competitive bidding. The root cause? Misalignment between the keywords in your metadata and those you’re bidding on in Apple Search Ads. To increase the chances of your app appearing on the App Store, Apple’s algorithm requires harmony between your metadata keywords and your Apple Search Ads bids. This synergy signals that your app is the most suitable choice for a user’s search query, ultimately boosting your app’s visibility.
  3. Apple Search Ads in the App Store make your app more visible to incoming users and invite them to discover it. While it enhances your app’s visibility, if your app’s profile isn’t compelling and informative enough, retaining potential users can become challenging. This is where we recognize yet another significance of combining ASO and Apple Search Ads. With Apple Search Ads, you capture the user’s attention and draw them in; your ASO efforts, such as your app icon, screenshots, description, title, and positive reviews, are essential for keeping them engaged.

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How Automations Can Boost Your App Performance

Keywords serve as the cornerstone of success for Apple Search Ads and ASO. Choosing the right keywords for bidding and metadata can rapidly boost your app’s performance and growth in just hours. However, this task involves substantial effort, including market analysis, days of keyword research, and metric analysis to optimize your rankings and spending. That’s why we offer automation tools to simplify this process, reducing errors.

Our dashboard streamlines campaign management, making every install a valuable user through AI-powered automation. This way you can optimize your campaigns without compromise across different ad placements to achieve maximum budget efficiency with AI-powered automation rules for search results. You can:

  • Detect underperforming keywords across campaigns.
  • Promote well-performing keywords for increased traffic and ROI.
  • Expand your keyword pool through keyword discovery.

Here are some real-life examples of our clients’ success:

  • By automating the keyword finding and bidding process, they expanded their keyword pool and improved ASO and Apple Search Ads. They observed a substantial decrease in CPIs and an increase in organic keyword rankings. For instance, our customer’s organic keyword count grew significantly between January and May. Additionally, the CPA dropped from $4.96 to $4.69, and the CPI decreased from $35.33 to $30.48.
  • One of our clients experienced significant growth in Apple Search Ads spending and installs after using SearchAds.com. These AI-powered automations helped find the right keywords, acquire valuable users with less effort, and bid more competitively. In just two months, they increased spending by almost 150% and saw over 2x more monthly installs.

Try automations now to be the next success story.

When ASO and Apple Search Ads Come Together…

Let’s delve into a practical example from the SearchAds.com platform to illustrate the close relationship between ASO and Apple Search Ads. Keywords play a pivotal role in both these realms, as they are the gateways through which users discover your app.

Consider two finance apps utilizing SearchAds.com and targeting similar keywords. One of these apps successfully generates results with the keyword “money management,” while the other struggles to spend its budget on the same keyword despite bidding more than double the first app.

The first app not only maintains a higher spend but also boasts a superior organic ranking for the “money management” keyword, all while using lower bids in comparison to the second app. What’s more, this app’s organic ranking for the keyword currently sits at 24 and continues to climb.

In contrast, the second finance app allocates a relatively modest budget to the “money management” keyword, even with higher bids. Curiously, this app lacks any organic ranking for the same keyword, and its spending for this keyword remains notably lower when compared to the first app.

Decoding Candy Crush’s Success: A Case Study

Let’s discuss the case study of Candy Crush now to see the potential benefit of combining ASO and Apple Search Ads. While not a client, by utilizing MobileAction’s SearchAds Intelligence and ASO Intelligence tools, we can discern a strategic move by Candy Crush. These tools give advertisers invaluable insights about the market and competitors — so let’s walk through an example together. Candy Crush initiated an advertising campaign for the keyword “Subway Surfers” through Apple Search Ads. Upon examining data from June 22nd to July 22nd, we detected a noteworthy improvement in the organic rankings of keywords associated with “Subway Surfers,” “Subway,” and related variations. While it’s not officially confirmed that this approach leads to a positive impact, it reflects a recurring pattern we often encounter when exploring new keyword targets.

As we can see in the above example, by combining the strengths of ASO and ASA, you can create a well-rounded strategy that not only improves your app’s visibility but also increases the chances of conversion. This synergy empowers you to fine-tune your app’s presence on the App Store, ensuring that it reaches the right audience and compels them to take action.

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How can MobileAction tools help you combine ASO and Apple Search Ads?

At MobileAction, we recognize the symbiotic relationship between ASO and Apple Search Ads, and how they mutually enhance each other. We’re committed to supporting your success on both fronts, striving to elevate your app to its rightful place. We understand the significance of the synergy between ASO and Apple Search Ads, and our tools are designed to assist you on both the organic and paid sides.

For instance, our ASO Intelligence tool support you with comprehensive keyword research capabilities, allowing you to uncover new keywords, identify keyword trends, and reveal the keywords your competitors are organically ranking for. You can then leverage these insights to enhance your paid strategy using our campaign management tool, Searchads.com. This integration ensures that your paid efforts align seamlessly with your organic efforts.

If there’s a high-search-volume keyword, a coveted term within your category that your competitors are utilizing, but you’re not achieving the desired ranking, you can incorporate this keyword into your search results campaign, giving you a competitive edge.

Key Takeaways

  • Keyword Harmony: ASO and Apple Search Ads are most effective when their keyword strategies align. Keywords are the foundation for user discovery in both realms, making meticulous keyword selection crucial.
  • Synergistic Impact: Combining ASO and Apple Search Ads can lead to mutually beneficial results. Apple Search Ads can boost your organic rankings for keywords where you already perform well organically and vice versa, enhancing the chances of success in keyword auctions.
  • App Profile and User Retention: While Apple Search Ads enhance visibility, an app’s profile must be compelling to retain users. ASO plays a vital role in making sure users stay engaged through appealing app icons, screenshots, descriptions, titles, and positive reviews.
  • Enhanced Visibility: Apple Search Ads can significantly increase your app’s visibility in the App Store, but a captivating app profile is essential for user retention. ASO complements Apple Search Ads by keeping users engaged once they’re drawn in.

To ask further questions, learn more about ASO & Apple Search Ads or discover our smart tools, schedule a demo with our experts and go beyond your competition!