The importance of keywords for the success of your Android app should not be taken lightly, in simple terms, the right keywords could be the make or break of your Android app. I am sure you have heard me mutter on about ‘keywords’ in various posts on our blog but have you really understood the importance and the purpose of keywords?In this post I am going to be taking you through the steps of learning what a keyword is, how to create a suitable keyword for your app and how to avoid abusing keywords when planning your Android app.
What is a Keyword?
You should think about a keyword as the street name, or signage to your Android app, it is these words or phrases that we are talking about that direct the search engines to an app. The app world differs from the web in terms of keywords, because the search in apps does not focus on content, but on the app name and description only. By over filling keywords into your app and the app description too many times you could find your app being banned from Google Play because they see this as keyword stuffing.
How do keywords help my app?
Keywords will help your app to be found in a search just like you would use a sign to find directions, for example you want to get to London town, you will follow signs to London town, the same happens with Google, you place your serch term in Google (where you want to get to, and Google will guide you there by following the search term. Our research has shown us that app makers that have spent time on their keyword research get ten times more downloads than prior to doing their research.
How to I find the right key word?
1. Log on to Google adwords- click here
2. Type in some words related to your subject
3. Note down what words/phrases are used the most often
4. Try a few more times, each time note down your favourites
5. Now go back and check the competition level. You want to choose a keyword/phrase that has low competition
6. Trial and error – If you find the app does not succeed, try changing the name. On average we have found that apps that change their names up to 4 times see an increase of 7 times the amount of downloads.
Competition
There is a lot of competition in the keyword world, and it is important to understand the meaning behind the level of competition. If you have chosen a very popular word that is viewed over 20,000 times a month but has high competition rate you WILL find that many people are already using this word. What that means is that when you type this keyword into your app search there be a lot of apps that appear and you will still be fighting for a position on the first few pages of the search. You want to choose a keyword that has low competition. Low competition means there will be less apps using this keyword and more chance your app will appear in the first page of search results.
Has this help you in planning your Android app? Please let me know how we can help you further.