3 MINUTES BULLSHIT WITH GEORGE #22: Keywords in App Store Optimization with Ilia Kukharev

Episode #22 of 3 MINUTES BULLSHIT WITH GEORGE featured Ilia Kukharev, Product Manager at AppFollow. We discussed the keywords’ role in App Store Optimization.

You can listen to the full episode here:

In this episode of 3 MINUTES BULLSHIT WITH GEORGE, George Natsvlishvili is joined by Ilia Kukharev, Product Manager at AppFollow. AppFollow is a leading App Review Management & App Store Optimisation tool.

Ilia shares his experience as a Mobile Growth Expert about the keywords' role in App Store Optimization.

Check out all the other episodes of 3 MINUTES BULLSHIT WITH GEORGE on our website or on Youtube channel.

Connect with Ilia and her agency here:

Timestamps:

00:00 Dance

00:15 Ilia’s Introduction

00:29 Keywords in App Store Optimization

03:23 Bloopers

Transcript & Key takeaways from the episode:

The keywords were the key of ASO like 6-7 years ago because we didn't have anything else besides keywords in App Store and Google Play. But right now, there are lots of other things like convention rate, ratings, reviews, in-app events, and the stores' algorithm. And all this is also ASO right now.
The games are getting approx 98% of their traffic from browsers. So we need to find out how to get Apple and Google to know what we are doing, what our game or app is about to get our featured placements, to get our collections placements, and all this browse traffic.
It's not only keywords anymore, it's reviews and ratings as well. If your ratings drop by 4.0 or lower, you gonna lose all your conversion rate, all your statistics, and all the traffic, your app will be ranked lower by keywords and people will not download your app.
The goal is to optimize all the things together to work on everything that is on an app page. You shall spend not more than 10% of your time working on keywords. Together with that, you shall work with the graphics, icons, screenshots, and ratings to let it like being 4.5 and more, working with reviews. You need to work with a conversion rate because it will bring you more traffic and more downloads, with in-app events, Google algorithms, and so altogether.

George: I want to ask one question to you. Question about ASO and keywords. Some people are thinking old-fashioned that keywords are the key of ASO. What are your thoughts about it and what is your experience?

Ilia: Yeah, keywords were the key of ASO like 6 years ago, 7 years ago when I started doing ASO. So actually the problem was that we didn't have anything else besides keywords in our App Store and Google Play. But right now, there are lots of other things like convention rate, ratings, reviews, in-app events, and the Google algorithm. So everything else is also ASO right now. So we are not stuck with keywords. We are not spending all of our time working with keywords, so we just work on them altogether. We optimize for Google algorithms, we optimize for this machine, for this neural thing. We need to find out how to get Google to know what we are doing what our app is about to get our featured placements, to get our collections placements, and all this browse traffic.

Like maybe, you know, that games are getting like 98% of their traffic from browse. So it's super important to let Google know what your app is about and that it's not ASO anymore, these are reviews as well. What people are writing about your app in the reviews, that's super crucial for the algorithms and also your rating. Well, if your rating dropped by 4.0 or lower and you lose all your conversion rate, you lose all your statistics, and you lose all the traffic because people are not downloading your app. And what does it mean? People are not downloading your app, you are ranking lower by keywords, and you are losing. So that's it. So, the goal is to optimize all the things together to work on everything that is on an app page as I said. Of course the keywords as well, but you need to spend like 10% of your time working on keywords and not more. Then you need to work with the graphics, icons, screenshots, and ratings to let it like being 4.5 and more, working with reviews, like, what your users are writing you about to tell your team, what they need to do. You need to work with conversion rate because it's eventually will bring you more traffic and more downloads. So, with in-app events, Google algorithms, so with altogether. So this is complicated right now and the keywords should take like maybe 10% of your time.

George: Thank you, Ilia. So the keywords are not key anymore.

Ilia: Yeah, yeah. That's absolutely right.

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