Some people say that ASO is just SEO for apps, but that is not the whole truth. While they do have a lot of common characteristics and similarities, they are two different things, each with their own goal.
Why don’t we have a look at the differences and similarities of ASO and SEO and help you to understand them better.
1. Definition
ASO or App Store Optimization is important when you want to reach the users who are browsing the app stores; it is the process of optimizing an application or game in order to improve its visibility. It increases traffic to the listing and improves conversion rate to generate the highest volume of organic downloads.
SEO or Search Engine Optimization is also a process of optimizing content with the goal to get your website a better positioning on the SERPs. It is the method of increasing the quality and quantity of traffic to your site through organic results; when someone is looking for information, the websites with properly optimized content will appear higher on the result pages.
2. Search intent
ASO: search queries in the app stores are generally shorter than those on the web and are therefore not only more functional but also related to particular app features. People usually either search for specific apps or are looking for a new app that can serve a certain need.
SEO: the web is overflown with different contents so the search terms are longer and more specific. When browsing through the web, people normally seek answers to specific questions or are looking for a certain product, and without a proper SEO, a website can get lost in this vast sea of contents.
3. Goal
The essential goal of ASO and SEO is almost the same; obtaining free organic traffic. The difference is that ASO helps you acquire app traffic, leading to more organic downloads, and SEO gets you more visitors (organic traffic) which helps you grow the online business.
4. Ranking factors
Ranking factors are where the difference between ASO and SEO is the most obvious. There are a lot known factors (on-page and off-page) for SEO, such as keywords in the title tag and the header tags, high quality, and relevant content, content length, and structure, optimized meta tags and URLs, backlinks, domain authority, etc.
ASO is not as complex as SEO because it does not have as many factors, and what is important here is quite different: app title, app description, keywords used, app icon, screenshots, and videos, app localization, number of downloads, and conversion rate.
As you can see, things that are important for SEO are not the same as those essential for ASO.
5. Other important differences
ASO: nothing sells an app better than great visuals; a good image or an informative short video is a great way to show potential users what an app has to offer. The written content should be ‘’short and sweet’’, providing people just enough information to draw them in, and with a few good screenshots, people are more likely to go forward with the download.
SEO: including images in the content can go a long way, but it will not go very far if they are not accompanied by potent, compelling, and relevant written material. People enjoy good content, and they will come back for more in the future if they are satisfied with what you provide. But most importantly, it is the search engines that are impressed with well-written material and the positioning on SERPs can improve greatly.
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