作者：Jonathan Raveh

尽管App Store与Google Play问世仅有几年时间，开发者却已经由此收获了大量宝贵经验。在过去数年中，游戏晋升为榜单之首的途径已经发生了许多变化……这并非对开发者有利的局面。你总能不时听到某位原来名不见经传的开发者所推出的应用突然就飙升到了榜单第一，第二或第三名。但这种情况已经越来越少了。iOS和Android应用数量超过300万，这个领域竞争日益激烈。因此不投入足够的广告预算，似乎就不太可能从中脱颖而出。

更糟糕的是，优化应用并提升流量的一个主要工具也正迅速衰落。没错，应用关键字的效能正走向绝境。如果你搜索网页就会发现大量关于灵活使用关键字而令应用获得极高辨识度的励志文章。许多公司和服务（如Sensor Tower）为开发者提供优化其关键字的工具。不幸的是，这一招已经不管用了。2012年已经远去，热门关键字背后现在都已经集结了成千上万款相互竞争的应用。而使用较为冷门的关键字在许多情况下仍然可行，但若使用了这种关键字就无法获取广大用户。

ASO(from th7.cn)

那么今后该怎么办？

当今应用开发者要做的第一步就是理解从数量到质量的转型。你应用下载页面的高转化率在许多情况下，可以补偿流量不足的情况。因此，要实现应用在Google Play和App Store的优化，就很有必要采取以下一系列措施：

1.图标，描述，截图和视频——你应用页面的其他元素的重要性已经超过已往。你很有必要创建高质量的文本和素材，一定要添加高水准的视频，以及独特和高分辨率的图标。出色的文本可以让用户理解你的应用总体情况。现在质量已经超越数量，所以你最好瞄准忠诚度更高和定位更准确的用户。

注：无论你认为自己应用的这些元素有多优秀，都必须再三思考，进行优化和重建，要确保它们没有纰漏。

2.评分/评价——这两者现在对你的应用商店排名影响极大。要用上所有你可能虏获用户的工具，并让他们为应用打分。多数用户都需要一些小小的“催促”才会去打分和评价。所以不要强迫他们去操作，但也不要羞于启齿。

注：如果你获得差评或投诉——要妥善解决这些问题并主动与那些指出问题的用户联系。出色的客服可以为你的应用加分。

3.病毒性——好友及熟人推荐是应用获得下载安装的最可靠途径。要确保你为用户提供了在Facebook、Twitter或其他相关社交网站上分享、推荐应用的功能。iOS游戏可以绑定Game Center，使用Facebook登录API也可以加分。

注：易用性是必须选项！如果你的产品不易使用，需要大量时间或者时常崩溃，那就没必要考虑这个问题了。

4.避免常识性错误——一切都准备就绪，就是走了捷径的人，最终肯定会全盘皆输。采用激励性安装，商标侵权等错误捷径，最终会在事情败露时让你堕入深渊。

注：要保存你必须遵守的条款和规章制度。遵从应用商店的游戏规则，你才可能安全无虞。

5.获得应用商店推荐——如果说真有什么成功捷径的话，那就是应用商店推荐。获得推荐可以让你一夜之间收获无数下载量。但糟糕的是这一点要取决于苹果和谷歌。好消息就在于它们的商店内容团队总在寻找新颖而有趣的内容。尽管要接触这些团队相当困难，但你还是可以采取一些措施提高获得推荐的机率：

a.iOS——要主动去寻找苹果公司代表（即苹果开发者关系经理）并向其发送电子邮件，附上你自己的应用原型。当应用即将上线时，向appstorepromotion@apple.com发送邮件，附上相关素材和信息。如果你有营销素材，那也一并附在邮件中，并发送到appstoremarketing@apple.com，总之不要犹豫。

b.Android——要确保你已经根据谷歌最新条款开发应用，对应用页面和内容进行了本地化处理，因为谷歌一般更青睐那些经过本地化处理的应用。

6.关键字-—–提到这一点似乎有违前文主旨，但并非如此。关键字仍然很重要，只是你得用它找到相关用户（而非大量和户）。要想想你的一般或理想用户会搜索哪些应用。要使用你认为他们可能进行搜索的字段。可以查看直接竞争对手的做法并从中借鉴经验。

注：要摒弃流行的关键字，仅关注具有关联性的关键字。

即使有了这样建议，开发者也仍然很难获得成功——在短时间内实现这一目标尤其困难。但遵从上述步骤将为你的成功打下基础，创造一款高质量用户体验，能够满足人们实际需求的应用是开发者获得成功的真正基础。（本文由游戏邦编译，转载请注明来源，或咨询微信zhengjintiao）

Death of the app keyword – what’s next?

by Jonathan Raveh

While the history of the App Store and especially Google Play is still relatively short, developers have already gained considerable mileage in experience. The ability to become a chart topping, massive app-hit has changed quite a bit in the last few years… and not in favor of the developers. Every now and again you’ll find an anonymous developer sky-rocketing his app into the number 1, 2 or 3 spot. But those incidences are becoming increasingly rare. With over 3 million iOS and Android apps available, clearly the competition is as fierce as ever. Standing out, without an ample advertising budget, seems almost impossible.

To make things even worse, one of the main tools to optimize an app and generate traffic is quickly fading away. Yes, app keywords are dying. If you search the web you may find insightful stories about apps that gained massive recognition due to the clever use of keywords. Many companies and services (such as Sensor Tower) offer developers tools to help them optimize their keywords according to performance. Unfortunately, this reality is no longer in play. 2012 is in the distant past, and there are no longer available popular keywords that don’t have thousands of quality apps competing for them. Using less popular keywords may still work in many cases, but you won’t reach the masses using them.

So what’s next?

The very first step for every app developer nowadays is to understand that the focus has shifted from quantity to quality. High conversion rates in your app download page can, in many cases, make up for the lack of sufficient traffic. As a result, there are quite a number of action items that now must take place in order to optimize your app on Google Play and the App Store:

1.    Icon, Description, Screenshots and Video – The other components of your app page are now more important than ever. It is absolutely essential that you create quality text and materials. Don’t go live without a quality video

and a unique, high-resolution icon. Killer text is also key because that will, more than anything, make users understand what your app is all about. Quality now beats quantity, so you are much better off with fewer but more loyal and targeted users.

Note: All of these elements, no matter how good you think they are, need to be re-thought, optimized and re-built to make sure you are getting it right.

2.    Ratings/Reviews – These now have a huge impact on your App Store position. Use all the tools you can to reach your users and have them rate. Most users need a small ‘push’ to go and rate your app. So don’t force them to do it, but don’t be shy about it either.

Note: If you get bad reviews or complaints – make sure you address them and reach out to those who pointed them out. Nothing beats good customer service.

3.    Virality – There are no better users than those who installed your app based off of a recommendation from a close friend or relative. Make sure your users have an easy-to-use ability to recommend you on Facebook, Twitter or any other relevant social network. Connecting to Game Center (for iOS games) and using Facebook login API may also help.

Note: Easy to use is mandatory! If it’s not easy, takes too much time or crashes your app – don’t bother.

4.    Avoiding Common Mistakes – Those who do everything right, but take shortcuts, will ultimately get it all wrong. The list is long; incentivized installs, trademark violations… These shortcuts will only get you so far. Plus, it will all go down the drain when Google or Apple finds out.

Note: Store terms and conditions have everything you need to know. It is pretty straightforward stuff. Work according to their guidelines and you’ll be just fine.

5.    Getting Featured In The App Store – If there’s one shortcut to success, this is it. Getting featured in the store will get you thousands of installs overnight, if not more. The bad news is Google and Apple are controlling it. The good news is that their store content team is always on the lookout for new and interesting apps to showcase. While reaching those teams is pretty hard, there are still some things that can improve your chances to be featured in the store:

a.    iOS – Don’t wait until the last minute. Look for Apple representatives (Apple Developer Relations Managers) and email them with your app prototype. Once it’s ready to go live, email them with all the relevant materials and information to: appstorepromotion@apple.com. If you have marketing materials, include them: appstoremarketing@apple.com. Don’tbe shy.

b.    Android – Make sure to create your app according to Google’s Best practices. Make sure you localize your app page and content, as Google tends to prefer localized apps over those that aren’t.

6.    Keywords – This kind of contradicts this entire article, doesn’t it? Well, not completely. Keywords are still important, as long as you use them to find relevant users (other than just ‘a whole lot of users’). Think about what your average or ideal users would be searching for. Use the terms you think they would use to find your app. Check out your direct competitors and learn from them.

Note: Disregard popularity of the keywords altogether. Focus only on relevancy.

Even with these tips, success can be hard to gain…especially if you are looking to achieve it within a short amount of time. Following the above steps will lay a strong foundation upon which to build success. Ultimately, creating a quality user experience that serves an essential human need is the true basis for an app success story.（source:gamasutra）