Is there such a thing as SEO for the Apple iTunes store, for when you’re submitting an app? I want my app to rank well when people are searching the App Store, but I’m not sure how to do it.
Michael Cyger
[ Admin ]
I have tried to find other websites with this exact same information. At the end of the day, there’s not much information. But as of today, here is what I do know from my various submissions at KnowPro:
- You can enter a title, description and keywords when submitting an app to the Apple iTunes App Store.
- Apple is not Google, and the app title != <title> of a webpage, the app description != <meta name=“description”>, and the app keywords != <meta name=“keywords”>. They’re titled the same, but that is where the similarity ends.
- Your app title DOES factor into Apple’s algorithm, so you will want to put keywords or phrases into this field, if possible. This is why you will sometimes see a title like “TaskMgr – Task Manager for Task Management” (this is just an example I made up).
- Your app description DOES NOT factor into Apple’s Algorithm. The way I determined this is that I put my company name (KnowPro) into the app description field, and no other field, and could not find my apps by searching for “knowpro”. This is enormously frustrating as it goes against everything that SEO professionals have learned and spent 15 years practicing from the early Alta Vista days. As far as I can tell right now, the app description is useless for search purposes.
- Your app keywords DO factor into Apple’s algorithm. You can include a keyword like “knowpro” and not include it in the title or description, and your app will show up when searched for that word using your iPhone/iPod/iPad App application.
Here’s what I don’t know yet:
- If including a word or phrase in the title AND keywords will rank an app higher than in one of those two fields only.
- If including a word in the title OR keywords fields will rank your app higher than if the word were in the other field.
- How the “age” (when first approved) of an app factors into the search algorithm, if at all.
- How the price of an app factors into the search algorithm, if at all. (I thought I read something that said that higher priced apps would be displayed first, all other factors being equal. This makes sense since Apple would want to maximize revenue.)
- How the user ratings of an app (and how user ratings provided over various versions of the app) factor into the search algorithm. (Is there a minimum number of user ratings required before it’s a factor?)
- How the version number of an app (similar to “age” listed above) factors into the search algorithm. Perhaps higher version or older apps rank better since they’ve been around longer…Google does give some preference to older domain registrations and websites.