ASO in iOS 11: What will change for game developers

Alexander Semenov, Senior Editor App2Top.ru Q: What will the developers have to change first of all in their already released games from the point of view of ASO?

Anastasia Ascheulova

Anastasia Ascheulova, ASO expert in AppFollow: The last time Apple shortened the name from 255 to 50 characters, some games had installations dropped by 30% (according to AppFollow). Therefore, it is important to keep the current rates of installations, purchases and conversions.

At a minimum, it is necessary not to lose the current coverage of search queries and positions. Games with a name length of more than 30 characters may encounter this. In such cases, it is recommended to move keywords from the title to the subtitle (subtitle, it was not in the App Store before). This will allow you not to disappear from the output for queries that formed the words in the name.

From the point of view of ASO, old screenshots and videos can have a bad effect on conversion. Since now 3 vertical screenshots are displayed in the search, and not two as it was in iOS 10, many details on them will become small and unreadable. This applies to both the text in the screenshots and the graphic elements of the game screens themselves. Therefore, it is recommended to adapt the image sizes to the new type of search.

Be sure to test the effect of horizontal video on conversion to installation. Now the video starts automatically and it can be localized to the desired language. If you have a game with complex mechanics, then you can try the option with three videos, this is now also possible.

In summary, the main risks of falling indicators are the loss of positions on queries and the deterioration of conversion to installation.

You just mentioned that the situation has changed with the screenshots. Will you give me advice on how to optimize them for the new iOS 11?

Ascheulova: We need to make them “readable”, since screenshots without adaptation to iOS 11 may look small. In readable screenshots:

1. the text is larger;
2. the demo screens of the game itself are larger;
3. horizontal screenshots look better because they are shown one at a time.

You also mentioned that iOS 11 will have a subtitle. What do you think they will be needed for, what is their role?

Ascheulova: Apparently, this is an attempt by Apple to make the pages more “selling”.

Changing the page format (shortening the name, sub-name, etc.) makes it more orderly and easy for the user to perceive.

From the point of view of ASO, shortening the length of the name and adding a sub-name does not affect the ability to manipulate the search, as it was before. It seems that search suggestions will become shorter and will consist mainly of the names of games and applications.

What optional but important features would you highlight when talking about posting games?

Ascheulova: I’ll highlight three more.

1. The “What’s new” section on the application page will be displayed above for those users who have installed or deleted the application. This is done in order to better interact with those who already know about the application, previously installed. For other users, this block will be below the screenshots, as before.

2. The ability to reset the average rating of the game. Now it counts for the whole history and the developer has the opportunity to reset it when updating the game. This can be useful at the start, for example, in case of an unsuccessful softlonch.

3. The description of the game can be changed only when it is updated, but the Promo Text field has appeared, which will be shown before the description, you can update it anytime. The field is non-indexed, can be used for important news and marketing texts.

The appearance of the promo text, which can be changed without updating the application itself, allows you to conduct tests of advertising texts directly on the App Store page. This new method may affect the conversion to the installation of the application.

An important change in iOS 11 will also be the appearance of pages with IAP in the search results. What is known about them? Why are they needed at all?

Ascheulova: Yes, now we have the opportunity to promote not only games in the App Store, but also internal purchases: one-time “inapps” and subscriptions. In-app purchases are shown in the search and you can buy them without launching the game or before you install it. The second seems to be a breakthrough in the monetization of games, now it’s interesting to see how it will work in practice.

Tests of colleagues from DevGame showed that ASO optimization by keywords will affect the promotion of internal purchases. So, the keys from the In-App Purchases name are indexed by the search, previously only the full name was the key. In addition, the game itself is shown by the name of the IAP.

I’m bringing it to the point that with the help of internal purchases, we will be able to influence the ASO optimization of the application.

For the game, this is a way to increase revenue, and it will be easier for the user to find a particular game.

It seems that this is how Apple wants to promote good developers, allowing them to appear in search results and compete in search results with games and applications, including competitors.

I also want to add here that now the App Store allows you to brand some developer pages by adding a banner on them (like a promo banner on Google Play). This feature is not available to everyone, but only to those to whom Apple has given this opportunity. I hope that soon this opportunity will become widespread and available to many “good” developers, including indie ones.

As for the promotion of such a page, it will appear in the search for brand queries. There are fewer opportunities to promote your page using ASO methods than in IAP, since the promotion will be indirect rather than direct.

If we talk about changes in working with search results, what else would you highlight?

Ascheulova: Categories are now even less accessible to the user. To study their full list, you need to open the entire list and do a lot of swipes to scroll to at least the 10th place.

Changes in the App Store have made the motive to the tops of the category potentially more expensive, since there are fewer “prize places”. Thus, Apple kills organic products from the tops. Remember, there used to be a withdrawal service in the “top overola”? Here it will no longer be.

Will the disappearance of the cash top have a big impact on downloads? And do you think its indexing will also be covered?

Ascheulova: If you were in the top of cash applications, then most likely there will be a difference in downloads, but it will not be noticeable against the general background. All games that did not have high positions in this top will not feel the difference, since they did not receive traffic from there before.

It is unknown whether indexing will be closed or not, but if so, then many useful services that give an understanding of income in a particular niche will stop working or their approximations will become even worse. This will complicate the tasks of market analysis if a new data source is not offered instead.

Here’s another fly in the ointment. Last week, Apple removed the App Store from the desktop version of iTunes, and the “Install” button disappeared from the application pages. There is a suspicion that the iOS app store may appear in the Mac App Store application or a web version will appear (like Google Play), but this is not certain.

Let’s tell you a little secret — some application data was taken through this App Store, now there will be no such opportunity and many services will lose up-to-date application data.

Can you tell me more about the changes in the work of the feature?

Ascheulova: Now apps and games are two different menu items. The main pages for games and apps are also separated. The feature page is now:

• selections from App Store editors;
• top free and paid apps or games;
• list of categories;
• a block with internal purchases (In-App).

Now games and business apps will compete less and that’s cool.

One of the main innovations in the App Store on iOS 11 is the appearance of the Today section, in which several editorial materials (stories) appear every day:

• Game of the Day
• Application of the day
• one or two collections with apps/games

Each story is provided with interesting texts and illustrations, as well as a link to the material that can be shared. Apple has made a small media for the content in the App Store, with all the stories translated into the main languages.

How do you feel about changes in general? What were they aimed at and will it become easier for developers after all of them in an oversaturated market?

Ascheulova: Apple is struggling with the problem of visibility of games and applications, obviously, they and, as a result, developers want to earn more. The current mechanisms are outdated, they have reached a maximum in “sales”. That’s why there are so many changes in the new version of the App Store. It remains to understand how these changes are “useful” for ASO. Developers definitely won’t get any easier, but they can get richer.

Thanks for the answers!