Why Do Only the Top 10 Keyword Ranks Matter in ASO? Incipia Miniseries

Q: Why Do Only Top 10 Keyword Ranks Matter in ASO?

A: Keyword ranks are a zero-sum game, where the result ranked first takes the largest slice of the visibility pie, with lower results receiving progressively smaller slices.

In the App Store (especially iPhone where only 2 results show at once), this is even more extreme than on a computer.

Most people will not scroll too far down in the search results to find an app, hence apps at ranks beyond a certain point are unlikely to ever be seen.

The shape of the estimated distribution of downloads by keyword rank (highlighted in the AppTweak data graph above) illustrates why it's important to aim for top keyword ranks.

That said, depending on the popularity of the keyword, whether it's branded or not and a few other factors, the top 10 benchmark may be an over or under-estimate of which ranks really matter for driving material downloads.

The graph shows that rank 1 captures the largest slice of all ranks, with a steep drop-off when moving to #2 and eventually shrinking to < 1% of total downloads after rank #33.

We use a slightly different scale internally and the true distribution is known only to Apple and Google, but the AppTweak data is currently the most useful way to assess your keyword success and see which keywords matter to your ASO success/potential success (besides Google Play's organic search term data).

Read our post on AppTweak's new organic keyword download estimation data and visit AppTweak's website for more information on the topic.

The Incipia Marketing Miniseries is a collection of 250 to 500-word posts on topics spanning App Store Optimization, user acquisition, and analytics, written by Incipia CEO, Gabe Kwakyi – speaker, author of over 300 articles on mobile marketing and co-author of the Advanced ASO Book.

Incipia is a growth marketing consultancy, with a specialty in advertising, App Store Optimization, and analytics. For post topics, feedback or business inquiries please contact us, or send an inquiry to projects@incipia.co