Promoting A Website Vs A Mobile App: Marketing Strategy Differences

It's natural to believe that promoting an app and a website requires the same strategies.

They both fall under the umbrella of digital marketing, so how far apart can they be? Wrong. Of course, there are some overlaps and similar terminology, and they require frequent updates. However, the methods used to accomplish these differ in almost every detail.

If you use the same marketing strategy for your app for your website, you're undoubtedly passing up some low-hanging fruit. App stores and search engines are very different online environments with other requirements, constraints, and algorithms. Targeting your strategy can help you make the most of everything they offer.

AXISMOBI, a mobile marketing agency, is here to discuss how you should separate your web and app marketing strategies.

What Is the Difference Between ASO and SEO?

SEO is probably the more well-known of the two terms. Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is optimizing a web page to achieve the highest possible ranking in search engines to drive organic traffic to the site. You want to increase the number of visitors to your website and the number of relevant visitors. There are several approaches to this, which we will discuss in more detail later.

ASO is an abbreviation for App Store Optimization. It is sometimes referred to as app SEO. Except ASO isn't attempting to direct organic traffic to a site but somewhat organic app downloads by optimizing an app to rank as high as possible in the app store. It aims to increase visibility for search results and browse-related traffic (for example, category ranking and being featured on a peer app's page under the "Similar Apps" section).

The critical point to remember here is that you cannot use the same strategy for both.

You are constrained by the restrictions of the various app stores when using ASO. There are significant differences in requirements even between the two frontrunners, Apple App Store and Google Play.

The App Name and Subtitle can only be 30 characters long on iOS. In Google Play, the App Name can be 50 characters long, and the Short Description can be 80 characters long. Whereas with SEO, you have far more freedom to steer your website in any direction. Although specific techniques are bound to outperform others, it is not necessary to create them with this in mind.

Regarding search results listings, the roles are reversed, with ASO providing more leeway. You can experiment with icons, videos, screenshots, titles, and descriptions in the search results pages of app stores. But what do you see when you do a Google search on the internet? It's mostly a long list of blue links and a lot of text. In this regard, visuals play a more significant role in ASO.

The factors that influence both ASO and SEO, you guessed it... They differ. There is a lengthy list for both; we will not cover it all (that is a topic for another day). However, the app title, short description, screenshots, and other visual elements impact ASO.

Are You Using Keywords Correctly?

In-app and web marketing, you must be strategic in using keywords. Nobody wants to read a keyword-stuffed text that provides little value other than every potentially relevant keyword. This isn't required for the App Store because it penalizes you for it, and it isn't necessary for a web page because Google is pretty smart and can understand what you're trying to say anyway.

One of the most significant differences is that app stores only allow a certain number of characters for different metadata. For example, the App Store limits subtitle to 30 characters, while Google Play limits app titles to 50.

You can only use each keyword once to avoid exceeding your character limit, so choose wisely. Utilizing a keyword multiple times in the Apple App Store does not affect your ranking. This is not the case for the Google Play Store or the SEO world, where using more keywords can boost your order.

Interestingly, the app description in the App Store is not indexable and thus does not affect the ASO ranking, despite being the majority of the text. Keywords are less important here.

However, the keywords are indexed in the Google Play store and affect ASO. The same is valid for web pages, where the keywords in the main body of text are almost certainly indexed.

However, keyword research is the only thing that ASO and SEO have in common. Why, might you ask? In both ASO and SEO, we use specific metrics to validate keywords. Keyword popularity/search volume to keyword difficulty, with many in between.

You can find these metrics using online research tools and determine which keywords will give you the best chance of ranking. AppTweak, Ahrefs, MobileAction, and SEMRush are some recommended platforms and devices.

Whether you're trying to rank in an app store or a search engine, the keyword difficulty, for example, will tell you how difficult (or easy) it will be to rank for the selected keyword.

Although the tools for ASO and SEO keyword research differ (for example, AppTweak for ASO and Ahrefs for web SEO), the metrics and subsequent evaluation processes are the same. This is because, in their respective fields, both ASO and SEO aim to find the right keywords and rank higher for them.

What Effect Does User Behavior Have on Marketing Strategy?

Because the web and apps are two distinct entities, expecting user habits to be the same would be naive. Apps are typically only available on mobile devices and tablets, whereas web pages can also be accessed on a desktop computer. We live in a mobile-first society, with the average US consumer spending four hours daily on their phone. According to research, nearly three of those four hours are spent on apps.

This makes tracking difficult. Finally, research shows that many users browse an app before purchasing. Suppose a user switches between platforms (for example, an app and a website). In that case, the marketing strategy must treat them as a single user to avoid incurring unnecessary customer acquisition costs (e.g. counting the same user twice when they switch from the app to a website).

Because mobile users are always on the go, different ways to market to them, such as push notifications and geo-marketing, can help increase traffic and conversions. This is known as geo-marketing, when marketers use a user's geo-location to determine part of their marketing strategy, such as sending you push notifications near a physical store.

You can also benefit from timing by understanding when users are most active on their phones during the day. Since we spend about four hours a day looking at our phones, it is far more frequent than non-work-related web browsing.

These usage habits should be considered when developing your app and web marketing strategies.

AXISMOBI MARKETING STRATEGY:

Although there are some similarities between the two marketing strategies, they are more different than similar. It pays to remember this if you want to get anywhere with either. If you're looking for one, you can also look at our new best mobile app development, AXISDASH2.0.