Making a new app from scratch is a difficult and demanding process that takes time, expertise, commitment, and a willingness to beta test it over and over again.

Add to that the fact that once you're all finished, you have to publish the thing on some sort of web store and do it the right way and you can see why app development is so sought after and lucrative nowadays.

Now, as frustrating as launching a new app can be, there are some ways you can make it not as difficult, so if you're willing to do a little bit of homework before putting your app up for sale, you have the capacity to save yourself a lot of time and effort as a result.

Whether you decide to tackle this complex marketing and publishing process on your own or with a help of an SEO company, it’s essential you do it thoroughly and pay attention to the details – because these can mean the difference between crushing it in sales and barely selling anything at all. (Well, that’s as far as the social media platforms are concerned, of course.) Luckily for the app developers out there who feel them may benefit from getting in touch with an SEO business, these companies can be found easily online nowadays and they tend to operate all over the world. A Brisbane-based SEO company can be an option for the folks from Australia, for example.

In this article, we’ll give you a couple of tips on how you can get your app to rank highly in the Google play store. As you will see, SEO plays a large role here, so understanding how keywords and search engines work would be an important piece of the puzzle here.

Here's the deal in more detail.

Conduct a Thorough Keyword Research

When it comes to finding the proper keyword for your app description, the name, and some other lines of text that can be enriched by it, it’s important you research the keywords thoroughly according to several different criteria, no less.

While this is a complex topic that could be the basis for an entirely new article, let's just say that keyword research consists of three important parameters – relevance, difficulty, and the amount of traffic it attracts.

So, first things first – a keyword must be relevant to your app, otherwise, there's no point in using it no matter how popular it is. The keyword difficulty relates to how tough it would be for your app to rank highly on a search engine if it used that particular keyword. (This is a matter of competition more than anything.) Last but not least, the keyword traffic represents how often people look for that keyword. The more traffic a keyword has, the more likely you are going to secure a sale if you’re using it.

Figure Out the Naming Rules

Naming your app is a serious business decision that will have far-reaching consequences. This is why regulations on Google store are so strict when it comes to what sort of names you can use for your app.

For example, it’s completely verboten to use an app name that is confusingly similar to already existing apps out there. Also, you can’t include the names of popular apps, social media platforms, and other trademarks in your app, because you may get copyrighted.

Now that we've mentioned it, here's an idea – you may also want to trademark your app name, to prevent someone else using it later on. You can do this even before you finish developing your app or before you put it up for sale on the store.

Another thing that's important to mention here would be that the name of the app must somehow be related to your logo. For example, if your app is called 'Video Editor Deluxe', you may want to have a logo with a camera on it or something along those lines.

Make Good Use of Your Promo Video

One thing that makes Google Play Store stand out from its competitor platforms would be the fact that they allow the developers of the apps in the store to post a video to go with the page of their product. This way, you can introduce the app you’re selling to your potential customers in more detail and you can also tell a couple of words about yourself as a developer.

While not all app developers post videos to go with their apps, making an effort to produce and then post a video for your app is an important marketing strategy you would not want to miss.

Pick the Right Category for Your App

While this may seem like a no-brainer, as apps are getting more and more complex and versatile, it can at times be difficult to tell what the purpose of an app is in the first place. For example, a workout app where you gather points can also be considered a gaming app to an extent, because of the nature of progression with different levels and everything.

So, if you want your target audience members to be able to find you easily, make sure you place your app in the correct category. Once you’ve done that, you can add descriptions, videos, and optimize for SEO.

Add Screenshots

Along with the videos you’re able to add to the description of the app you’ve uploaded, you can also add a couple of screenshots to it, too.

This is an easy way to let your potential customers know what your app is all about and what sort of visual overlay and other features they can expect to see if they buy the app. What’s more, screenshots are easy to make, so it’s not like you have to invest any effort in putting these up.

All in all, getting your app to rank highly in the Google Play Store is a complex mission that you need to approach patiently and diligently. As long as you follow the tips from above and take good care to read the feedback you get from your customers, chances are – you’ll be in a good position to secure a steady climb in the Google Store ladder of popularity.