8 SEO Tricks for Mobile Apps to Get Ranked in SERP

Mobile use and apps are becoming far more prominent in the digital space, and your business needs to be in the game!

Offering a mobile app and ensuring it is visible in Google’s organic search results will expose you to a far greater pool of potential customers, in turn helping your business to expand.

So how do you ensure your mobile app is in the desirable positions on the search engine results page (SERP)? Here are 8 SEO tricks to help you out.

Link your app

Let's get the most obvious one out of the way first. Offer a link to your app everywhere you can, email footers, web pages, create a landing page purely for your app that offers screenshots or maybe a short "how to" video.

Important note: It is terrible user experience (UX) to prompt users to download and install your app through interstitials. This will interrupt the user's current action and content while adding extra steps. This is annoying and will likely turn them off of your app before they have even seen it. A better option is an HTML banner in a prime position on your page; it promotes your app with no interference to UX.

Anchor text

Keep in mind that your app name is also the link anchor text within the various stores which means these sites are linking back to your profile page so that you can set your brand name as a link. Easy link equity!

An interesting development on this point in the SEO world, however, is that Google has recently announced it will reduce its dependence on anchor text. Future predictions for the relevant rules of SEO set anchor text as a rapid decline. We never really know though, and for now, it's still worth doing.

Use your brand name in link text

Your anchor text should be strategic, always include your business or brand name in the link text as opposed to a generic "download iPhone app here."

Consider this as furthering your brand awareness, which you should be doing every chance you get!

Cross-promotion

Does your indexing in search engines redirect mobile searchers to your app? If not, rectify this immediately. You also want to set up crawling for your app links from mobile pages. App deep linking methods have their own markup and configuration depending on which platform you are targeting. Take for example these two prominent platforms:

• Google app indexing: Having app content indexed in search results so people can view the content on the app if installed, or install it.
• Facebook app links: People can access content shared from your app, using an app alternative or app-only content.

QR links

QR codes are great for easy app access. Always compress the link before generating the QR code. The longer the URL, the harder it is to scan the code. You want things to be quick and easy for your user!

Keywords

We can't talk about Search Engine Optimization without keywords! Increase the ranking of your app’s landing page with keywords as you would any other page or site. Ensure your keywords are not overstuffed and treat the SEO rules for this page like any other, aim for long-tail keywords that don't have a lot of competition.

Make Sure You Provide Relevant Content

Once again the standard SEO rules apply, even for apps. The number one driver search engine ranking hinges on is quality content. This should almost be at the top of the list (if we were ordering by importance, which we're not) as creating quality content for your users makes your app more popular. A relevant mobile application increases word-of-mouth which leads to more users, the better rankings; you know how it goes…

Promote via socials

Your presence online is a very important factor, not only for your app but in general. Utilize any link networks you can; they are all SEO digital assets which influence the relevance of your application, as well as its popularity.