Pratikkumar P. Gaikwad | 10 min read | March 25, 2020
1. QuickRead
The Shopify App Store is sure to be a key traffic driver for your app, so preparing your product for the app store right from the start is crucial.
You need to consider how important functions such as the search engine for the app store and the suggestion algorithm work.
2. The app store search engine
The search engine for the Shopify App Store is designed to expose advertisers with the most important applications. Keywords are used to assess relevance — meaning you need to recognize which keywords fit better to your product and start applying them to the listing page of your device.
Keywords are words and short sentences that retailers are expected to use when looking for a solution to a particular issue in the app store. For starters, if a merchant wants help monitoring orders, they’ll usually look for one of the following sentences:
- Order tracking
- Order status
- Tracking
- Shipping tracking
- Shipment tracking
- Shipment status
- Shipping status
Spend some time brainstorming which keywords are of greater importance. A tool like the free Google Keyword Planner can aid you in this phase of brainstorming.
Keywords are the words and phrases directly linked to the query, and what retailers are likely to use when looking for a particular answer in the app store But a word of caution— using too many keywords, especially irrelevant ones, can hinder your success. Do not have too many keywords— it is best to keep the count low.
Keep in mind that less is more— you don’t want to target all the keywords; rather, target those that are most important to your query. Merchants are going to look for answers to very specific problems, and you want your keywords to speak specifically to those problems.
Once optimizing the app listing page, you should put these keywords to use, but they can also be used to tell the name you are giving the app, as it will be the first thing potential customers can see in the app store.
2. Understanding recommendations
The recommendation engine is designed to provide the most appropriate app suggestions to the merchants for their particular company. It helps retailers sort out which applications are better tailored to their needs, given the other applications currently in the app store.
Recommendations are displayed in various forms, like a list that is tailored to the particular retailer on the app store homepage. This is one of the highest transforming collections on the site, making it important to understand how to be included in the recommendations.
There are three key ways to ensure that your app is optimized for the recommendation engine:
- Have exact installation specifications. The recommendation engine will recommend your application only to those merchants who meet these criteria.
- Keep positive feedback. The ratings will impact how often the app shows up on the Shopify App Store.
- Consider location. Apps that function in specific regions will be offered in those regions to merchants. Be sure you’ve outlined the regions where the app performs well.