This post is mainly about App store optimization tools…. and as many of you I run/use many tools when doing ASO for my customers. The big question is what is the best ASO tool out there?
OK. So here is my quick recap of what some ASO tools offer and what is my favorite solution so far.
Sensor Tower : (formerly App store rankings)
4.5 Gabriel Stars !
Clearly the best ASO tool out there now. Not only this app has passion but they keep improving their services all the time. It ‘s DEAD FREAKING easy to use and it’s ideal for beginners.
What I like
- The interface
- How easy is to find keywords and competitors
- The Keyword suggestion Tool
- Their founders: Young, without fear, ready to crush it.
- Affordable.
- Multi-languages. Great for localization
What I wish they had:
- Me as an Angel investor.
- A better way to track and find volume of search
- A way to track more social factors…. reviews
- more tutorials
Why do I think is the best so far? Mainly because this is a young tool… is great for developers looking for real data in different market and is affordable. Seriously if you are not using ASO tools, because they are expensive (pretty stupid statement) Sensor Tower will pay for itself pretty quickly.
SearchMan
4 Gabriel Stars !
This is a great tool, strong, very good amount of data and gives you the option to detect exactly what is going overall in the App store, it was great functions like the Overall Search Score, Trents and very smart graphs so you can see if you are loosing ranking or is in fact the app store algorithm that is changing and affecting all the apps around you.
What I like
- The accuracy of the data
- The way you can track Trents and see what is becoming more popular
- I love the way of tracking ranking. One of my favorite parts
- Visibility Score is great…. very important specially in competitive markets.
What I wish they had
- an easier learning curve
- Faster way to do keyword research
- More markets – not many markets only USA, UK and Japan.
- More friendly interface.
Straply
Straply is not a real ASO tool… not yet, is more like a keyword research tool but still simply great. Is fast, is fun, is modern, is not too serious, is freaking FREE!!!!! So what else can you expect!!!!!
Using Straply is not an initial part of my ASO process… and yes, baby I do this stuff for a living.
What I like
– Fast.-Free.
– If you have no idea how to use any tool related to keyword research this is a great start.
– Easy to export. Easy to visualize
What I wish they had.
– More accurate data- More clear search volume.
– A way to filter bad data or unrelated keywords, terms or results.
– A way to track social factors (mmm not first time I ask for this)
My favorite part so far?
How I can visualize in 5.2 seconds data in Android and iOS giving me a nice “oh my god” moment, when I realize how different both markets are regarding search terms.
Want to see how fun it is? Watch the following video.
Appcod.es
3.5 Gabriel Stars !
I love appcod.es , it is easy to use and the interface is funky and in some terms I believe there is a lot of merit in this tool and the way they approach the idea of research. It doesn’t seem that appcod.es had a lot of development or features being launched recently… so it has dropped from my arsenal. I used to use it quiet a bit, but not any more.
What I like
- Their popularity score (this one was of the first features out there)
Easy to use for a small app developer. - Fast. This is what I like the most, visualizing data, apps and competitors is easy and even fun with Appcod.es
- Affordable.
What I wish they have
- More functions. Appcod.es was huge in 2012… in 2013… is getting behind.
- Google Play . An ASO tool that doesn’t give me the option of working with Google Play, makes no sense.
- Better overall data. I want to be able to see what is going on around the store , not just about with my app. Having a Overall Ranking Score like SearchMan is a pretty cool feature to have.
To showcase I really used to use Appcod.es you can see the way i used to do Keyword Research for Apps using this ASO tool
MobileDevHQ
3.5 Gabriel Stars !
Never been a real fant of MobileDevHQ, to be honest any ASO tool that puts a huge firewall of payment before trying (or even free trial adding my credit card) will get a no-no from me….
BUT Now MobileDevHQ has changed quiet a bit and now they have a FREE plan for Indie developers and that gets a big YEAH! from me.
MobileDevHQ still has some very valid points and the core ones are
– These dudes are pioneers, they know they stuff and they have a serious investment to keep improving the tools
– Free Account for Indie dudes. Good on you!
– Very solid data – when I see data from MobileDevHQ I tend to believe it.
– Not ideal for keyword research BEFORE having an app build. This is more for once you have an app.
What I wish they had.
More functions. It seems just a bit too basic for me.
Faster. I need to wait to see new rankings , new positions…
Developed Sonar better. —> Sonar was/is a Algorithm Dance detection system. That although sounds great… doesn’t have a huge application in the real world to the small developer. Funny wise SearchMan does a better job with the visibility score.
So…. all these ASO tools. Now what????
The important point is to understand that ASO tools are not a magic tool and it all depends how much work you want to put on them…../
if you don’t believe me, check the video below.