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App Optimization Android - Cat Bird

October 18th, 2021

App Optimization Android - Cat Bird
Anh Nguyen

by Anh Nguyen

COO & Co-Founder at Gummicube, Inc

App Optimization - Android

Cat Bird App Store Spotlight

Cat lovers and platformer enthusiasts alike are sure to love Google’s latest Google Play Store feature. Cat Bird is a cute, pixelated, 2D platformer, where you play as an adorable flying cat adventuring through levels in a quest to return home after falling to the moon.

When an app gets featured on either the Google Play Store or the iOS App Store, there is inevitably a temporary boost in organic traffic. When traffic declines after the feature it can be disheartening for developers. With help from an ASO agency, baseline organic performance can be improved significantly, sometimes even surpassing the short-term visibility boost.

Cat Bird by Raiyumi is a beautiful, challenging, and well-made game that would delight users who get the chance to play. Currently their store listing is lacking in some of the core best practices in App Store Optimization, which could be negatively impacting organic visibility. From title to screenshots, read on to see what Raiyumi can improve to get this adorable game in front of more users.

Metadata

Cat Bird is using a branded title which is only utilizing 8 characters. While Cat Bird may not be able to upgrade to a full-fledged 50 characters, due to ongoing changes in the Google Play Store, they are still leaving 22 characters of keyword space untapped.

It is absolutely essential to maximize keyword targeting in the Google Play Store’s title field. Unlike Apple, Google does not provide a backend keyword bank to help index apps. Instead, an app’s title, short description, and full description are parsed by Google’s algorithm to glean relevant keywords.

Other highly performant puzzle platformer games tend to include descriptive keywords following their titles, known as title tags. Title tags not only increase the number of terms that can be indexed, they also provide an opportunity to further communicate features to prospective players.

The top three results in search for the query “platformer puzzle” are Climb Higher by Orbital Nine Games, Divinest Light by Gleb Mirolyubov, and Starland by SUHOR GAMES. Every one of these games contains both “platformer” and “puzzle” in their title tags. Furthermore, nearly every game in the top 25 search results contains one or both of these terms.

While Cat Bird does include these terms in their 50 character short description “Adventure home in this adorable puzzle platformer!” duplication on the Google Play Store is not detrimental to ranking. Since phrase building is non-existent on the Google Play Store, in order to build long-tail keywords they must be included as they are intended to be indexed.

With that in mind, adding “platformer puzzle” as a title tag would allow Cat Bird to rank for both it and “puzzle platformer” in the short description. Raiyumi then has opportunity to further flesh out their Google Play short description with 30 additional characters, which would allow them to target an even greater number of popular terms. ASO tools are crucial in understanding which keywords may best represent your app.

Description

One of the most important fields when it comes to App Store Optimization on the Google Play Store is the full description. The full description allows for 4,000 characters, and it is also indexed for keywords alongside the title and short description. While users may not always read the full description in its entirety, Google’s algorithm does.

Cat Bird’s description is not taking advantage of the ample room for keyword targeting. Clocking in at a mere 335 characters, less than a tenth of the available space, there is a lot of room for improvement here.

The structure of a full description is also an important consideration. ASO best practices suggest that the first part of a description should be an engaging introduction that communicates features in a way that users will enjoy reading. Additionally, placing keywords here in a way that reads naturally will set the stage for Google’s algorithm.

Following the introductory paragraphs it is a good idea to create a feature area. Cat Bird’s entire description it structured similarly to a single feature list. To improve this breakdown Raiyumi could focus in on a few core features that they want to highlight.

Once the priority features are identified, they can research which keywords related to these features have high search volume and use these terms to head the feature list. Following the heading, three or four bullet points that provide additional context can help flesh this area out while providing space for more supporting keywords.

Screenshots

In order to drive conversion on the Google Play Store creative elements must be optimized alongside the front-facing metadata. App Store screenshot design involves significant research and testing in order to achieve the most optimal results, but there are a few best practices that can help get the process started.

Taking a look at Cat Bird’s current screenshots reveals a few areas that could be improved. While they are already incorporating high-quality in-app images that are accurate to gameplay, they are not including any UI elements. In the game it is hard to see the user interface due to its transparency value, however UI in the screenshots could allow users to put themselves in the mindset of playing the game.

Cat Bird’s screenshots are also missing out on the practice of adding copy text. Screenshot copy text or callouts provide a way for developers to communicate the core features of a game or app with prospective users. Including emphasized keywords that are highly visible on smaller screens could help users see that this is the app they are searching for without needing to read further.

Additionally, including accolades or unique features as value propositions can help the game stand out from competition. An important part of improving conversion is making a case for why this app is a better choice than the nearest competitor, and screenshot callout text is a great way to achieve this goal.

Overall

Cat Bird by Raiyumi is a fun and adorable puzzle platformer that is currently being featured by Google. They are sure to experience a boost in organic traffic during this featuring, however they might need to revisit their store listing to maintain a higher organic baseline. With a few best practices for App Store Optimization, this Android game can fly to the top of the charts and win new users’ hearts along the way.

​​Want to learn more about App Store Optimization? Contact Gummicube and we’ll help get your strategy started.

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