What is Organic uplift?

Why is organic uplift important for ASO?

Organic uplift is directly connected to app store optimization efforts and strategies and should be used as one of the key performance indicators (KPI) for ASO. 

Optimizing your app’s store listing, including its metadata, creatives, and keyword targeting, can improve the app’s visibility and conversion rates with the goal of getting more organic downloads.

How does organic uplift happen?

Organic uplift can result from app store optimization (ASO) efforts or a combination of ASO and paid ads.

Organic uplift from ASO

Organic uplift is directly connected to ASO efforts and strategies. Optimizing an app’s store listing, including its metadata, creatives, and keyword targeting, can improve the app’s visibility and conversion rates, leading to increased organic downloads.

For example, suppose an app’s ranking for a keyword increases after adding it to its metadata. This might drive more organic traffic to the app (especially if the keyword is highly relevant).

Also, a successful ASO effort, such as improving the app’s store listing, can increase the conversion rate and the number of organic installs over time. 

And when an app receives more downloads, its organic keyword ranking tends to rise, leading to even more organic downloads. This creates a positive loop, where improved visibility and conversion rates reinforce each other, driving further organic growth.

Organic uplift from Apple Search Ads (ASA)

Another form of organic uplift is the one that can happen if you are running Apple Search Ads (ASA) campaigns.

Apple Search Ads can significantly contribute to organic uplift in several ways:

1. Driving Additional Downloads – ASA campaigns can increase an app’s overall downloads. Since Apple’s App Store algorithm considers total downloads a ranking factor, the increased downloads from ASA can lead to improved organic keyword rankings.
2. Improving Keyword Rankings – when an app receives more downloads through ASA for specific keywords, its organic ranking also tends to improve. This is because the algorithm recognizes the app’s popularity and relevance for those search terms.
3. Increasing Visibility and Impressions – ASA campaigns can boost an app’s visibility in search results, leading to more impressions and organic downloads. As the app appears more frequently in relevant searches, it gains more exposure to potential users.
4. Higher Conversion Rates – ASA can indirectly improve organic conversion rates. When users see an app in paid ads and organic search results, it reinforces its credibility and relevance, making users more likely to download it organically.
5. Testing Keyword Relevance – ASA campaigns are often used to test the relevance and performance of different keywords. If you identify high-performing keywords using ASA, you can incorporate those into ASO metadata, further improving organic visibility and downloads.

For example, if a fitness app bids on the keyword “workout tracker” in ASA and sees a significant increase in downloads from those ads, the app’s organic ranking for “workout tracker” might also improve. This improved ranking can then lead to more organic downloads, even without the ads.

In short, ASA and ASO have a synergistic relationship. ASA can boost organic uplift by driving downloads, improving keyword rankings, and increasing visibility. ASO efforts can enhance ASA performance by optimizing the app’s store listing and ensuring it aligns with the keywords targeted in ASA campaigns.

How to Measure Organic Uplift?

Measuring organic uplift is not always straightforward, but it is possible. There are two main methods that you can use to measure the uplift effects.

Manual Calculation 

The manual calculation subtracts known inorganic downloads (resulting from paid advertising campaigns) from the total downloads. Then, a benchmarked number of organic downloads is subtracted to determine the organic uplift.

However, manual calculations can often be ineffective, and it is easier to make mistakes during the manual process.

ASO Tools

ASO tools also offer estimations for organic uplift and simplify the measurement process. Using ASO tools is more convenient since it allows you to easily change the dates and get data updates immediately. At the same time, this data can be compared to other data points from your ASO tool.

Especially because some ASO tools like App Radar integrate with Google Play Console and App Store Connect, simplifying data extraction and the entire process even more.

Why should you track organic uplift?

There are a couple of very important reasons why you should track organic uplift for your app:

• ASO effectiveness measurement – organic uplift directly reflects the success of ASO strategies. Suppose you track increases in organic downloads, visibility, conversion rates, and keyword rankings. In that case, your marketing team can assess the impact of the ASO efforts and make data-driven decisions for further optimization.
• Keyword rankings improvement – increased organic downloads resulting from ASO mean that you most likely improved your keyword rankings. Higher keyword rankings increase visibility in search results, attracting more organic users and creating a positive feedback loop for growth and organic uplift.
• Enhanced visibility and conversions – organic uplift results in not only downloads but also improved visibility across the app store. This increased visibility, combined with optimized app store listings and elements, leads to higher conversion rates and improves the chances of users downloading the app.

To sum up, organic uplift is a critical metric for ASO – it is a vital concept that reflects the effectiveness of ASO strategies in driving sustainable organic growth.