UK travel brands missing opportunity in App Store optimization

Travel brands in the UK are missing the opportunity to optimize placements in the App Store, according to a recent mini-study from mobile marketers Yodel Mobile.

The study looked at an unnamed set of the top eleven travel brands according to the brands' rankings on the App Store, says the authors. The travel brands are overlooking several key points.

Capacity

App developers are allowed to use up to 20 words as keywords to help users discover apps. By not leveraging the full complement of keywords, many brands are missing the all-important discovery opportunity.

Yodel's research found that only 30% of that allotment was being used, on average. Two of the leading brands had no keywords at all, leaving the discovery opportunity completed untouched.

Seven of the brands in the analysis used between zero and five keywords.

Relevancy

Without appropriate keywords, it's difficult for brands to win on relevancy - there's simply much less information to allow the search algorithm to deliver the most relevant app to the customer. More than half of the brands in the survey failed at using such relevant keywords of the app, which means that core segments of the business - such as flight, cruise, and hotel - were ignored without any ability for consumers to surface the apps when searching within that vertical. Typos Perhaps the most egregious oversight in this small study was the prevalence of typos. Nearly half of the brands had some sort of typo within the keywords - and given the 20-keyword limit, the opportunity for discover is sliced again by this sloppiness. Travel is about attention to detail after all! The study authors pointed to even a misspelling of "London" - instead "Londoni" - as one of the most glaring examples of typos. Brands all over the world can take a look at this straightforward tips at optimizing apps in the Store to ensure that the related assets are well-positioned for successful discovery and deployment.

Here's an infographic that breaks down the findings visually (click image for full size).