How to build a semantic core for your app: step-by-step guide

Building a semantic core is the most important part of App Store Optimization, which the effectiveness of further promotion depends on. You need to find specific keywords that will bring you installs from the search. In this article we will explain in detail how to properly build a semantic core. To get more news about App Installs Optimization, you can visit aso700.com official website.

This is a series of articles based on the ASOdesk Academy lecture materials, where we covered all aspects of App Store Optimization. We have already noted how competitive analysis helps in App Store Optimization, how to work with iterations in ASO, and what is important to consider when optimizing an application for foreign languages. You can watch the original lecture here:
Before building the core, analyze the market and make sure you need ASO. To check if you need it, use this article. You will find the percentage of search traffic in different categories and get instructions on how to check the percentage of branded traffic in your niche. Once you have determined to what extent your application needs ASO, you can move on to building a semantic core.

The result of the search queries analysis will be a semantic core; you will use core’s queries in the text metadata. We distinguish the following steps of building a semantic core:
Step 1: make up queries and add them
The developer and mobile marketer should know their application and problems it solves well. Before starting promotion, an ASO specialist should also understand the product and know who needs it and why.

Search queries come from the tasks that an app can help with. Therefore, before resorting to search suggestions, write down all the queries which you think users are using to search for similar applications.

Go to ASOdesk Keyword Analytics and enter queries related to your application in the Add keywords field.

If you have a branded app, start with branded keywords. And then enter all general queries. At the first stage, we got 43 keywords.
Step 2: add auto-suggestions from the ASO service to the core
You can find from 20 to 100 search queries on your own. But it’s impossible to come up with all combinations of keywords yourself. Automatic services will increase the number of keywords by 3-10 times.
Step 3: Analyzing App Store search suggestions
When searching for an application, a user does not type in the whole request, but clicks on the search suggestion that an app store offers.

Our task is to try to restore the entire search path of the application.

This method is very useful for the 2nd-4th iterations, when you are already using the bulk of the queries, but continue to look for growth points.

With app store suggestions, you can see the picture through the eyes of users and narrow down the core.

For example, you have worked on reach and you are using broad queries (“fitness”, “workout”, “to lose weight”). Then it’s worth finding narrower search queries that fit the specifics of the application: “fitness for women”, “workout beginner”, “to lose weight in 30 days”, etc.
Step 4: analyze competitors’ queries
Top competitors provide keyword and metadata insights. You can see a forecast of the number of installs that competitors receive for various keywords. As well as evaluate what words and phrases moderation passes.

For the analysis, you need to find competitors for search queries from your niche. This can be done through the Keyword Explorer in ASOdesk.