How to easily increase app downloads internationally?

There are many ways to increase app downloads, but only very few both cost very little and provide more than just a temporary spike.

In this article, app developer David Janner explains how he increased the downloads of his app Harlem Shake Yourself! 

Interestingly, David decided not to localize the app itself, but to only translate and adapt the keywords, in order to increase app discoverability in foreign markets.

The results he describes are amazing. He went from 3,000 to 23,000 downloads a month, and the share of downloads in English speaking countries shrank from 76% to 10%, with several languages outperforming (such as French, Spanish or Russian). 

Of course, this wasn’t simple. Being an App Store Optimization expert, David has refined a method that he describes in the article and is a combination of keyword translation and extensive research using several tools, mostly Xyo.net, Google Adwords Keyword Tool and AppStoreRankings.net. 

This allows him to target the right keywords, based on keywords frequently searched by users and those used by competitors. 

We would suggest to collaborate with a professional localization agency such as e2f for this kind of project in order to get the linguistic/cultural aspects right, but David has proven here that a dedicated individual with time on his hands and a very good understanding of ASO and keyword tools can do it himself!

We also strongly believe that David would have increased even further the downloads by fully localizing the app metadata and the app strings itself. Maybe next time!