Seven mistakes that waste a keyword campaign

Most keyword campaigns that fail do not fail because the installs never arrived. They arrive, and the position stays where it was. In almost every case the reason was visible before the first install. Here are the seven we see most often and what to do instead.

1. Starting on the biggest keyword in the category

The broadest term looks like the obvious target because it has the most demand. It also has the apps with the most traffic at the top, and they hold their places with far more installs than a first campaign brings.

Our casino campaign in Australia is the clearest example we have: 1,260 installs on pokies, and the app stayed between 200th and 216th place for the whole run.

Instead: start on low-volume keywords in a narrow category that describe what your app does. They move on far fewer installs, and a position the app can hold keeps earning installs after the campaign.

2. Running a campaign on a keyword the app does not appear for

A keyword campaign moves an app up among the apps the store already shows. If the store returns nothing of yours for the term, there is no list to climb.

Instead: search the term in the store first. If the app is missing from the results, start with installs without a keyword to build activity, then run the keyword campaign once the app appears.

3. Leaving the keyword out of the listing

Stores connect an app to a term through its metadata. On the App Store that is the title, subtitle, and keyword field. On Google Play it is the title and the descriptions. Installs do not create a connection the listing does not support.

Instead: put the term in your metadata, wait for the store to pick it up, and only then start.

4. Running far above your usual pace

It is tempting to put the whole budget into a few days and see what happens. A short burst also leaves you with a few readings of the position, too few to tell what the campaign did.

Instead: set the daily pace next to your usual install numbers rather than far above them, and give the campaign enough days to show a shape. You control the volume, the daily pace, the countries, and the moment you stop, and you can change any of them during the run.

5. Judging the result after one day

Positions move every day without any campaign. In a month of daily snapshots of the US App Store top 10, about a quarter of the apps in a keyword's top 10 changed place from one day to the next on average. A jump overnight is within that noise.

Instead: compare a week before the campaign with the days during and after it. Our post on telling whether a campaign worked walks through what to look for.

6. Stopping on a keyword the app cannot hold

A position gained and then abandoned drifts back down. The keywords that hold are the ones where the app keeps earning installs on its own once it is visible.

Instead: pick keywords your app can realistically defend: terms that match what it does, with competitors it can stand next to. Keep tracking after the last install so you see whether the position holds.

7. Expecting ratings or retention from automated installs

An automated install is not opened by anyone. It leaves no rating and nothing comes back after it.

Instead: if ratings or return visits matter for your campaign, use live installs on the App Store. They are made by people who open the app, and you can add ratings and retention checkpoints to them. On Google Play our installs are automated.

How it works on Rankforge

• Check before you spend. The tracker is free and needs no card, so you can see where the app stands for each keyword and country before the first install. That covers mistakes 2 and 5.
• No minimum spend. A first campaign can be a small test on a few low-volume keywords, at a pace you set per keyword and country.
• The stores differ. On the App Store you can choose live installs and add ratings and retention checkpoints. On Google Play our installs are automated.

Limitation. Avoiding all seven does not promise a position. Rankings depend on competitors and on the store, and no one outside the store controls them. What these steps do is remove the reasons a campaign fails before it starts.