Breaking Language Barriers: Scaling ASO in Korea
How we achieved +93% more downloads through ASO in Korea.
INTRODUCTION
NeuroNation is an Award-winning brain training app that helps improve memory, concentration, and thinking speed while reducing stress. It has personalized brain enhancement training plans and mental exercises, backed by scientific research over the last 12 years.
The app has a worldwide presence, and we decided to focus our ASO efforts in Korea, as we identified the market’s potential.
The Korean mobile app market showed significant growth and potential in 2023 with interesting statistics such as:
$1.5 Billion
Revenue Increase
An increase of $1.5 billion in revenue from the previous year for The South Korean app market
1.9 Billion
App Downloads
In 2023, there is estimated 1.9 billion app downloads, marking an increase from the 1.8 billion downloads recorded in the previous year.
OUR NEURONATION ASO CHALLENGE
- Low positions or not indexing at all for top keywords.
- Understanding the Korean writing system ‘Hangul’ - an alphabet where each character represents a sound, not a whole word or a letter. It makes text optimization harder to do for non-native speakers.
Admiral Media helped us to improve ASO in our target markets. We were positively surprised by their proactivity. Be ready to listen because they’ve got a lot of experience and good inputs.
– Founder, NeuroNation, Jakob Futorjanski
Jakob Futorjanski
Founder
@ NeuroNation
Admiral Media helped us to improve ASO in our target markets. We were positively surprised by their proactivity. Be ready to listen because they’ve got a lot of experience and good inputs.
OUR PROCESS
HYPOTHESIZE
If we add localized app metadata for Korean, the app will rank higher and get more impressions from organic search traffic.
RESEARCH
Create a list of relevant keywords.
ANALYZE QUALITATIVELY
Filter keywords by relevance.
ANALYZE COMPARATIVELY
Examine how competitors use keywords.
OPTIMIZE METADATA
Adjust the title, subtitle and keywords.
PROOFREAD AND EDIT
The title and subtitle.
UPLOAD
To the App Store console and monitor results.
STRATEGY
STRATEGY
HYPOTHESIZE
If we add localized app metadata for Korean, the app will rank higher and get more impressions from organic search traffic.
RESEARCH
Create a list of relevant keywords.
ANALYZE QUALITATIVELY
Filter keywords by relevance.
ANALYZE COMPARATIVELY
Examine how competitors use keywords.
OPTIMIZE METADATA
Adjust the title, subtitle, and keywords.
PROOFREAD AND EDIT
The title and subtitle.
UPLOAD
To the App Store console and monitor results.
THE RESULTS
App Position
Top 1
Top 2-3
Top 4-5
Top 6-10
Top 11-20
Top 20+
Number of keywords
before optimization
2
2
2
8
10
15
Number of keywords
after optimization
2
7
8
9
8
22
% of growth
350%
400%
113%
-20%
146%
App Position
Top 1
Top 2-3
Top 4-5
Top 6-10
Top 11-20
Top 20+
Number of keywords
before optimization
2
2
2
8
10
15
App Position
Top 1
Top 2-3
Top 4-5
Top 6-10
Top 11-20
Top 20+
Number of keywords
after optimization
2
7
8
9
8
22
App Position
Top 1
Top 2-3
Top 4-5
Top 6-10
Top 11-20
Top 20+
% of growth
350%
400%
113%
-20%
146%
What use are additional top-listed keywords
if they don’t generate more downloads or revenue?
See how ASO done correctly can impact your app downloads.
THE NUMBER OF KEYWORDS PER POSITION
BEFORE AND AFTER THE OPTIMIZATION:
🚀 SEARCH IMPRESSIONS GROWTH: 43.95%
🚀 SEARCH DOWNLOADS GROWTH: 93.10%
KEY TAKEAWAYS
We carefully studied the intricacies of the Korean writing system to deeply understand and incorporate its uniqueness into our ASO strategy. The absence of native speakers on our team presented a challenge we were eager to meet and overcome!
With help from AI, we checked the search terms, their components, and various combinations. This helped us understand how to form phrases and sentences in Korean and correctly fill in metadata fields.
CONCLUSION:
Pay attention and take the time to research the peculiarities of writing systems and users’ behavior. Check words not only in the local language but also in English. Remember that ASO is not just about translation; it involves a deep understanding of the market, user behavior, and cultural context.
This case study not only showcases our agency’s ASO expertise but also serves as a valuable resource for those seeking insights on how to open up for new markets, through ASO – despite not having a native speaker.
