AppFollow vs. Google Search Console

We use AppFollow only for customer service, but it has a lot of features that would be great for the marketing and development team. A good bit of the features we do not use, as there is simply not a use case for it. The best feature that we get from AppFollow is the ability to import Apple reviews into Zendesk for agents to respond to. This has been a great time saver for us.

Incentivized

If you just want to understand how much traffic you're getting from Google organic search results, and study the queries and landing pages that make up this traffic, this is a great tool. If you also want to figure out where you may be missing opportunities or making it hard for people to find your site, this can help with that. However, GSC is not going to give you step by step instructions for how to fix SEO issues, and won't help prioritize anything either. It's essentially like a car dashboard, but doesn't do any driving or tell you how to drive.

Incentivized

• One of AppFollow's core features is their keyword rankings. With both our Android and iOS app I'm able to view the keyword and position of our app for that keyword. I'm also able to toggle the dates and see the history positioning. Not only is this available for US app stores but global app stores. This is extremely helpful when A/B testing.
• Another key feature to AppFollow is their integrations. Being able to integrate AppFollow with Slack has been extremely helpful. With this integration, we are able to see reviews in real-time and respond to them right from Slack.
• We don't check AppFollow every day. With that said, it's important for us to get daily and weekly reports from AppFollow about our ASO performance. You can easily check which reports you would like, how often, and where to in a matter of seconds.

Incentivized

• Provides details on what other sites contain backlinks to your site, along with the page they direct to within your site
• Displays impressions and click throughs for Google search queries
• Individual page performance by location and device category as it pertains to generating clicks leading to your site
• Basic indexing and readability issues within your site
• The new interface that just rolled out is much easier on the eyes

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• Connecting with Zendesk and getting started can be a bit confusing.
• The interface can be hard for a new client to navigate.

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• I'd like more instructions about how to respond to certain errors I see - it can be difficult to understand when you see a red error message what it really means and how to fix it.
• I'd appreciate warnings being 'ranked' somehow to understand what's really a big deal, and what might be a minor issue.
• Search analytics is helpful but not comprehensive - you can only go back so far in the data, and can't see all the search terms that are sending traffic to your site.

Incentivized

It's easy to use, but some features are lacking a clear explanation. Somethings don't always match up. For example, the Core Web Vitals often doesn't match what you would see in the Chrome Lighthouse report or the Google Page Speed Insights tool. The tool itself is a little too basic and has to be used alongside other SEO tools and other Google properties such as Analytics

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Fast and supportive feedback from support. They usually answer the same day. They have webinars and updates about new features for their clients.

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As with all Google software, your primary source of help is their forums, their knowledge base articles, or whatever tutorials you can find on the web. Often answers on their forums are not straightforward and may not address the actual issue you're experiencing. The KB articles are typically written like instruction manuals - for better or for worse. Tutorials on the web may vary, but the odds are good someone out there had the same questions as you and was kind enough to document their experience.

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While App Annie is extremely robust and pulls in data from acquisition channels, app stores, and elsewhere, it can be quite overwhelming at times. If you are looking for more simple and just keyword positioning then definitely look at AppFollow. Apart from the two platforms themselves, I've had numerous contact experiences with both AppFollow and App Annie. The winner is definitely AppFollow with a less aggressive approach and a higher willingness to go above and beyond to make sure all questions are answered. With App Annie I was bombarded with a ton of sleazy, sales emails to purchase their product.

Incentivized

We are using Ahrefs and SEMRush along with the search console. Ahrefs helps in creating our backlink strategy while SEMRush for content gaps and opportunities. Search console is more preferred as it is completely free and data comes straight from Google. But you cannot see backlinks and ads in search console.

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• AppFollow helps to improve organic growth for the App Store and Google Play.
• AppFollow helps to measure organic traffic.

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• I have used Search Console for every web project I have worked on. The results have always been outstanding.
• Surprising insights can be gained from the keyword analysis. I have discovered multiple profitable channels that weren't even on the radar.
• AMP has been a game changer over the last few years and this tool makes it extremely simple to ensure your pages are mobile friendly.

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