ASO
What is App Store Optimization?
Two thirds of app downloads still start with a search in the store. ASO is the work of winning those searches, and then winning the tap that follows.
The short answer
App Store Optimization is the practice of improving how your app ranks in App Store and Google Play search, and how many people install it once they find it. It has two halves that are easy to confuse. Visibility gets you shown for the right queries. Conversion turns that impression into a download. An app that ranks first and converts badly is a leak, and an app that converts brilliantly but ranks tenth is a secret. ASO is the discipline of fixing both, continuously, market by market.
- ~65%
- Of installs start with a store search
- 2
- Stores, two different rulebooks
- 0
- Cost per organic install
Why it matters
The cheapest install you will ever buy
Organic scales, paid resets
Paid installs stop the day the budget stops. A keyword you have earned keeps delivering every morning, which is why ASO tends to be the lowest cost per install of any channel you run.
It compounds
Ranking brings installs, installs and good retention bring better ranking. The loop runs in your favour once it starts, and in your competitor's favour if you ignore it.
It lifts everything else
Your store listing is the last screen before every install, paid or organic. A better listing raises the return on the ad spend you are already committed to.
Your competitors are moving
Category rankings are relative. Standing still while rivals iterate on metadata and creatives is the same as sliding down, just slower and less visibly.
App Store vs Google Play
One discipline, two rulebooks
The instinct that works on one store will quietly cost you on the other.
| App Store | Google Play | |
|---|---|---|
| Keyword source | A dedicated 100-character keyword field, hidden from users | The description text itself, indexed for keywords |
| Repetition | Repeating a keyword adds nothing, so never waste the field | Natural repetition helps, keyword stuffing gets penalized |
| Title weight | Very high, 30 characters that decide a lot | High, 30 characters, but the description carries real weight too |
| Updating metadata | Tied to an app release and its review | Editable in the console without shipping a build |
| Testing | Product Page Optimization, up to 3 treatments | Store Listing Experiments, more flexible and faster to read |
The levers
What ASO actually consists of
Keywords and metadata
Choosing the queries worth ranking for, then placing them where each store indexes them. This is title, subtitle, keyword field, and description, written for the algorithm and the human at the same time. It is the highest-leverage work and most teams do it once and forget it.
Creatives and conversion
Icon, screenshots and preview video decide whether a listing view becomes an install. A clear first screenshot that states one promise usually beats a beautiful set with no message. Test it rather than argue about it.
Ratings and reviews
Both stores treat rating as a ranking and conversion input. Prompting at the right moment, replying to reviews and fixing what they repeatedly complain about is ASO work, not support work.
Localization
Translating metadata is not localizing it. The keywords people actually search differ by market, so a real localization pass researches each market's language rather than running the English set through a translator.
Engagement signals
Retention, session depth and uninstall rate feed back into ranking, especially on Google Play. Store performance and product quality are not separate problems, which is why ASO cannot be fully outsourced away from the product team.
Measurement
Keyword positions, impressions, conversion rate and installs, tracked per market and attributed to specific releases. Without this you cannot tell a good decision from a lucky one.
How we work
The loop we run
Step 1
Research
Build the keyword set from real volume and difficulty data, per market, and see where you rank today.
Step 2
Optimize
Rewrite metadata and creatives against that set, respecting each store's rules and limits.
Step 3
Test
Ship changes as experiments where the stores allow it, so results are attributable rather than anecdotal.
Step 4
Iterate
Read what moved, keep it, and feed the losers back into the next round. ASO is a loop, not a launch.
ASO FAQ
Questions we get about ASO
How long does ASO take to work?
Metadata changes typically show movement in one to three weeks, once the store reindexes and gathers enough impressions to judge. Creative changes read faster if you have volume. Meaningful category-level gains are a quarters-long effort, not a sprint.
Is ASO just SEO for apps?
The instinct is similar, the mechanics are not. There is no backlink graph, the ranking factors are fewer and more product-driven, and the entire result fits on one screen. Store metadata fields are also strictly limited, so word choice matters far more than volume of content.
Can I just translate my metadata for other markets?
You can, and it is usually money left on the table. People search for different words than the ones a translator picks, so a proper localization pass researches keywords natively per market. That is where most of the easy upside sits for apps already live in many countries.
Does ASO still matter if AI assistants recommend apps now?
Both matter, and they are not the same job. ASO wins the store search, GEO wins the AI recommendation that happens before anyone opens the store. Most of our customers need both, which is why we cover both.
Do I need to ship a release to change my ASO?
On Google Play, no. Metadata is editable in the console. On the App Store, the keyword field and most metadata are tied to a version submission, so ASO changes need to be planned into the release calendar.
See where your app stands
We will audit your listings and show you the keywords you are missing.