You improve ASO by putting the words people actually search for into the parts of your listing each store reads, making the first two screenshots explain why your app is worth installing, raising your rating and review volume, and testing every change against installs. App store optimisation works on two numbers at once, how often your app appears in search and how many people who see it install it. Improve both and organic installs grow without paying for each one.
The short version
- Keywords decide whether you appear. Your title carries the most weight on both stores, followed by the subtitle on iOS and the short description on Google Play
- Creatives decide whether you are chosen. Most visitors decide from the icon and the first two screenshots without scrolling
- Ratings move both numbers. A higher average and steady new reviews lift ranking and conversion together
- Each store reads different fields. Apple has a hidden keyword field, Google Play reads your full description instead
- Test, then keep what wins. Both stores now offer built-in experiments, so you never have to guess
What is ASO and why does it matter?
App store optimisation is the practice of improving an app's store listing so it ranks higher in App Store and Google Play search and converts more listing views into installs. It is to apps what SEO is to websites.
It matters because search is how most people find apps. When someone needs a habit tracker, a food delivery app or a bank, they open the store and type. If your app is not on the first screen of results for those words, it does not exist for that person. Paid user acquisition can fill the gap, but every install costs money and stops the moment the budget does. Organic installs from good ASO keep arriving, and they usually retain better because the user went looking for exactly what you offer.
How the App Store and Google Play rank apps
Both stores weigh similar signals and read them from different places. Knowing where each store looks is the first step to ranking.
| Field | Apple App Store | Google Play |
|---|---|---|
| App name or title | 30 characters, strongest keyword signal | 30 characters, strongest keyword signal |
| Subtitle or short description | Subtitle, 30 characters, indexed | Short description, 80 characters, indexed |
| Keyword field | 100 characters, hidden, indexed | Not available |
| Long description | Not indexed for search | 4,000 characters, indexed |
| In-app events and promotional content | Indexed and shown in search | Promotional content shown on the listing |
Beyond text, both stores reward apps that people install, keep and rate well. Download velocity, retention, uninstall rate, crash rate, ratings and how recently the app was updated all feed ranking. That is why ASO cannot rescue a broken app and why a good app with poor ASO never reaches the audience it deserves.
Step 1. Research the keywords people actually type
Start with how your users describe the problem your app solves, before thinking about the features you built. A meditation app might be searched as "sleep sounds", "anxiety relief" or "breathing exercises" far more often than "meditation". List every phrase, then gather data.
- Use the stores' own suggestions. Type your seed words into the App Store and Google Play search bars and note the autocomplete suggestions. Those reflect real searches.
- Check competitors' titles and subtitles. Apps ranking above you show which phrases the market responds to.
- Use an ASO tool for volume and difficulty. Tools estimate how popular each term is and how hard it is to rank for. Small apps should target terms with decent popularity and low competition first.
- Research every market separately. Users in Germany, the Gulf and Japan search differently. Translate the intent, then research the local words.
Group your keywords into three tiers. Primary terms go in your title. Secondary terms go in your subtitle or short description. The long tail fills the iOS keyword field and the Google Play description.
Step 2. Write metadata for each store
Your title is the most valuable real estate you have. Combine your brand with your most important keyword, for example "Calmly Sleep and Meditation", and keep it readable because humans read it too.
On the App Store, use the 30-character subtitle for your second most important phrase and the 100-character keyword field for everything else. Separate keywords with commas and no spaces, do not repeat words already in your title or subtitle, use singular forms and leave out your app's category name because Apple indexes it already.
On Google Play, write the 80-character short description as a clear benefit statement with your main keyword near the start. Then write a full description of up to 4,000 characters that reads naturally and mentions your important keywords a few times each. Google reads it with language understanding, so repetition beyond natural use does not help and can hurt.
Avoid the fastest way to get rejected. Both stores prohibit competitor brand names, misleading claims and keyword lists stuffed into titles. An app that is rejected or demoted for metadata spam loses far more than it gained.
Want more installs from the same app?
We manage App Store and Google Play optimisation end to end, from keywords and screenshots to ratings and testing
Step 3. Design screenshots and videos that sell the install
Search gets you seen. Creatives get you chosen. Most people decide within a few seconds from the icon and the first two or three screenshots, so those images must answer one question, why should I install this?
- Lead with the outcome. Show what the user gets, such as a calmer night, a budget under control or dinner on the way, with the screen that proves it.
- Use short captions. Four to seven words per screenshot, readable on a small phone.
- Make the first frame of your video count. Preview videos autoplay muted on the App Store, so the first seconds must make sense without sound.
- Keep the icon simple. One bold shape and a strong colour stand out in a crowded results list.
- Localise visuals as well as words. Screenshots that show local currency, language and faces convert better in each market.
Step 4. Raise your rating and review volume
Ratings are both a ranking signal and a conversion signal. An app at 4.6 stars beats a similar app at 3.9 on both counts. These four habits lift your rating over time.
- Ask at the right moment. Use Apple's SKStoreReviewController and Google's In-App Review API right after a success, such as finishing a workout or receiving an order, and never right after an error.
- Reply to reviews. Both stores let you respond publicly. Thoughtful replies win back unhappy users and show new visitors you care.
- Fix what reviews complain about. Your reviews are free product research. Ship fixes, then say so in your release notes.
- Prompt happy users more often. Users who have completed several sessions are the most likely to leave five stars.
Step 5. Test, measure and keep improving
Both stores now let you run experiments. Google Play store listing experiments test icons, screenshots, videos and descriptions against each other. Apple's product page optimisation tests icons, screenshots and preview videos, and custom product pages let you send different audiences to different versions of your listing.
Run one change at a time, wait for enough visitors to reach a confident result, and keep only what wins. Then measure what matters each month, which is impressions, product page views, conversion rate, organic installs and keyword rankings in each market. Our guide on getting more app downloads covers the channels beyond the stores that feed this cycle.
ASO for a new app versus an established one
The right ASO plan depends on where your app is today.
A new app has no download history, no reviews and no ranking momentum, so it should target specific, lower competition phrases where it can reach the top ten quickly. Pair the launch with a burst of installs from your website, email list, social channels or a short paid campaign, because early download velocity tells both stores the app is worth showing. Ask your first users for reviews as soon as they have had a good experience, and ship small updates often to show the app is actively maintained.
An established app already ranks for something. The work is to find the gaps. Which valuable keywords sit on page two? Which markets convert worse than others? Which screenshot has not been tested in a year? Established apps often gain the most from localisation into new languages and from creative experiments, because small conversion gains multiply across a large number of listing views.
Localisation, the most underused lever in ASO
Most apps publish one listing in English and stop there. Yet both stores let you create localised listings for dozens of languages and regions, each with its own title, subtitle, keywords, description and screenshots. The App Store also indexes some additional localisations per country, which effectively gives you extra keyword space in markets such as the United States.
Localising well means researching how people in each market actually search. A Spanish user in Mexico and one in Spain may use different words, and an Arabic-speaking user in the Gulf may search in Arabic, English or a mix. Start with the markets where you already see organic installs, localise the listing fully, measure for a month and then expand. It is common to see installs from a market jump after a proper localisation, simply because the app now appears for searches in the user's own language.
How long does ASO take to work?
Keyword changes take effect once a store re-indexes your listing, usually within days of an approved update on iOS and within a few weeks on Google Play as the algorithm settles. Visible ranking movement typically shows within two to six weeks. Conversion gains from new screenshots can appear within days once an experiment has enough traffic. Like SEO, ASO compounds. Every month of better ranking brings more installs, more reviews and a stronger position.
ASO mistakes we see most often
- Copying the iOS listing onto Google Play. The stores read different fields, so one listing cannot be optimal for both.
- Targeting only the most popular keywords. A new app will not rank for "games" or "fitness". Win specific phrases first, then climb.
- Screenshots of the settings screen. Show the moment of value, the result your user came for.
- Ignoring localisation. Many of the easiest rankings are in languages your competitors never translated.
- Updating rarely. Regular updates signal an active app and give you a chance to refresh keywords and creatives.
Where ASO meets SEO and your website
Your app does not live only in the stores. People search Google for the problem your app solves, and app store pages themselves rank in Google results. A fast website with pages that answer those searches, linking to your store listings, sends users who arrive already convinced. That is why we plan ASO and SEO together for app businesses, and why our web and app development team builds landing pages for every major feature.
Proklisi builds websites and apps, runs SEO, ASO and social media, and creates SI influencers for brands. Everything here comes from work we do for clients every week. About us or talk to the team