App Store Optimisation for Apple's App Store and Google Play: keywords, listing copy, creative and ratings strategy driven by store analytics.
Store search is where most organic installs come from. A listing that ranks but doesn't convert is as expensive as one nobody sees.
Image: AI Generated
App Store Optimisation is the practice of improving an app's visibility and install rate within the Apple App Store and Google Play. It combines keyword ranking work with conversion work on the listing itself — icon, screenshots, title, description and ratings. Apple and Google index different fields, so each store needs its own listing strategy.
| Apple indexes | App name (30 characters), subtitle (30 characters) and a hidden 100-character keyword field. The description is not indexed for search. |
|---|---|
| Google Play indexes | Title (30 characters), short description (80 characters) and the full description (4,000 characters). |
| Biggest conversion levers | Icon, the first two screenshots, and star rating. |
| Ratings | Both stores surface rating prominently; Apple resets display weighting toward recent reviews after updates. |
| Testing | Google Play offers store listing experiments; Apple offers product page optimisation tests. |
| Why it compounds | A listing that converts better earns more impressions, which earns more installs. |
ASO is search and conversion optimisation inside the app stores. Two jobs: rank for the terms people search, and convert the impressions you already get into installs.
The two stores work differently. Apple indexes the app name, subtitle and a hidden 100-character keyword field, and does not index your description. Google Play does index the description, so the same copy cannot serve both listings.
Ranking is only half of it. Icon, first two screenshots and rating drive whether someone taps install, and both stores reward a listing that converts by showing it more often.
Every engagement is built around measurable commercial impact — from revenue and leads to retention, efficiency and operational scale.
Separate research for Apple's keyword field and Google Play's indexed description.
App name, subtitle, short and full description written for each store's ranking model and for the reader.
First-two-screenshot strategy, captions, app preview video, icon testing.
In-app prompt timing, responding to reviews, and turning recurring complaints into roadmap items.
App Store Connect and Play Console data — impressions, product page views, conversion rate by source.
Listings adapted for additional markets where the app has genuine demand.
Get the listing right at submission rather than fixing it after a flat launch week.
Impressions arriving, installs not following — almost always a conversion problem.
Findable by name only, ranking for nothing else.
Paid traffic lands on the store listing; a weak listing inflates your cost per install.
Current rankings, impressions, conversion rate and competitor listings reviewed.
Separate keyword sets built for Apple and Google, mapped to real search demand.
Copy, screenshots, preview video and icon revised and shipped to both stores.
Store experiments where available, with conversion tracked per change.
Monthly review of rankings, conversion and reviews, feeding the product roadmap.
Tell us what the app needs to do and we'll come back with a scoped feature list, a realistic timeline to App Store and Google Play approval, and an itemised cost — including what it costs to run, not just to build.
ASO is improving an app's visibility and install rate inside the App Store and Google Play — ranking for the terms people search, and converting the impressions the listing already receives.
SEO targets web search engines; ASO targets the store search inside Apple and Google's apps. The ranking fields, the creative that drives clicks and the measurement tools are all different.
The app name, the subtitle and a hidden 100-character keyword field. Apple does not index the app description for search, so description copy is purely for the reader.
The title, short description and full description are all indexed, so keyword placement in the description matters on Google Play in a way it does not on Apple.
The icon, the first two screenshots and the star rating. Most people decide from the search result and the top of the listing without scrolling.
Prompt in-app at a moment of success rather than at launch, respond to reviews publicly, and fix the recurring complaints — review volume and rating both feed ranking and conversion.
Conversion changes can show within days of a listing update. Ranking movement typically takes several weeks and compounds as install and retention signals improve.
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