App store optimization: the basics that make your app discoverable

Most app downloads start with a search in the store. App store optimization, ASO, is about showing up in that search and then getting the visitor to tap install. It’s cheap leverage: you pay nothing per click, you’re just improving the material the store already shows. Here are the basics you need as a product owner, without the technical jargon.

Which fields matter most – and in which store

The stores rank things somewhat differently, and it’s worth knowing where your text does the most good.

• The title carries the most weight in both stores. Put your most important keyword here, phrased naturally. You have about 30 characters before the name gets cut off in list views.
• Subtitle (App Store) and short description (Google Play) respectively are the second most important, and the first thing a visitor reads. Sell the benefit in one line.
• The keyword field in the App Store is hidden and holds 100 characters – separate with commas, don’t repeat words from the title, don’t waste characters on spaces.
• The long description ranks on Google Play but in practice not on the App Store. On Play, the body text is part of the search engine; on the App Store, it’s mostly there to convince.
• The icon doesn’t rank but decides a lot of clicks. It should be clean, clear, and legible even at a small size.

The takeaway: the same app needs partly different text in the two stores. Copying it straight across leaves ranking on the table.

Screenshots and video decide the install

Once the visitor is on your page, it’s the images, not the text, that sell. Most people never scroll down to the description. That’s why the first two or three screenshots need to carry the whole message: what the app does and why it’s worth installing.

Use screenshots with short headlines that explain the benefit – not raw screenshots without context. A short 15–30 second preview video can lift conversion further, especially for apps where the feel itself is the selling point. Think benefit first, feature second: “Book in 30 seconds” beats “Calendar view with filters.”

A concrete worked example

Say your store page gets 1,000 visits a month and 25 percent install – 250 downloads. You swap the first three screenshots for clear benefit headlines and raise conversion to 32 percent. Without a single new visitor, that’s 320 downloads, or 70 more a month. If you also raise the average rating from 3.9 to 4.4 by asking for reviews at the right moment, both ranking and conversion climb further. The takeaway: ASO works on percentages, and small improvements on traffic you already have become free downloads.

Ratings, reviews, and freshness

The stores reward apps that seem alive and well-liked. Average rating and number of reviews affect both ranking and how many people are willing to install. Ask for a rating at a moment when the user has just succeeded at something in the app – not in the middle of a task. Respond to reviews and fix what keeps coming up.

Regular updates also signal freshness. An app that hasn’t been touched in a year loses ground to competitors polishing their store pages continuously. That ties into the ongoing maintenance an app needs anyway to keep up with new OS versions.

Realistic expectations: ASO doesn’t replace marketing

Here’s the honest boundary. ASO turns a larger share of your existing traffic into installs and helps you rank on searches that are already happening. What ASO doesn’t do is create demand out of nowhere. If no one is searching for what your app solves, there’s no traffic to optimize.

Think of it as teamwork: marketing, PR, and recommendations drive people to the store page, and ASO makes sure more of them stay and download. A rule of thumb is to lay the ASO foundation first – it’s cheap and long-lasting – and then let paid and organic marketing work against a store page that already converts well. Want help thinking through the launch as a whole? Get in touch and we’ll talk through the approach.