App store optimization guides
Practical, specific ASO guides for developers doing their own app store optimization, written for people without a marketing team, and without the padding.
App Store Keyword Research: A Step-by-Step Method (2026)
How to find App Store keywords worth targeting, judge how hard each one is to win, and fit them into Apple's 100-character keyword field without wasting a character.
The ASO Checklist for a New App Launch: 22 Checks
A practical app store optimization checklist covering metadata, creatives, ratings and localisation, in the order they actually affect your ranking.
App Store Ranking Factors, Ranked by Influence
What actually decides where your app appears in App Store and Google Play search, which factors you control, and which ones people waste time on.
Google Play ASO: How Play Ranking Differs From the App Store
Google Play indexes your full description, weights installs and engagement differently, and rewards different things. What to change when porting an iOS listing to Android.
Using Apple Search Ads to Find Organic Keywords
Apple Search Ads search terms are the only place in ASO where demand is measured rather than modelled. How to read them against your organic rank.
App Store Screenshots That Convert: A Practical Guide
Why the first three screenshots decide almost everything, what to put in each one, and how to test alternatives for free with Custom Product Pages.
ASO vs SEO: What Transfers and What Actively Hurts
If you already know search engine optimization, four habits will serve you well in the app stores and three will actively damage your ranking.
App Store Keyword Difficulty: How to Tell What You Can Win
How to judge whether you can realistically rank for a keyword, why difficulty scores disagree, and the three checks that beat any single number.
How to Increase App Downloads: Ranking, Conversion and Retention
Downloads are ranking multiplied by conversion. A practical breakdown of which lever to pull first, and how to tell which one is actually holding you back.
How to Get More App Reviews, and What to Do With Bad Ones
Rating count and average feed both ranking and conversion. When to ask, how often you are allowed to, and why replying to negative reviews is worth the time.
ASO terms explained
The vocabulary, defined plainly.
App store optimization (ASO)
Improving how an app ranks and converts in App Store and Google Play search results. It covers metadata keywords, creatives, ratings and download velocity.
Keyword field
Apple's hidden 100-character metadata field, indexed for search but never shown to users. Google Play has no equivalent.
Search popularity
Apple's 5-to-100 score for how often a term is searched, published through the Search Ads API. It is the only official demand figure Apple provides.
Share of voice
A position-weighted measure of how much of the demand across your tracked keywords you actually capture. Ranking first for a popular term counts for far more than ranking fortieth for ten obscure ones.
Search terms report
Apple Search Ads' record of the queries that actually triggered your ads, and whether they converted. The only measured, rather than modelled, demand data in ASO.
Storefront
A country-specific version of a store. Rankings differ per storefront, so a keyword you own in the United States may be unwinnable in Germany.
Android vitals
Google Play's stability metrics, including crash rate and ANR rate. They are explicit ranking inputs, which makes stability work an ASO task on Android.
Put the guides into practice
ASOWeb tracks every keyword in these guides daily across the App Store and Google Play. The free plan covers 25 keywords and never expires.