ASO SEO

App store optimisation (ASO) is to app stores what SEO is to Google Search, but the two are not twins. ASO targets the Apple App Store and Google Play — places where people search for apps to download. The ranking signals are different: an app's title, subtitle, keywords field (on iOS), ratings, reviews, and update frequency matter more than backlinks or page authority.

I work mainly in web SEO, so when a client asked me to improve their app's organic installs, I tried typical SEO tactics — more content, more backlinks — and got nowhere. The app's title was generic, its ratings were below 3.5, and it hadn't been updated in six months. After changing the title to include the main keyword, requesting honest ratings from users, and shipping a bugfix update, the impressions in Google Play jumped 40% in two weeks. The client's app was a habit tracker. After the changes, installs from search went from 50 per week to 120 per week. No ads, no social push. That convinced me ASO deserves its own budget.

The key insight: ASO rewards metadata accuracy and social proof, not editorial authority. If you run a [SaaS SEO](/saas-seo/) campaign for a product that also has a mobile app, you cannot assume the same optimisations will lift app store rankings. You have to treat the app listing as a separate landing page with its own ranking rules.

ASO matters most when your business model relies on app downloads — not on web traffic. A [small business SEO](/small-business-seo/) strategy that drives visitors to a website will not help a restaurant's ordering app if the app cannot be found in the store search.

I saw this with a local delivery service that spent money on web SEO but ignored their app listing. Their app title was just the brand name, their keywords field was empty, and their rating was 3.1. After two weeks of ASO work — including a keyword-rich subtitle, better screenshots, and a push for reviews — their store impressions doubled. For a B2B SaaS product with a mobile companion app, ASO becomes critical because potential users search for terms like “project management app” directly on the Play Store.

In contrast, a web-only business that does not have an app can ignore ASO entirely. The decision rule: if your app contributes more than 20% of new customer acquisition, you should hire a [digital marketing agency](/digital-marketing-agency/) that understands both channels. But if your app is a secondary touchpoint, invest in web SEO first.

I also noticed that ASO impact is faster — changes to title or keywords can affect rankings within days, not months like web SEO. But the ceiling is lower: there are fewer searches on app stores than on Google. A healthcare app with a low rating will struggle even with perfect keywords, so [healthcare SEO](/healthcare-seo/) for the web won't help the app store placement. For a real estate agent's app, ASO is vital because home buyers search “property finder” on the App Store. A [real estate SEO](/real-estate-seo/) campaign on Google won't capture that intent.

For years I dismissed ASO as “easy SEO for apps” — tweak a few fields and you're done. That was naive. The biggest mistake was assuming that app store algorithms work like Google's. They do not. Google Play's ranking considers the number and velocity of installs from search, but also the ratio of uninstalls. A high uninstall rate after install signals poor relevance, and rankings drop.

I also thought ratings below 4.0 could be compensated with keyword stuffing in the description. Wrong. Both stores demote apps with low ratings, and Apple's App Store even hides some keywords if the rating falls below a threshold I never found documented but observed in my own data.

Another error: ignoring the keyword field on iOS. I used to fill it with comma-separated terms, but Apple recommends no punctuation and only specific high-volume terms because the field is limited to 100 characters. My first attempt wasted 30 characters on duplicates. I also ignored the “acquisition reports” inside Google Play Console for months. Those numbers show which keywords drive impressions. Once I started using them, I cut wasted keyword fields by half.

Lastly, I underrated the power of screenshots. Changing the first screenshot to highlight the core value proposition increased conversion rate from impression to install by 12% in one test. ASO is not a one-time setup; it is a continuous loop of testing metadata, monitoring reviews, and shipping updates. I now allocate at least two hours a month per app, separate from any [SEO services](/seo-services/) retainer.