App Store Optimisation basics: helping people find your app

You can build an excellent app and still be invisible. In the App Store and Google Play, a large share of downloads comes from people searching for what they need. App Store Optimisation (ASO) is SEO for those stores: it helps the right people find your app and convinces them to install it.

Two goals: be found, then be chosen

ASO works on two levels. Visibility is about appearing in search results and category lists. Conversion is about what happens when someone sees your listing — do they tap install, or scroll past? Improving either one increases downloads; improving both multiplies the effect.

Getting found

• Title: include your brand and, where natural, the main thing the app does.
• Subtitle and short description: use the words your users actually type, not internal jargon.
• Keyword field (iOS): fill it with relevant terms you did not use elsewhere, separated by commas.
• Long description (Google Play): it is indexed, so describe features clearly and naturally — no keyword stuffing.
• Localisation: a translated listing can reach audiences who never search in English.

Getting chosen

• Icon: simple, recognisable at small sizes, distinct from competitors.
• Screenshots: the first two do most of the work. Show the main benefit, with short captions, not a tour of the settings screen.
• Ratings and reviews: ask happy users for a rating at a good moment, and reply to criticism politely.
• Preview video: useful when the app is hard to understand from still images.

Treat it as an ongoing process

Search behaviour changes, competitors update their listings and stores change their algorithms. Review your keywords and screenshots regularly, change one thing at a time, and compare results over a few weeks. Both stores offer built-in tools for testing listing variants.

The app itself is part of ASO. Stability, retention and good reviews all influence how stores rank you.

ASO will not make people love a weak app. But for a good one, it is often the difference between a slow trickle of installs and steady, organic growth.