Glossary
What is app store optimization (ASO)?
App store optimization is the practice of improving an app's visibility and conversion rate within app store search results — through metadata, keywords, visuals and ratings.
Two jobs, not one
ASO is usually described as ranking, and ranking is only half of it.
Visibility is being found — appearing in search results and browse surfaces for relevant queries. Driven by metadata, keywords, category and download velocity.
Conversion is what proportion of people who see the listing install. Driven by the icon, screenshots, preview video, ratings and the first line of the description.
Conversion is usually the higher-leverage of the two and receives far less attention, because ranking feels like the harder problem.
What moves rankings
- Keyword relevance in the title and, on iOS, the keyword field. The title carries the most weight.
- Download velocity relative to competitors, which is why paid campaigns lift organic rankings.
- Ratings and reviews, both volume and recency.
- Retention signals, which the stores use as a quality input.
- Uninstall rate, which works against you.
The interaction with paid
Paid and organic are not independent. A paid campaign that drives download velocity lifts organic ranking, which drives further organic installs — so measuring paid campaigns without accounting for the organic lift understates them, sometimes substantially.
This is the same organic uplift effect described under organic install, and it is measured the same way: a geo holdout comparing total installs rather than attributed ones.
AI-driven discovery
An increasing share of app discovery now begins outside the store, with a user asking an assistant for a recommendation. That conversation has no keyword field to optimise and no ranking position to win.
What determines whether you are named there is the same thing that determines any answer insertion: what independent sources say about you, how consistently, and how machine-readable it is — see GEO / AEO. Store metadata contributes almost nothing to it.
ASO is not being replaced; a second discovery surface is being added alongside it, with different mechanics and no keyword field.
Common questions
How long does ASO take to work?
Metadata changes can move rankings within days, though stores throttle how often you can change them. Rating and retention improvements move slowly, over months.
Does ASO matter if most installs are paid?
Yes, on the conversion side especially. Every paid click still lands on the store listing, so listing conversion rate multiplies the efficiency of all paid spend.
More in growth and engagement
Acquiring users, and the behaviour that says whether they stayed.