App Store Optimisation (ASO): how to get more app downloads

We just completed an App Store Optimization (ASO) review for one of our customers with an ASO expert (called Oksana, they’re great) – I learned A LOT so wanted to share the exact process we used in this article.

What is App Store Optimization (ASO)?

App Store Optimization (ASO) is a bit like Search Engine Optimization (SEO) but for the mobile app stores. Millions of people search the app stores every week and the aim is to get more organic search traffic, app downloads and ultimately, paying subscribers.

Why is App Store Optimization important?

There are more than 5 million apps in the Apple App Store and Google Play Store. If you launched a website tomorrow, you wouldn’t expect it to rank top of Google without doing some SEO. Same with a mobile app — you need to optimize your listings to get found.

How does App Store Optimization work?

The basics of ASO is your metadata like keywords, title, description (Apple and Google work a bit differently here but more on that later).

The more advanced and arguably important ranking factors are things like your views to download rate, and retention rate. Again, similar to SEO where bounce rate is a factor.

What is the best App Store Optimization strategy?

There are many ASO strategies and tactics you can employ. Here are the steps that we recommend starting with:

Step 1: Choose your keywords

The first step is to decide which keywords you want to target.

You can use an App Store Optimization tool like AppTweak (there are free tools too) to do your keyword research — you’re looking for relevant terms that have a good volume to difficulty ratio.

You can also spy on competitor apps and much more.

Step 2: Create your metadata

Once you have a list of target keywords, you need to update the metadata (e.g. title, subtitle) on your app listing pages to include your keywords. There are some subtle but important differences between Apple and Google, which we explain later.

Step 3: Select the right category

For most recipe, nutrition, and meal planning apps, you’ll probably want to use the Food & Drink category. Health & Fitness is another option depending on what your app does.

If you are unsure, then check what category your direct competitors are using and use that.

Step 4: Get ratings and reviews

Ratings and reviews play an important role in App Store Optimization. It’s another factor that tells Apple and Google that your app is worth recommending (ranking higher).

Unfortunately, people like to leave negative reviews but they don’t leave nice ones as often, so you have to ask. A good way to do this is using a review pop-up, like this one from Instagram which apparently doubled their reviews in just a week.

Step 5: Optimize for conversion

Once you have updated metadata to give your app the best chance of appearing in search results, you need to think about increasing downloads and usage (retention). Again, these are factors Apple and Google used to decide where to rank your app vs other apps.

This warrants an entire post in itself but three important considerations are:

Your app icon — your app’s icon can be the difference between someone choosing your app from search results or your competitors, so test different designs to see what works.

Your app screenshots — along with your app’s description and ratings, your screenshots should encourage people to download your app. Need help? You can find app screenshots services on Fiverr and other freelance marketplaces.

Your app’s onboarding experience — people will decide whether to keep using your app pretty quickly, especially if there’s a paywall upfront. So, keep it simple and give them a reason to stay.

For example, Mealime — a popular recipe and meal planner app – introduces new users with swipeable screens, followed by asking for their preferences (not shown in the image below).

Step 6: Consider localising (advanced)

Apple and Google allow you to show different app listings pages in different countries. As a minimum, you should do ASO for your target country (e.g. United States). You can also repeat the steps above to tweak your listings for secondary countries (e.g. Canada, UK).

App store optimization for iOS (Apple)

Apple only indexes your app’s title, subtitle and keyword fields for their app store search. So, get your target keywords into these fields (title is most important, then subtitle).

You don’t need to repeat keywords in each field because Apple will combine them to create new search phrases. For example, if you put “Vegan Meal Planner” in your title and “Plant Based Recipes” in your subtitle, your app will also rank for “vegan recipes”.

The promotional text and description fields are not indexed for search but they are useful for getting people to click on / download your app so don’t ignore them.

Pro tip: your app’s promotional text can be edited without submitting a new app build so you can easily test what works here. Other fields (e.g. title, subtitle) need a new app build.

‍Pro tip: if your target region is the United States, then you can also create a listing for Mexico Spanish to include even more English keywords for free! This is because Apple will index the Mexico Spanish (MX SP locale) in the US searches too.

App store optimization for Android (Google Play)

An important difference between ASO for iOS and Android is that Google indexes your app’s full description as well as title and subtitle. (Title is still the most important, then subtitle.)

Also, Google’s search algorithm is more advanced so keyword density matters. This means you need to repeat keywords without spamming. Aim for 2-5% density for your target keywords. AppTweak has a free keyword density counter to check your description text.

You can also change your app’s metadata without submitting a new build (unlike Apple).

Pro tip: If you want to check which category Google thinks your app belongs to, then go to Google’s Natural Language AI and paste your app’s description text. Ideally, this should match the category you have selected. If not, consider updating your app’s description.

Should you pay for app downloads for ASO?

Before I hired Oksana, I spoke with other App Store Optimization experts. One of these recommended paying people to search for and download our app to boost rankings.

This is called an “incentive campaign” or “keyword install campaign”.

The theory is: someone is paid to search for a keyword (e.g. “vegan meal planner”), click on your app, and download it. The algorithm sees as an upvote for your app (i.e. it must be relevant) so will boost your app’s ranking for that keyword next time.

You can go a step further and pay people to leave a review and keep using it for a few weeks, to add even more weight to your app’s ranking.

But — before you rush off and do it, these are considered grey or black hat methods (i.e. against the rules) so can result in your app’s ranking being punished by Apple or Google.

What is the best App Store Optimization tool (free and paid)?

The ASO tools that Oksana recommended to me are:

‍AppTweak which has been around for a long time and has a large database of keywords [for keyword research]… plus additional tools for things like competitor research.‍

AppFollow is another popular tool. They have all the necessary features for keyword research as well as a free plan. Also, recommended if you have a portfolio of apps.

What is the best App Store Optimization course?

If you want to learn more about App Store Optimization, there are two free courses that were recommended to me by Google: the App Radar Academy and the App Store Optimization Course by Mobile Action. Check them out and let me know what you think!

Conclusion: the App Store Optimization checklist

To summarize, here is a simple ASO checklist to use to get found in the Apple App Store and Google Play Store:

1. Conduct keyword research using an ASO tool.
2. Update your app store listing metadata.
3. Choose the best category.
4. Get ratings and reviews.
5. Optimize for conversions.
6. Localize your app store listings (advanced).
7. Track results using an ASO tool and repeat!

Got questions?

I hope you found this useful. Get in touch if you still have questions or want help with your food, recipe or meal planner app.

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