In-Depth Guide
The Complete Guide to App Store Optimisation
Our team has written a comprehensive guide covering technical specs, best practices, and the exact approaches we use on every project.
A brilliant app sitting at position forty in search results might as well not exist. Nobody scrolls that far, and nobody downloads what they never see.
We talk to developers regularly who assumed building the app was the hard part. It usually isn’t. App store optimisation starts when the build finishes, but it is often an afterthought. It should be part of the plan from day one.
What Is App Store Optimisation?
Here’s the direct answer before anything else.
| Question | Answer |
|---|---|
| What is app store optimisation? | The practice of improving an app’s visibility and conversion rate within App Store and Play Store search results |
| Is it the same as SEO? | Similar principles, different search engine entirely, with its own ranking factors and metadata rules |
| What matters most for iOS ranking? | Title, subtitle and the dedicated keyword field, all weighed heavily by Apple’s algorithm |
| What matters most for Android ranking? | Title, description text, category performance and ratings velocity |
| How long until results show? | Around three weeks to implement, with ranking improvements building over the following weeks |
| Does UK targeting differ from global? | Yes. Regional keyword research and competitor analysis matter, since UK search behaviour differs from US or global data |
That regional point matters more than people expect. A keyword strategy pulled from US app store data often misses exactly the terms UK users are actually typing.
Why the Keyword Field Gets Missed So Often
In our testing across a genuine range of client apps, the single most common gap we find is an empty or poorly researched keyword field on iOS. It costs nothing to fill in properly, yet it sits ignored on a huge number of otherwise well built apps.
We worked with a Northwest based field services app whose functionality was genuinely good. Engineers loved it once they discovered it. Almost nobody was discovering it. Their App Store listing title was entirely brand focused, with no other keywords anywhere describing what the app actually did.
We reworked their metadata around actual search behaviour and rewrote their screenshot sequence to show the value in the first three images. Their organic installs increased significantly within a few weeks, with no paid acquisition spend at all.
That’s the pattern worth understanding properly. Good ASO isn’t about gaming an algorithm. It’s about making sure the metadata genuinely reflects what real UK users are searching for.
Strategy Needs to Treat Each Store Differently
Apple and Google rank apps using genuinely different logic, and a generic strategy usually means underperforming on at least one.
- App Store keyword field read directly by Apple’s algorithm but invisible to users, meaning every character should count toward genuine search relevance
- Title and subtitle on iOS, weighted heavily for ranking and worth structuring around actual search terms rather than pure branding
- Play Store description text carrying more ranking weight than its iOS equivalent, since Google reads the full description for relevance signals
- Ratings velocity affecting category ranking on both platforms, meaning a proper review strategy supports visibility, not just reputation
- Screenshot sequence doing the conversion work once someone actually lands on the listing, deciding whether a search click becomes a genuine install
- Category selection shaping competitive positioning, since ranking well in a crowded category is harder than ranking well in a more targeted one
Skip the platform-specific detail and a strategy ends up half optimised for both stores rather than fully optimised for either.
Where This Connects Back to the App Itself
None of this works without a genuinely solid app behind the listing. Optimising metadata for an app that performs poorly once installed just accelerates uninstalls and damages ratings, which then drags ranking down regardless of how well the keyword field was researched.
If the app itself still needs building properly, natively rather than as a wrapped website, that’s a separate conversation worth having first. Our Mobile App Development service covers genuine native builds in Swift and Kotlin. ASO works far better layered on top of an app built properly from the start than it does trying to compensate for weak functionality with clever metadata.
The Keyword Research Behind Every Good Listing
Metadata optimisation is only as strong as the research underneath it. Guessing at what UK users search for, or reusing a generic keyword list from a US focused competitor, rarely produces the same results as genuine research into how people actually search on each platform.
Our keyword research work uses the same strict method we use for Google.
We adapt it for app store search behaviour.
This reflects how App Store and Play Store search really works.
They are related fields, but not the same.
Who Handles This Work Matters
ASO agencies vary wildly in depth. Some treat it as a checklist item added to a broader marketing package. Others, including our own team, connect it directly to a genuine technical understanding of how apps are built and submitted.
You can see more about who handles this kind of work directly on our Meet the Team page. The ASO work developers actually trust tends to come from people who understand both the search side and the technical side of what they’re optimising, not a marketing generalist working from a template.
Getting the Full Picture Right From the Start
There are two outcomes every app needs: ranking well and converting well. Chasing one without the other leaves real downloads on the table. A listing that ranks well but converts badly wastes the visibility it worked hard to earn. A listing that converts brilliantly but never appears in search results never gets the chance to prove it.
An effective ASO strategy treats both as one job: optimise each store separately according to how it actually ranks, then monitor continuously as competitors update their listings and reviews accumulate over time.