ASO consulting: an app that’s found in search and installed on sight.

ASO (App Store Optimization) is all the work that helps an app get found in App Store and Google Play search, and gets the people who open its store page to install it. We wrote this guide for product and marketing teams whose app is live but isn’t getting the installs they expect from store search. Character limits, image counts and experiment rules come from Apple’s and Google’s own developer documentation; the sources are numbered at the end of the page. We haven’t speculated about ranking weights the stores don’t publish.

Our ASO consulting has three layers: setting up the text fields that get the app shown for the right queries, preparing and testing the visuals that make the install decision easier for people who see the store page, and managing ratings, reviews and localization together with your product team. The ten sections below explain how each of these is done.

What is ASO, and how does store search rank apps?

ASO is the work of improving both the ranking in store search and the install rate on the store page; ranking comes from a combination of text relevance and user behavior. Apple writes that App Store search results are based on text relevance (the app’s name, subtitle, keywords and primary category) and user behavior (downloads, ratings and reviews).¹ On Google Play, apps are ranked on a combination of ratings, reviews, downloads and other factors; Google notes that search takes into account the overall app experience, measured through user behavior and feedback.²

Text fields decide which queries an app is a candidate for; user behavior affects how high it climbs for those queries. Apple also says that app tags, generated by large language models from the information you enter in App Store Connect, can appear in search results.¹ That’s why it isn’t enough for your metadata (promotional fields such as name, subtitle and description) to carry keywords; it also needs to describe accurately what the app does, because AI and superintelligence-driven systems now read it too.

App Store optimization: which text field does what in search?

On the App Store, the text fields that count for search are the name, the subtitle and the keyword field; Google Play has no hidden keyword field like the App Store, so the title and the short and full descriptions carry that load. On Apple, the app name can be up to 30 characters and the subtitle up to 30 characters, and the subtitle appears under the name everywhere on the App Store.³ The keyword field is limited to 100 characters in total; terms are separated by commas without spaces.³ On Google Play, the title can’t exceed 30 characters, the short description gives the app’s message in 80 characters, and the full description can be up to 4,000 characters.⁴

On Apple, the promotional text appears above the description, is up to 170 characters and can be updated without submitting a new version; the first sentence of the description is the most important one, because it’s the only part users can read without tapping “more”.³ Google also reminds you that users may read only the first few sentences of the full description, recommends not repeating the short description in the full description and avoiding excessive keyword repetition.⁴

How is ASO done, and where does keyword research start?

Keyword research means finding the phrases users actually type into the store search box and ranking each one by how well the app answers it. Store queries are shorter than web searches, and most describe a function: “expense tracker”, “invoice maker”, “step counter”. That’s why we build the list from the user’s words, not marketing language.

1. Seed list: we collect phrases that describe the user’s problem from support tickets, store reviews and the questions your sales team hears.
2. Store suggestions: we type each phrase into the App Store and Google Play search boxes and record the autocomplete suggestions and the results returned; this is where you see which queries competitors appear for.
3. Relevance filter: we check whether the app really answers that query; showing up for an irrelevant query brings impressions, not installs.
4. Placement: the one or two most valuable phrases go into the name or subtitle; the rest go into the keyword field on the App Store and into natural sentences in the descriptions on Google Play.

Apple asks you to avoid plurals of words whose singular is already included, category names and the word “app”, repeated words and competitor app names in the keyword field.³ Google asks you to use best practices for search in the description while minding its spam and intellectual property policies.²

Which elements of the store page drive the install decision?

The install decision is mostly made on the page’s first screen: icon, name, subtitle, the first screenshots or the preview video, and rating. On Apple, a product page can include up to 10 screenshots; if there’s no app preview, the first one to three images, depending on orientation, also appear in search results.³ App previews are up to 30 seconds long, a page can have up to three, and they autoplay muted when the page opens, so the first seconds need to be visually strong.³

To publish a store listing on Google Play, you need at least two screenshots across device types; up to 8 screenshots can be added per device type.⁵ To be eligible for recommendation formats that use screenshots, Google asks apps for at least four screenshots at a minimum resolution of 1080 pixels.⁵ The preview video can autoplay muted for up to 30 seconds, depending on device, settings and connection.⁵

How should screenshots and the preview video be structured?

Screenshots aren’t a feature list; they’re a short story that states the app’s main benefit in the first frame and carries a single message per frame. Google recommends keeping text in screenshots minimal and showing the real in-app experience.⁴ Apple also asks app previews to show the experience of using the app, with footage captured on the device.³ We build the story with these rules:

• First frame: says in one sentence which problem the app solves; a logo or a splash screen wastes the first frame.
• Order: the feature that convinces users comes first, details later; we set the order based on the features mentioned most in reviews.
• Text: one headline per frame, sized to be readable on a small screen; no long descriptive sentences.
• Language: the text in the images is prepared separately for each market; we don’t leave English screenshot text on a German store page.
• Video: the first seconds are built on the assumption that they’ll be watched without sound; no scene that can’t be understood muted goes into the video.

Google doesn’t allow screenshots that reflect Google Play performance, rankings, awards, user testimonials or price and promotional information, and gives phrases such as “Best”, “#1”, “Top”, “New”, “Discount”, “Sale” and “Million Downloads” as examples.⁵ We don’t put their equivalents in other languages on the images either.

What are custom product pages and custom store listings for?

Custom pages let you show the same app to different audiences or different search themes with different visuals and copy. On the App Store, Apple lets you publish up to 70 additional versions of your product page for iPhone and iPad; on these custom product pages, the screenshots, promotional text and app previews can differ.⁶ When keywords are assigned to a custom product page, the custom page can appear instead of the default page in searches for those keywords; from iOS 18 and iPadOS 18, you can also add a deep link that takes users to a specific place inside the app.⁶

According to Apple’s own data, developers see an average conversion rate increase of 2.5 percentage points when they direct users to a custom product page; Apple compares this with an average conversion rate of 1.6% on default pages.⁶ That’s a platform average; we measure the effect in your app with your own data. The Google Play equivalent is custom store listings: up to 50 can be created, and each can change the app’s name, icon, descriptions and graphics.⁷ These listings can be targeted by country, pre-registration audience, users who have stopped using the app, Google Ads campaigns or a custom link; with search keyword targeting, people coming from specific Play search queries can also be sent to a custom listing.⁷

The first image on the page an ad opens should say the same thing as the ad’s promise. If we also run your app campaigns, we build custom pages around the campaign themes; we cover the ad side on our Google Ads consulting page.

How do you set up and read a store experiment (A/B test)?

A store experiment puts one or more alternatives next to the current page and splits traffic between them to measure which brings more installs; both stores have built-in tools for this. In Apple’s product page optimization, a test can include up to three variants with alternate icons, screenshots and app previews, and runs for 90 days or until you stop it.⁸ If you’re testing an alternate icon, every icon variant has to be included in the binary of the live app version; tests without alternate icons can be submitted for review independently of a new version.⁸

In Google Play’s store listing experiments, up to two variants can be tested against the current listing; per app, either one default graphics experiment or up to five localized experiments can run at the same time.⁹ In localized experiments, the icon, feature graphic, screenshots and descriptions can be tested in up to five languages; the target metric is chosen as unique installs, opens or pre-registration clicks, and experiments stop automatically after six months.⁹

Apple recommends not applying a result or stopping a test until at least one variant has been declared better or worse than the original page with 90% confidence.⁸

How do ratings and reviews affect ranking and decisions?

Ratings and reviews work in two places: in search ranking as a user behavior signal, and in the decision of the person opening the page as a trust signal. Apple writes that ratings and reviews appear on the product page and in search results, and can affect ranking in App Store search.¹ On Google Play, ratings and reviews are also among the factors that go into ranking.²

The lasting way to raise a rating is to fix the product; ASO’s part is asking satisfied users at the right moment and hearing the ones who aren’t satisfied. On Apple, the ratings prompt can be shown up to three times in a 365-day period; the summary rating is kept separately for each country’s storefront and can be reset when a new version is released.¹⁰ When you reply to a review, the reviewer is notified and has the option to update their review; replies can be edited later, and only the latest version is shown.¹⁰

In Google Play’s In-App Review API, how often the prompt is shown to a user is governed by a time-bound quota, and the quota value can change without notice.¹¹ That’s why Google asks you not to trigger the review flow from a button, and not to ask questions such as “Do you like the app?” before or while the prompt is shown.¹¹ We tie the review request to the moment a user completes a task, and cap its frequency with our own rule as well.

Localization: which language shows up in each storefront?

Localization means the app shows up in each market with the phrases people search for in that market’s language and with visuals prepared in that language; translation alone isn’t enough. Apple writes that the language shown to a user can be determined by factors such as the App Store language of their location, their device language setting, the languages you have added and your primary language in App Store Connect.¹² Since the summary rating is also kept per country storefront, each market needs to be managed like a separate page.¹⁰

When expanding into new markets, we plan store localization together with market selection, local channels and payment infrastructure; our international marketing work covers that side.

How does ASO consulting work in the first 30 days?

The goal of the first 30 days is to measure which queries the app shows up for today and how well the page converts, then ship the copy and visual changes with the biggest impact.

1. Week 1 · Audit: we review the text fields, visuals, rating and review distribution, localizations, and search-driven visit and conversion data in both stores.
2. Week 2 · Keywords and copy: we build the query list and approve the new name, subtitle, keyword field and descriptions together with you.
3. Week 3 · Visuals and experiment plan: we prepare the screenshot story and write the first experiment’s hypothesis, metric and duration; we discuss the review request flow with your product team.
4. Week 4 · Launch and first review: copy changes go live with the release and the experiment starts; in the first report, we compare impressions, page views, conversion rate and rating trend with the baseline.

How to choose an ASO specialist or ASO agency

There are three ways to run ASO: your team uses an ASO tool, you hire a freelance ASO specialist, or you work with a consulting team that handles copy, visuals and experiments together. A tool gives you data but doesn’t make the decisions; that is where the difference lies.

Ask what data they look at, how they build the keyword list and when they consider an experiment finished. These points also help:

1. Account access: your App Store Connect and Play Console accounts stay with you, and the partner gets only the role they need. Don’t accept a proposal that asks for account ownership or admin passwords.
2. Ranking promises: stores rank apps on text relevance and user behavior together; a “top spot” commitment ignores how that works.
3. Ratings and reviews: buying ratings, incentivized reviews or flows that only send happy users to the rating prompt break store rules.
4. Experiment discipline: an experiment’s hypothesis, metric and minimum duration are written before it starts; a winner declared early can reverse later.
5. Visual production: the proposal should say who designs the screenshot sets and whether each language gets its own.

ASO pricing: what drives the cost?

The cost of ASO consulting depends on how many stores and languages the app is managed in, and how much production and testing happens each month.

Instead of a price list, we share estimated ranges; we hear about your app and goals in the first meeting and confirm scope and fee in writing. The stores don’t charge for experiments or custom pages; if Apple Ads or Google Ads app campaigns run, the ad budget is separate from the service fee and paid directly to the platform.

ASO consulting pricing: estimated ranges

Estimated range, excluding VAT; rows marked “/ month” are monthly, the others are one-off. Scope is confirmed in a written proposal after the first meeting. As of October 2026.

To see how AI assistants describe your app, you can also run our free AI visibility analysis. If you’d like to talk through your app’s store presence, pick a meeting day below.