I have 12 iOS apps on the App Store. Some pull in 500+ organic installs a month from ASO, others get 20. Same team (me) shipped both sides, so what moves the needle isn’t the code, it’s the store listing decisions. Here’s what I’ve learned.
Keyword field: 100 characters of pure leverage
The App Store keyword field gives you 100 characters, no spaces, comma-separated. Apple combines those keywords with your title and subtitle to surface your app in search.
On my first app I tried to cram 20 keywords into that 100 characters, wasted space on uncompetitive terms, and threw in generic one-word phrases. Result: I wasn’t in the top 10 for a single query.
The approach that actually works:
Start with the Apple Search Ads Discovery report. Which terms get what impression volume, what’s the tap-through rate, is the cost-per-tap cheap. Pick keywords that have real search volume.
Don’t sleep on long-tail. “Workout app” is brutally competitive, but combinations like “wellness journal” or “step counter for beginners” pull less traffic with much higher conversion.
Don’t repeat words from your title and subtitle in the keyword field. Apple already indexes those. Use the keyword field for entirely different terms.
Analyse your competitors. Which queries do similar apps rank for? Sensor Tower, AppTweak, App Annie all expose competitor keyword pools.
Subtitle: the second conversion lever
30 characters. People spend 1 to 2 seconds on it. A subtitle that doesn’t land in the first second drops conversion.
Bad: “The best assistant to make your life easier”
Good: “Step counter + calorie tracker”
Concrete, benefit-driven, instantly parseable. Vague claims like “the best” also raise guideline risk.
Screenshots: the first three are everything
Most users decide after the first three screenshots. Those three are your ad, your case study, your feature reel.
The ordering that’s worked for me:
- Hook: a bold screen with text overlay that describes what the product does in one sentence
- Hero feature: a shot of your strongest feature with a short title
- Social proof or key stat: “10,000+ users” or a concrete number
Blank screenshots that just show the UI with no text overlay don’t work. Users have no idea what they’re looking at.
Build a template in Figma or Sketch that works across all 12 apps. You don’t want to spend hours designing screenshots for every launch.
App preview video: yes or no
A 15 to 30 second preview video autoplays and consumes roughly 3 seconds of listing attention. A well-shot video lifts conversion 15 to 25%. A poorly shot one drops it.
Rules if you’re making one:
- Viewer should know what the product is in the first two seconds
- It has to read silent (80% of viewers watch muted)
- Use real app footage, not stock
- Screen recording + text overlay is enough, don’t spend on motion graphics
A bad video is worse than no video. If you’re unsure, ship the first version without one.
Localisation: a 40% growth lever
My apps ship in 36 localisations, so the store listings have to too. Keywords, title, subtitle, and screenshots need to be produced per language.
Google-Translated listings don’t work. Hire native speakers or at least run DeepL + manual review. “Sleep tracker” in German isn’t “Schlaftracker”, it’s searched as “Schlaftagebuch”.
Localised screenshots: date format, currency, time format should be local. A German user seeing dollars bounces.
Rating strategy
Star rating directly drives conversion. Apps under 4.5 stars also slip in search rankings.
Use Apple’s SKStoreReviewController to ask at the right moment: when the user has just had a positive experience (a completed goal), not at the end of onboarding. You get three prompts per year, spend them well.
Funnel negative feedback back into the app: a “tell us before you rate on the App Store” button is the best way to catch bad experiences before they become reviews.
Analytics: the metrics I actually watch
What I keep an eye on in App Store Connect:
- Impressions: how often the listing is shown
- Product Page Views: how many click through (search ranking signal)
- Conversion Rate: PPV to install ratio (listing quality signal)
- Retention Day 1/7/30: product-market fit signal (not ASO, but feeds ASO, Apple surfaces apps with good retention)
ASO is not a one-off task, it’s a monthly ritual. Every 4 to 6 weeks I revisit keywords, A/B test screenshots (via Product Page Optimization), and watch competitor moves.
Last thought: ASO is about 10% of the effort of app development, but can drive 60% of the revenue. Nobody installs a technically perfect app with a weak listing.