App Store Optimisation (ASO) Basics for New Apps

App store optimisation (ASO) is the work of helping the right people find your app in the App Store and Google Play, and then convincing them to install it. The basics are: research the words people search for, put your most important terms into your title and keyword fields, write a clear description, show the value in your first screenshots, earn good ratings, localise where it pays and measure the results. This guide gives you a practical starting plan.

The two jobs of ASO

ASO has two halves, and both matter.

• Discoverability: appearing for relevant searches and browse lists, driven by metadata, quality signals and relevance.
• Conversion: turning a store-page visit into an install, driven by your icon, title, screenshots, preview video, description and ratings.

Ranking well but converting poorly wastes traffic, and a beautiful page nobody finds helps nobody. Work on both.

Keyword research without guesswork

Start with how a real person would describe their problem, not how you describe your product. List the terms they might type, then check them with the store search suggestions, your competitors' listings and any ASO research tool you have access to. For each candidate term, weigh three things: how relevant it is, how many people plausibly search it and how crowded it is. Prefer relevant terms where you can realistically compete over broad terms dominated by giants.

Where keywords go on each store

Element	Apple App Store	Google Play
Title	Strong ranking signal; keep it readable	Strong ranking signal; keep it readable
Subtitle or short description	Subtitle supports keywords and value	Short description is prominent and indexed
Keyword field	Dedicated hidden keyword field	None; keywords come from visible text
Long description	Main role is conversion, not ranking	Indexed, so use natural keywords
Category	Choose the most accurate one	Choose the most accurate one

Character limits and indexing rules change over time, so check the current Apple and Google documentation when you write your listing. Never stuff keywords unnaturally; it reads badly and both stores have policies against misleading metadata.

Title, icon and first impression

Your name and icon appear everywhere: search results, charts, ads and recommendations. The title should say what the app is, not only the brand, if the brand is unknown. Keep the icon simple, distinctive at small sizes and consistent with your in-app identity. A good test is to place your icon among competitors on a phone screen and see whether it is recognisable.

Screenshots and preview video

Most people decide from the first two or three screenshots without reading anything. Treat them as a short advertisement.

1. Lead with the main benefit, not a login screen.
2. Add a short caption to each screenshot that states what the user gains.
3. Show the real interface, with realistic content and no invented numbers or awards.
4. Keep the story in order: problem, key feature, proof, how it feels to use.
5. Check legibility on a small phone, and prepare the required sizes for each device class.
6. Use a preview video only if the first seconds show real value.

Your screenshots should match the experience described in our UX guidance, because a mismatch between store promise and first-launch reality drives early uninstalls.

Write a description that persuades

Open with the most compelling sentence, because only the first lines show before the user expands the text. Describe who the app is for, what it does and why it is better in clear, plain language. Use short paragraphs and bullet points. Include a short list of key features and a line about privacy and support. Avoid superlatives you cannot prove, and do not claim awards, rankings or user numbers that you cannot document.

Ratings and reviews

Ratings affect whether a visitor trusts you enough to install, and quality signals feed into discovery. Earn them honestly:

• Ask for a review after a success moment, such as completing a task, not at launch or after an error.
• Use the platform's native review prompts and respect their limits on how often they appear.
• Route unhappy users to a support channel before asking for a public rating, without blocking anyone from reviewing.
• Reply to reviews politely and fix what they highlight.

Stability is the best ASO tactic, which links back to a good testing strategy, since crashes drive bad reviews.

Localisation

If you serve more than one language market, a translated listing can make your app easier to find and easier to trust. Translate the title, subtitle or short description, keywords, screenshots and description, and use natural phrasing rather than literal translation. Choose markets where you can also support users in that language. For an Irish business, consider whether Irish or other European markets are part of your plan.

Measure and iterate

Both stores provide analytics showing impressions, page views and installs, and conversion between them. Track these alongside in-app behaviour, as explained in mobile app analytics: what to track, because installs that never become active users are not a win. Use the stores' experiment tools, such as custom product pages or store listing experiments, to compare versions of icons, screenshots and text. Change one element at a time and give each test enough traffic to be meaningful.

Policies and honesty

Both stores publish guidelines about metadata, screenshots, privacy disclosures and what you may claim. Common causes of rejection include listings that mention other platforms or competitors, screenshots that do not reflect the real app, missing privacy information and placeholder content. Read the current Apple App Store Review Guidelines and Google Play policies before you submit, and make sure the declarations you make about data collection are accurate and match what the app and any analytics libraries actually do. Being accurate costs nothing, while a rejected release at launch time costs days.

Keep a simple ASO rhythm

After launch, review your listing on a regular schedule, such as monthly. Check which search terms bring visitors, how your conversion rate moves after each change and what new reviews say. Update screenshots when major features ship, and refresh seasonal messaging where it suits your product. Small, steady improvements usually outperform a dramatic rewrite that makes it impossible to tell what worked.

ASO launch checklist

• Keyword list built from real search language and competitor review.
• Title, subtitle or short description and keyword field written within current limits.
• Icon tested at small size.
• First three screenshots tell the value story with captions.
• Description opens strongly and is accurate.
• Privacy information, support link and contact details complete and correct.
• In-app review prompt designed and timed.
• Analytics and store reporting set up before launch.

Common mistakes

• Treating ASO as a one-off task. Stores, competitors and search habits change.
• Keyword stuffing. It harms readability and can breach store policy.
• Using the same text in both stores. Fields and rules differ.
• Screenshots that show only login or splash screens. They waste your best space.
• Ignoring ratings. Unanswered complaints put off new users.
• Promising features the app does not have. It leads to refunds, reports and low ratings.

Build ASO into the app project

ASO works best when it starts before release, alongside design and development, so the app, listing and analytics are planned together. Store listing optimisation and release management are part of how we deliver mobile app development. Contact us if you would like help preparing a launch that people can actually find.