aso

ASO (store listing discoverability and conversion)

The two jobs, kept separate

installs    = impressions × store-page CVR (impression → install)
impressions ≈ search/browse/referral traffic won by relevance and ranking

Metadata mostly moves impressions — which queries you can appear for at all. Creatives mostly move CVR — whether that traffic converts. Diagnose which half moved first: installs falling with CVR flat is a traffic problem, installs falling with impressions flat is a page problem. Paid traffic lands on the same page, so a CVR win compounds across all UA spend.

Metadata fields and what each affects

• Apple App Store: app name, subtitle and the character-limited keyword field are indexed for search; the description is not, so it is purely a conversion asset. No repetition across fields, no wasted comma spacing, no plural duplicates. IAP and developer names also carry indexing weight.
• Google Play: title, short description and long description are all indexed, so the long description carries real search weight — but users read it, so stuffing costs conversion; natural repetition of the priority term beats a keyword list.
• Both: title and the first line of subtitle/short description are the highest-leverage text — what a browsing user reads before deciding.

Keyword research: relevance before volume

Build the term set from real query sources — store autosuggest, competitor listings, search-term reports from paid app campaigns, support tickets, category vocabulary. Triage each term on relevance to what the app actually does, estimated volume, and difficulty (who ranks now, how entrenched). Prefer ranking well for a moderate-volume term you genuinely satisfy over placing low on a head term: irrelevant traffic depresses CVR and the ranking signals that follow it. Track rank and installs per term — rank alone hides worthless traffic.

Creatives are the real conversion lever

The icon appears in every impression, so it gates result-list CTR as well as page CVR and must read at thumbnail size. Screenshots: the first one or two are all most users see — lead with the single strongest value message, text legible small, promise consistent with the product or you buy churn instead of retention. A preview/promo video can lower CVR as easily as raise it depending on its first seconds; test it, never assume.