Trophy Games

Guide: ASO (App Store Optimization)

Introduction

What Is App Store Optimization?

Games are meant to be played—but more often than not, players have to be persuaded to try them.

The storefront (e.g., the App Store, Play Store, or Steam) is the first thing potential users see and the last interaction they have before installing a game on their device. The more appealing and engaging the storefront is, the more likely potential players are to interact with it and install the game.

App Store Optimization (ASO) is the process of optimizing the storefront to attract as many players as possible.

The two main components of an app store listing are visuals and metadata. Visuals typically include icons, screenshots, and videos, while metadata consists of text. While visuals rely largely on a user’s subjective opinion, metadata is where you carefully select words that are most relevant to your app and that users are likely to search for when looking for games like yours.

In addition to helping users find your app through search, strong metadata also improves visibility in other ways—such as ranking higher organically and being shown alongside similar apps.

Factors That Impact Your App’s Ranking

Some of these factors are more marketing-related, while others are more technical or development-oriented.

This ASO guide is divided into a basic section and an advanced section. The basic section covers the essential elements needed when creating a storefront, while the advanced section focuses on improving performance once the basics are in place. Advanced storefront changes fall into two categories: ongoing maintenance cycles and performance-driven updates.

Where to Start?

With multiple platforms (Android, iOS, and Steam) and countless game genres, it’s impossible to define a single recipe for the perfect storefront. However, it is possible to provide general guidelines that help increase installs.

If your game is mobile, Android should be your primary focus in the beginning. Android has the largest global user base, allowing you to reach a wider audience and gather test results more quickly. Additionally, Android has fewer restrictions and offers more established testing tools compared to platforms like iOS.

For these reasons, most of this guide will focus on Android.

Which Tools to Use?

Given the many aspects of ASO that need to be tracked, measured, and analyzed, several tools can support the process.

To update store content, you must use the respective app store platforms themselves. However, these platforms provide limited data on competitors, which is why third-party tools are often required to explore optimization opportunities—specifically where, how, and why certain changes can have the greatest impact.

Some of the most commonly used ASO tools include data.ai, Sensor Tower, and AppTweak. When using these services, keep in mind that they do not have access to fully precise data; instead, they model their insights based on sampled data.

For more accurate data specific to your own app, you can use analytics services such as Singular or Google Analytics.

Basic ASO

Title (App Name)

The app title is the most impactful part of the metadata. Not only is it the identity of the app, but keywords are also weighted more heavily here than anywhere else. For instance, the word “idle” has a greater effect on search rankings when included in the app title than when added elsewhere.

The app title must, of course, include the name of the app. App titles have a 30-character limit, which can be fully utilised if possible by adding as many high-performing keywords as possible. For example, the title “Pro 11” is less effective than “Pro 11 – Football Manager.”

The more known your brand is, the less keywords are generally used since it can drive focus away from your brand name.

Icon

The app icon is the user’s first impression of the app, and their subjective opinion of it determines whether they visit the app page. Along with the title, it needs to be descriptive of both the app and its genre while also being captivating. Often, a great-looking or high-performing icon is not what you personally think looks best, but rather one that follows a set of proven principles.

KISS

“Keep It Simple, Stupid” is a phrase that may feel outdated, but its meaning remains highly relevant. The icon must be easy to read so it doesn’t become visual noise among other app icons in the store. Additionally, a simple icon performs better in most contexts, as icons are frequently displayed at very small sizes.

Stand out

This may seem contradictory, but an app icon should clearly communicate what the app is about while also differentiating it from competitors. Often, the most effective way to visually describe your app is similar to what competitors are doing—and you cannot prevent others from copying your icon. Direct copying should never be the solution, but inspiration is always welcome.

Fortunately, there are other ways to stand out. Colour, for example, is a powerful tool. Apps related to planes or flying often gravitate toward blue (the colour of the sky), making it easier to stand out by using a colour like red.

Minimise text

As an extension of keeping the icon simple, text should be kept to a minimum. The main reason is readability, especially at smaller icon sizes.

There are exceptions, however—one being the inclusion of the current year. This has been done for years by franchises such as FIFA to signal active development and up-to-date features.

Test different icons

Split testing (A/B testing) is a highly effective way to increase the number of users installing the app.

Don’t use your logo

…but sometimes, do use your logo. In general, only companies with very strong brand recognition—such as McDonald’s or Spotify—should rely on their logo alone. If your brand is not yet widely recognised, it is usually better to create something more eye-catching and engaging.

Bonus rules

Localization, or cultural adaptation, can be an excellent way to increase installs and may even be necessary to help potential users feel more connected to your app’s identity. For example, replacing a Caucasian front person in a cold environment with an Asian person in a more temperate setting when launching in Asia.

Follow seasons and major holidays. Adding snow or Christmas decorations in December, or bats and pumpkins around Halloween, suggests active development and ongoing engagement.

Finally, always follow the guidelines provided by the different app stores.

Screenshots

Screenshots are more than just images of your app. They are a prettified and more descriptive way of showing off how your app looks, feels and functions.

Amount of Screenshots

You can generally include up to eight screenshots, and you should include as many as possible if you are able to, in order to showcase as many aspects of your app as you can.

Visual Content

There is a fine line between making your app’s content more attractive and creating false representations. You can attract many users by making something look awesome and flashy, but if it doesn’t match the user’s expectations once they enter the app, they are likely to leave quickly. This negatively affects both retention and how app stores perceive your app’s performance.

You can—and should—use beauty shots and mock-up UI elements, but be aware that stores may reject them if they are too dissimilar from the actual app content.

However you choose to present your app in screenshots, aim to highlight only one feature per screenshot to improve readability.

Order

Always place your best-looking or most interesting screenshot first to ensure it is seen, even by users who don’t scroll. Screenshots can alternate between beauty shots and “actual” in-app depictions to keep the flow engaging, but this is not mandatory.

Years ago, it was standard practice to arrange screenshots in the same order as a game or app unfolds—for example, “Create your character,” “Beat enemies,” and “Be victorious!” The importance of showing screenshots in strict chronological order has since decreased, as doing so risks placing the most interesting (and best-performing) screenshots too late in the sequence.

Text

Text doesn’t have to be included, but it generally should be if the platform allows it. Note that some platforms, such as Steam, have a higher tendency to reject screenshots with added text.

As with screenshot content, any text you include should highlight only one feature of the app. Remove all filler words and condense the message to as few words as possible. This makes it easier for users to quickly grasp the key feature and connect it to the visual content.

Format

Screenshots can be horizontal or vertical and should usually reflect how your app is used. If your app is primarily used in landscape mode, your screenshots should be horizontal; the same applies to portrait-oriented apps.

There are exceptions to this rule. In rare cases, it can be beneficial to use vertical screenshots even if your app is primarily horizontal. App stores can display more vertical screenshots at once because they take up less horizontal space, allowing users to see more features without scrolling.

Descriptions (Metadata)

On the surface, descriptions are used to tell users what your app does. Behind the scenes, however, they are one of your most powerful tools for gaining “free” installs. Choosing the right words (as discussed in the advanced section on Keyword Selection) can improve your search rankings and increase visibility.

Stores typically require both a short and a long description, with the short description appearing first and therefore carrying more weight in search results.

Descriptions must be coherent and meaningful to be approved. In recent years, some developers attempted to manipulate search algorithms by stuffing descriptions with keywords, resulting in unreadable text. App stores have since cracked down on this practice and may reject or penalize descriptions that don’t make sense.

Most apps aim for a long description of 2,000–3,500 characters, allowing them to include relevant keywords without oversaturating the text.

Video

A video is not required on the store, but it is highly recommended. As with user acquisition, there is a unique opportunity to capture the user’s attention and keep them wanting more.

Showcase videos (most commonly gameplay), cinematics, and hybrid videos can each have an impact on store performance, and which format works best largely depends on the game and its genre. If your app is a game with significant depth and strategy but lacks strong visual appeal, it is often better to use a cinematic video rather than highlighting less thrilling gameplay.

Most stores allow only one video, but Steam has virtually no limit. Many AAA publishers upload multiple videos, often mixing gameplay and cinematics, though cinematics are frequently shown first.

A video length of around 30 seconds should be the target for mobile, while it can be longer for PC (Steam)

 

Localization

Screenshots, metadata, and videos should be localized for the languages spoken in the regions most relevant to your app. Region selection should be informed both by pre-release market analysis and by post-launch performance data.

For example, you may receive a high number of installs from India, but if users in that region do not spend money in your app, they may not provide meaningful value and therefore might not be worth localizing for.

While many users can understand English, Spanish, Portuguese, Arabic, or Mandarin, localization can go beyond comprehension—it can help create a stronger emotional connection between the user and the app.

 

Advanced ASO

Keyword Selection (Using The Right Words)

What Makes a Good Keyword?

When selecting words for app metadata, it’s important to choose the right ones—words that matter in the eyes of search engines: keywords.

When search engines determine which keywords perform better than others, two main factors are considered: traffic score and difficulty score.

The traffic (or volume) score shows how popular a keyword is in terms of search frequency. The more people actively search for a keyword, the higher its traffic score.

The difficulty score indicates the level of competition for a keyword. A high difficulty score means many strong apps are already ranking well for that keyword, making it harder to outperform them.

Ideally, when evaluating traffic and difficulty scores together, you want keywords with high traffic and low difficulty.

For example, the words “plane” and “aircraft” have the same meaning and similar difficulty scores, but “plane” has twice the traffic score, making it the far superior keyword.

Because these scores change constantly, updating your metadata on a regular basis is advantageous.

Selecting Keywords

Unfortunately, there is no single comprehensive keyword library that tells you exactly which keywords to use. While you can generate a list of keywords from competitors, it’s always a good idea to create your own list as well.

When brainstorming keywords for your app, consider the following:

Once you have created a list of around 100 of the most relevant keywords, you can start prioritizing them based on their traffic and difficulty scores.

Don’t Saturate Your Text With Keywords

Keyword saturation, also known as keyword stuffing, does not improve visibility. In fact, your app may be penalized for it.

There are no strict, official rules regarding the exact number of keywords you should use, but there are general guidelines. Ideally, you should focus on around 10 core keywords that appear multiple times to gain relevance.

The more often a keyword appears in your metadata, the higher its keyword density. This is calculated by comparing the number of times a keyword appears to the total word count of the metadata. Monitoring keyword density is a great way to identify or prevent accidental keyword stuffing. The recommended keyword density is 0.8–2%.

Title Hacks

Don’t Use All 30 Characters

Although the title character limit is 30 characters, in some cases only 28 characters are displayed, with the remaining two cut off. For this reason, limiting your title to 28 characters instead of 30 can be beneficial.

Split Testing (A/B Testing)

Split testing is essential in the pursuit of more installs. It provides a realistic prediction of potential changes in install rates, as all tested elements are equally affected by external factors such as political events or paid user acquisition.

The recommended tool for testing short descriptions, long descriptions, icons, feature graphics, screenshots, or videos is Google Play’s Store Listing Experiments. You can test up to four variants simultaneously to determine which performs best, based on real user behavior.

A higher number of users visiting your store page results in faster and more accurate test outcomes. One of the main reasons Google Play is the preferred platform for split testing is its large market share and ability to drive higher traffic more quickly.

Installs

Installs are usually divided into three categories: Search, Explore, and Third-party referrals.

Search installs are users who install your app after searching for a term that led to your app being shown. This is like going into a store and asking an employee for something specific.

Explore installs are users who browse the store and stumble across your app by chance, perhaps while looking for something else. This is like going into a store to see what they have or to get inspired.

Third-party installs are users who come across your store page elsewhere, such as through paid user acquisition or articles. This is like being dragged into a store by a salesperson showcasing the product outside.

Retention

In most cases, you want to retain users for as long as possible, since the longer they stay in the game, the more likely they are to convert into paying users. Retention is affected by many aspects of the game, and ASO is definitely a factor, as the store page sets expectations for what users will experience when opening the app. If expectations and reality are misaligned, users will leave, causing retention to drop.

When optimizing your app store page, you don’t necessarily have to choose the updates that bring in the most installs—often it’s better to choose the update that results in the most retained installs.

To ensure higher retention, your visuals should accurately reflect what your app actually is while still being intriguing. With Google Play’s split testing feature, you can optimize tests for either installs or retained installs, making it easier to determine whether users are likely to stay after installing.

Most Searched Words

The stores provide an option to view a list of the keywords users most frequently searched for before landing on your store page. This can be a great tool for expanding your keyword list with terms you may not have considered and for identifying keywords you should prioritize more highly.

Rating

App ratings are often not directly affected by ASO, but they are nonetheless an important factor. Apps with low ratings—especially those rated 3 stars or lower—are penalized by the stores and receive lower visibility. A low rating negatively impacts store optimization and reduces installs.

Featurings

Are Featurings Always Good?

The stores feature games frequently, and this can be a powerful way to increase visibility. However, while some apps depend heavily on featurings, others can be negatively affected by them. It’s important to understand the nature of your game.

Casual games tend to benefit more from featurings, as they are promoted to a broad audience. More complex or niche games, on the other hand, may be negatively impacted. Players in these segments are usually very specific about what they want, and a broad audience coming in from a feature may not align with the ideal player base. While this can significantly increase installs, it may also reduce retention, ultimately making the influx of users not only ineffective but potentially damaging.

Getting Featured

If your app performs well in the eyes of the stores, it may be featured automatically in various categories. “Performing well” is a broad concept and includes factors such as ratings, install volume, store conversion rate, low crash rates, and more.

It is also possible to apply for featurings through the stores. While this can increase your chances, it does not guarantee that your app will be featured.

Backlinks

Backlinks refer to the number of external websites—such as news articles—that send traffic directly to your store page. The more backlinks you have, and the more reputable the referring sites are, the higher your app may rank and the more visible it can become in the store.

Closing Remarks

App stores and their algorithms are ever-changing, so make sure to keep yourself updated by following news from both the store providers themselves as well as third-party sources like Slack, Discord, and LinkedIn.