ASO: the App Store as a growth channel

Every field is a search field

Which parts of the listing does search actually read?

Apple does not publish the exact weight of each listing field. Ayo Omolewa's teardown — a practitioner following an app that reaches 20,000 downloads a month without an ad budget — reports that Apple has used the app name, subtitle, description and screenshot text to rank apps for keywords since June 2025. Each field is free ad space, yet most developers fill it with a slogan.

Field	What belongs there	Why it matters
Name	Brand plus one query, if it still reads like a name	Strongest ranking signal
Subtitle	The main query you want to own	High weight, easy to test
Description	The query repeated naturally, plus proof	Indexed, and read by humans
Screenshot text	The outcome, in the user's words	Indexed, and visible before the install
Keyword field	Synonyms, misspellings, related terms	Fills gaps the visible copy cannot

Pick the query before the copy

Which term should each field be written for?

1. Find a term with demand and little competition. Search "calorie counter" in the US App Store and you get hundreds of apps; the same search in German returns very few.
2. Write the field for that term. Keep the brand in the name if you want, put the query in the subtitle, and repeat it naturally in the description and screenshot text.
3. Measure what the store already gives you. Impressions, product page views and installs are three different numbers. More traffic does not fix a listing that converts badly.

The gap: the imbalance between languages is the most underexploited opportunity in the store. A language model can draft every country in minutes; only Apple Search Ads can verify demand.

175 countries and regions, one listing per market

What does a local listing need to rank?

Apple lets you set a distinct name, subtitle, description and keyword set for each country, and the App Store is available in 175 countries and regions. Those local fields are what search reads. An app can be called "Calorie Counter" in the US and "Kalorienzähler" in Germany while the interface stays in English, and the German name captures German search.

Localizing means rewriting for a market: the terms people type, the units they use, the competitors they know. A word-for-word translation of the English listing misses all of them.

Read demand without buying ads

How do you know a term is worth the field?

Apple Search Ads shows a term's popularity, competition level and estimated cost without launching a campaign. I know of no more direct keyword research tool, and it costs nothing until you choose to spend.

• List candidate terms.
• Check volume and competition in Search Ads.
• Write the store fields for terms with demand and few advertisers.
• Repeat country by country.

Thirty minutes of setup can open a channel that keeps working without a budget.

The ratings gap

Why does a well-written listing still rank below its rivals?

Search does not rank on keywords alone. Ratings weigh on ranking and, above all, on the decision to install: an app with none starts at a disadvantage, and without visibility it does not earn any. Two levers break that loop.

Make the app free, temporarily. Communities such as App Raven watch for paid apps going free. A well-announced promotion brings users interested in the category, and many leave a positive rating if the app does its job. According to Omolewa, those users convert as well as paying ones.

Ask at the right moment. Omolewa's Dicero teardown shows a prompt triggered after a win that only accepts five stars and routes everything else to an internal feedback form. It works, and it is questionable: the average improves, but unhappy users are never heard. A more honest version asks after a real success, accepts every answer, and treats negative feedback as a product signal.

Directories, bundles and answer engines

Where else do people discover apps?

Few apps exploit the discovery layer outside the store:

• Comparison directories. AlternativeTo and SaaSHub list your app as an alternative to a known product, which puts you in a query you cannot win alone. Lists such as submitlist.io catalog the directories worth submitting to.
• Bundles. Setapp bundles macOS apps into a subscription and returns 70 percent of revenue to developers, split by usage (Setapp documentation). Acceptance requires a finished app and a clear category, but the channel brings users who already pay.
• Answer engines. More people ask ChatGPT or Claude "what app for X" instead of Google. Being cited takes structured content such as comparison pages, factual descriptions and third-party reviews. The assets are the same as for SEO; only the surface changes.

The ASO checklist

• Pick three terms: one broad, one niche, one local.
• Check demand and competition in Apple Search Ads.
• Rewrite name, subtitle, description and screenshot text for those terms.
• Localize in at least five countries where competition is low.
• Close the ratings gap before paying for traffic.
• List the app in three directories and one comparison page.
• Track impressions, page views and installs separately, every week.

Sources

• Manage availability for your app on the App Store, Apple Developer — 175 countries and regions
• App Store Connect: app information, Apple Developer — fields and character limits
• Setapp Membership revenue — 70/30 split and partner bonus
• Ayo Omolewa, ASO and localization: 20,000 downloads a month, indexed fields since June 2025, Apple Search Ads — instagram.com/reel/DcZa_49SNwn and instagram.com/reel/Dcjup0gSwAi
• Ayo Omolewa, ratings gap, free apps and App Raven — instagram.com/reel/Dcxa8aCx0yN
• Ayo Omolewa, directories, AlternativeTo, SaaSHub, submitlist — instagram.com/reel/DdYdT_gR142
• Ayo Omolewa, Setapp bundles and 70/30 share — instagram.com/reel/DdmSti7R_lJ
• Ayo Omolewa, Dicero teardown: rating prompt after a win — instagram.com/reel/DeQ5k57R21Z