Mobile & app · also called ASO
App store optimization (ASO)
App store optimization (ASO) is improving an app's store listing, such as title, keywords, icon, screenshots, ratings and description, to rank higher in app store search and convert more visitors into installs.
ASO is SEO for app stores. Most app discovery happens through search and browsing in Apple's App Store and Google Play, so where an app ranks and how appealing its page looks directly affects installs, including "organic" ones that no ad paid for.
ASO covers two jobs. Visibility: choosing the right keywords in the title, subtitle and metadata, earning good ratings and reviews, and maintaining engagement signals that stores reward. Conversion: making icons, screenshots, preview videos and descriptions persuasive, often tested using the stores' built-in experiments. Localisation for each market matters greatly.
ASO and paid install campaigns interact. Paid installs can boost rankings, which bring more organic installs, and app store search ads let developers bid on keywords. This link is also why incentivized installs and fake reviews are used to manipulate rankings, which store policies prohibit. When measuring paid campaigns, marketers should watch for click spamming that claims credit for installs that ASO actually delivered.
Think of it like this
ASO is like arranging your stall at a busy market: a clear sign, attractive display and good reviews get more people to stop and buy.
An example
A budgeting app in Germany localises its store listing with German keywords and screenshots; its conversion rate from store page view to install rises from 25% to 34%.
Related terms
App install campaign
An app install campaign is advertising designed to get people to download and install a mobile app, usually optimised and often paid per install or per post-install action.
Search advertising
Search advertising is placing paid ads alongside search engine results, triggered by the words people search for and usually charged per click.
Click spamming
Click spamming, or click flooding, is sending huge numbers of fake ad clicks for devices that never saw an ad, hoping some later install organically so the spammer gets attribution credit.
MMP (mobile measurement partner)
An MMP (mobile measurement partner) is an independent company that attributes app installs and in-app events to the ads and ad networks that drove them, and detects mobile install fraud.
Incentivized traffic
Incentivized traffic is visits, clicks, installs or ad views from people who were rewarded, with money, points, game currency or perks, to take the action, rather than acting from genuine interest.
Sources: Apple: User privacy and data use