App Store Optimization & Digital Marketing

SEO, App Store Optimization, and launch strategy that puts your product in front of the right users. Not just more traffic — the right traffic that converts into downloads and revenue.

A good app that nobody can find is indistinguishable from an app that does not exist. App Store Optimization is the unglamorous work of closing that gap: understanding the words people actually search, using the metadata fields the stores index, and making the listing convert the people who do arrive. Most of the available gains come from fields teams fill in hurriedly on submission day and never revisit.

The same problem exists off-store. A product site can be well built and still be invisible because crawlers cannot reach the content, the structured data contradicts itself between pages, or the entity behind it is never corroborated anywhere else on the internet. And there is now a third surface: people asking ChatGPT, Perplexity or Google's AI Overviews for a recommendation instead of scrolling a results page. Being cited there is a distinct problem from ranking, and it has distinct fixes.

This is scoped deliberately narrowly. It is organic discovery — store listings, technical SEO, structured data and AI search visibility. Not paid acquisition, not social media management. Those are separate disciplines, and bundling them in alongside development work would be selling a skill set rather than demonstrating one. You can read the working approach in the ASO write-up on the blog .

What This Covers

Keyword Research

Store search intent
Finding the terms people actually type when looking for a product like yours, which are rarely the terms the team uses internally. Ranking third for a phrase with real volume beats ranking first for one nobody searches.

The Keyword Field

App Store Connect
The single highest-leverage and most commonly wasted asset on an App Store listing: 100 characters, invisible to users, no repeats of words already in your title or subtitle, no spaces after commas. Most listings waste a third of it on duplication alone.

Title & Subtitle

Listing metadata
Both are indexed and both are what a browsing user reads first, so they have to carry search terms and still make sense as a sentence. Keyword-stuffed titles rank worse and convert worse than clear ones.

Screenshots & Captions

Conversion
The first two screenshots are what most people actually see. Captioned to say what the app does rather than showing bare unlabelled UI, and ordered so the strongest reason to download appears first.

Technical SEO

Crawlindexschema
For the product site behind the app: crawlability and indexation verified rather than assumed, canonical URLs, accurate sitemaps with real modified dates, and structured data that validates instead of merely existing.

AI Search Visibility (GEO)

llms.txtentity graph
Getting cited when someone asks ChatGPT, Perplexity or Google AI Overviews for a recommendation. That means AI crawler access, self-contained answer passages, and a coherent entity graph — a different problem from ranking a page, with different fixes.

Structured Data

Schema.org JSON-LD
SoftwareApplication, Organization, FAQ and Article markup that validates and stays internally consistent across pages, so search and AI systems resolve one entity rather than several disconnected fragments.

Launch Strategy

Timingpositioning
Sequencing the listing, the site and any launch-day placements so they land together instead of separately — and setting the positioning that everything else has to be consistent with.

How an Engagement Runs

1

Audit

Where the app or site stands now: current listing, indexation and crawlability, structured data validity, and whether AI crawlers can actually reach the content.
2

Research

Keyword and query research grounded in what people search rather than internal vocabulary, including the question-shaped queries AI assistants get asked.
3

Rewrite

New listing metadata written to use every indexed field properly, and page content restructured into passages that can be quoted directly.
4

Implement

Technical fixes actually made — schema, sitemaps, canonicals, crawler access — not handed over as a list of recommendations.
5

Measure

Baselines recorded so change is attributable, with the honest caveat that store ranking movement follows install behaviour over weeks.

Areas Covered

Keyword ResearchApp Store ConnectPlay ConsoleTechnical SEOSchema.orgllms.txtAI OverviewsCore Web Vitals

Frequently Asked Questions

What is App Store Optimization?

ASO is improving how an app is discovered and how well that discovery converts — keyword research, the title, subtitle and keyword field, screenshots and description, and the listing elements that decide whether someone who sees your app installs it.

Do you run paid ads or social media management?

No. This is organic discovery work: store listings, technical SEO, structured data and AI search visibility. Paid acquisition and social media management are genuinely different disciplines, and it would be dishonest to sell them alongside development work as if they were the same skill set.

What is GEO and how is it different from SEO?

Generative Engine Optimization is being cited by AI assistants rather than ranked in a list of links. It depends on different things: whether AI crawlers can reach your content, whether answers are written as self-contained passages that can be quoted, and whether your entity is corroborated by sources beyond your own domain.

Can you do ASO for an app you did not build?

Yes. Listing and search work is a standalone engagement and does not require having written the app. It starts with an audit of the current listing and its search visibility.

How long before results show?

Listing changes take effect at the next review, but ranking movement follows install and engagement data over weeks. Anyone promising a specific ranking by a specific date is guessing — store algorithms are not published and are not controllable.

What do you actually deliver?

A prioritized findings list with the concrete changes to make, the rewritten listing metadata itself, and the technical fixes implemented where the work is on a site rather than a store listing — not a report that leaves the implementation to you.

How much does ASO cost?

Scoped per engagement — a one-time listing audit and rewrite is priced differently than an ongoing optimization retainer with monthly measurement. Quoted after understanding what is currently live and what is being asked for.

Do you guarantee a ranking position?

No, and anyone who does is guessing — store algorithms are not published or controllable. What is deliverable is the concrete changes: better metadata, technical SEO fixes, and query research grounded in real search behavior.

Is this only for apps, or does it cover websites too?

Both — App Store/Play Store listing work for apps, and technical SEO plus AI search visibility (GEO) for the product site behind them. Most clients need the combination, not just one.

How do you research keywords without expensive tools?

A mix of store search-suggest data, competitor listing analysis, and query patterns from support/sales conversations — free and low-cost sources that reflect how people actually search, rather than guessing from internal vocabulary.

What is a realistic first step if I have a limited budget?

An audit alone — it surfaces what is actually broken (crawlability, a wasted keyword field, missing structured data) before spending anything further, so budget goes to fixes with real leverage instead of a blanket retainer.

Want to Be Found?

Send the app or the site and what you want it to rank for. You'll get an honest read on what is actually fixable and what is outside anyone's control.
Request an AuditRead the ASO Guide