Start with how each store ranks apps
Apple states that App Store search results are based on text relevance and user behaviour. Text relevance comes from your app name, subtitle, keyword field and primary category; Apple also notes that an optional secondary category is indexed. User behaviour includes downloads, ratings and reviews. Promotional text is explicitly not used for ranking, so it is a conversion tool, not a keyword slot.
Google Play has no hidden keyword field. Your title, short description and full description are the text Google works with, and its metadata policy penalises repetitive or unrelated keywords. That makes Play listings a writing task: natural, specific descriptions that cover the terms people search for, without lists of keywords.
- iOS ranking text: app name, subtitle, keyword field, categories
- iOS conversion text: promotional text, description, screenshots, previews
- Google Play ranking and conversion text: title, short description, full description
- Both stores: ratings, reviews and install behaviour influence visibility
iOS metadata checklist
Apple’s limits are tight, so every character counts. Treat the name, subtitle and keyword field as one combined pool of about 160 characters and avoid repeating any word across them.
- App name: up to 30 characters. Brand plus the single most important descriptive term.
- Subtitle: up to 30 characters. A clear benefit that adds new search terms, not a slogan.
- Keyword field: 100 characters, comma-separated, no spaces after commas.
- Do not repeat words already in the name, subtitle or category, and skip plurals of words you already have, the word app, and category names.
- Promotional text: up to 170 characters, editable without a new build. Use it for timely messages, not keywords.
- Description: write for people. Apple advises against adding keywords to it to influence search; the first sentence matters most because it shows before the more link.
- Pick the primary category deliberately; it is part of text relevance.
Google Play metadata checklist
Google Play allows 30 characters for the app name, 80 for the short description and 4,000 for the full description. Its metadata policy is strict about what may appear in them, and violations can block an update.
- Title: 30 characters, no emojis, no ALL CAPS unless it is your brand, no repeated special characters.
- Short description: 80 characters that state what the app does and for whom.
- Full description: up to 4,000 characters. Cover your core use cases in plain sentences; avoid repetition and keyword lists.
- Do not include store performance or ranking claims such as #1 or App of the year.
- Do not include prices or promotions such as limited-time free offers.
- Do not reference Google Play programs such as Editor’s Choice, and do not use unattributed testimonials.
Creative assets that convert
Ranking gets you an impression; creative assets decide whether that impression becomes an install. On the App Store you can upload up to 10 screenshots and up to 3 app previews of up to 30 seconds each. When no preview is present, the first one to three screenshots appear directly in search results, depending on orientation, so they carry most of the weight.
- Make the first screenshot answer one question: what does this app do for me?
- Use short captions with large type; most people view them at thumbnail size.
- Show real screens of the product, not abstract illustrations.
- Order screenshots by the reasons people install, not by your navigation structure.
- Localise captions, not just text fields, for every market you target.
- Keep the icon simple and recognisable at small sizes; test it before redesigning everything else.
Custom product pages and custom store listings
One listing rarely fits every audience. Apple lets you publish up to 70 custom product pages, each with its own screenshots, previews and promotional text. You can now assign keywords to a custom product page so that it appears in search results for those terms instead of the default page, and on iOS 18 and later each page can deep link to a matching place inside the app.
Google Play supports up to 50 custom store listings. Beyond country targeting, you can target users who reached your app through specific search keywords, churned or lapsed users, pre-registration and ad traffic, or open a listing through a unique URL parameter.
- Build one page per real use case or audience, not per keyword variation.
- On iOS, keep each keyword combination unique to a single product page.
- Match the ad creative, the page and the first in-app screen so the promise stays consistent.
- Use Google Play’s churned and lapsed user targeting for a returning-user message.
Test instead of guessing
Both stores have native A/B testing. Apple’s product page optimization tests up to three treatments against your original page, for icons, screenshots and app previews. A test runs for up to 90 days and only one can run at a time. Alternate icons must be included in the app binary.
Google Play store listing experiments test up to two variants against the current listing. You can run one default graphics experiment or up to five localised experiments at once, and localised experiments can also test descriptions. Google recommends testing one asset at a time, and experiments stop automatically after six months.
- Test one hypothesis at a time, such as a benefit-led first screenshot versus a feature-led one.
- Wait for the console to report a conclusive result before shipping a winner.
- Keep a simple log of every test, its result and what you shipped.
Ratings, reviews and in-app events
Ratings influence ranking and conversion on both stores. On iOS the system rating prompt can appear up to three times in a 365-day period, so trigger it after a moment of success, never at launch or in the middle of a task. You can reset the summary rating when you release a version, but Apple recommends doing this sparingly, and written reviews remain visible.
In-app events give an existing app new surface area on the App Store. You can publish up to 10 events at a time, each lasting up to 31 days and promoted up to 14 days before it starts. Event cards can appear in search results, both for people searching your app and for people searching the event itself.
- Reply to low ratings and technical complaints first; reviewers are notified of your response.
- Mention fixes in release notes and reply to older reviews that the fix resolves.
- Plan in-app events around real content: seasonal challenges, new features, live sessions.
A monthly ASO routine
ASO compounds when it is done on a schedule. A light monthly cycle keeps a listing current without constant rework.
- Week 1: review search terms, impressions and conversion rate by source in App Store Connect and Play Console.
- Week 2: adjust one metadata element per store and note the change date.
- Week 3: launch or review one creative test.
- Week 4: refresh promotional text, plan the next in-app event and answer outstanding reviews.