ASO Dictionary
ASO Dictionary from ASOMobile contains the basic terms and concepts that are found in the ASO optimization of mobile apps.
ASO (App Store Optimization) is the process of improving the visibility of an app in stores. Includes work with text and visual parts of the app. ASO optimization helps to attract more visitors to the app page and turn them into users.
ASO Tools are tools to help you find relevant keywords, prioritize search queries and compose effective metadata, and then analyze keyword rankings.
ASOMobile is a mobile app analytics platform.
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Text ASO is the process of optimizing the metadata of an application to improve its visibility in search.
Indexing is the visibility of an app by keywords on Google Play or the App Store. When an app is indexed by a keyword, it means that the user can find it by entering this keyword into the search.
App visibility is how much a market or store displays you in search results. The number of indexed queries is taken into account, as well as how high the application is displayed in the search results.
Visual ASO is the process of optimizing the visual elements of the application page: icon, screenshots, video.
ASO audit is a procedure for assessing the quality of the optimization of the application page on the market.
The App Store is the official app store for iPhone, iPad, and Apple Watch.
Google Play is an official app store by Google where users can download and purchase apps, music, movies, books, and periodicals.
A mobile application is a software designed to be used on tablets, smartphones, and portable devices.
iOS is an operating system developed by Apple to support mobile apps for iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch.
Android is a mobile operating system developed by Google on a modified version of Linux.
A developer is a person or company that develops and publishes applications. Typically, the developer and publisher of the application are the same person (company).
An indie developer is a specialist who develops games and applications independently or is part of a small development team, mobile applications without financial support from large companies.
Publisher is a mobile app production firm that helps with the release of the app.
A release is the publication of a new version of an app on the app store.
Position (by keyword) means finding an app in the search results of the app store when you enter a specific search query.
A SERP is a search results page on an app store. If a user searches for a specific query, the search results page will show a list of suitable apps, starting with the most popular and advertising.
Organic traffic is traffic that goes to an app page from search results, recommendations, editorials, and top charts. In addition, App Store users have access to a separate Trending Searches screen - the top of the most popular searches.
Motivated traffic means install that users get rewarded for. They are motivated to complete the installation of the application. Users can make installations by keyword to grow the application by a specific request, by a direct link, by a tracking link, write positive reviews, and perform other tasks.
Advertising traffic is paid advertising within a store or market. Also, unmotivated traffic includes app installs that follow the classic advertising model: users notice an app ad that is interesting to them and goes to the link.
Keyword (search query, key, keyword) is a word or phrase that characterizes the application or its main functions. Users type these words and queries in the search to find the application they are interested in. Developers are trying to embed them in metadata to improve the visibility of the application in search.
The frequency (traffic) of a keyword is the number of users who enter a given search query into the market's search bar for a certain period (usually a day). The higher the frequency, the more popular the request.
Relevance (in the context of keywords) is the correspondence of a keyword to the functionality of the application. How accurately does it describe the idea of a mobile application?
A keyword phrase is a combination of keywords that helps a developer promote their app to their target audience.
Long-tail Keywords is keyword phrase made up of three or more words.
Short-tail Keywords are a keyword or phrases of no more than two words.
Direct occurrence is a key phrase presented in the text in its original (unchanged) form (singular, plural, etc.).
The semantic core is an array of keywords and phrases that best describe the application, all relevant associations. ASO specialists embed this key list in metadata to improve the visibility of the application in search (ASO optimization). By entering any of these keywords in the market search, the user will be able to find the optimized application.
Metadata is application data that is used to increase its visibility in stores: title, subtitle, keywords (App Store), short and long descriptions (Google Play), screenshots, banners, and videos.
Title (App Store) is the name of your application. The title most of all affects the visibility of the application, so it is advisable to add relevant search queries to the title. In the App Store, the name is 30 characters long.
Subtitle (App Store) is the piece of metadata that appears below the title and is 30 characters long. Subtitle keywords have slightly less search engine weight than title keywords, but this field also needs to be optimized.
The keywords field (keywords in the App Store Connect developer console) is a field for entering keywords that best describe the application or key function. The keyword field is only available on the App Store. This part of the metadata is hidden from the user (only the developer can see it). Filling in the keywords field in App Store Connect is one of the stages of ASO optimization to improve app visibility on the App Store. The length of the keywords field for one locale is 100 characters. Keywords in this field should be entered separated by commas (not phrases), without spaces.
Name (Google Play) is the name of your app. The keywords in the title most of all affect the visibility of the application. The available name length on Google Play is 50 characters.
The short description (Google Play) is part of the app metadata. The short description includes 80 characters and is needed to attract the attention of visitors to the application page, so it is advisable to use a Call to action. This field is indexed and needs to be optimized to improve the visibility of the application.
Description (full description) on Google Play is a description of the main functions, features of the application, as well as information about the benefits it can bring to the user. The description is indexed, so it is advisable to include keywords that will help the user find the application.
Spamming is too frequent mentioning of a keyword in the app description text.
Stop words are words that the App Store ignores. We recommend that you avoid using them when generating application metadata. Stopword list: a, about, above, after, again, against, all, am, an, and, any, app, are, aren't, as, at, be, because, been, before, being, below , between, both, but, by, can't, cannot, could, couldn't, did, didn't, do, does, doesn't, doing, don't, down, during, each, few, for , from, further, had, hadn't, has, hasn't, have, haven't, having, he, he'd, he'll, he's, her, here, here's, hers, herself, him, himself , his, how, how's, i, i'd, i'll, i'm, i've, if, in, into, is, isn't, it, it's, its, itself, let's, me, more , most, mustn't, my, myself, no, nor, not, of, off, on, once, only, or, other, ought, our, ours, ourselves, out, over, own, same, shan't , she, she'd, she'll, she's, should, shouldn't, so, some, such, than, that, that's, the, their, theirs, them, themselves, then, there, there's, these, they , they'd, they'll, they're, they've, this, those, through, to, too, under, until, up, very, was, wasn't, we, we'd, we'll , we're, we've, were, weren't, what, what's, when, when's, where, where's, which, while, who, who's, whom, why, why's, with, won't, would, wouldn't, you, you'd, you'll, you're, you've, your, yours, yourself, yourselves.
Creatives are all visual elements that appear on a product page on the App Store or Google Play.
Application page is a page on the application store where information about the application is placed: name, description, icon, screenshots, rating, reviews, developer's name. Users come here from search results, recommendations, editorials, and top charts, or via a direct link.
An icon is an image of an application used in search results and on the device screen. Usually, they try to display the main task of the application on the icon (for example, if that is the application with recipes, an icon shows kitchen utensils or food).
Screenshot (visual ASO): screenshots of the main functions of the application, which are placed on the application page in order to show the user all the benefits and increase the conversion. Looking at the screenshots, the user forms an opinion about the app and how he will use it. You can upload 10 screenshots on the App Store, and 8 on Google Play.
A/B tests are a method of testing text and visual ASO to select the most successful texts and creatives. Users are divided into groups, and each group is shown different icons, screenshots, descriptions, titles, subheadings (for example, old and updated versions). The results are compared and help to select which option of the data users reacted best.
Rating is a rating from 1 to 5 that users give based on the experience of the application.
Reviews are feedback from app users. Each review is rated (1 to 5 stars) and is published on the app store. The review cannot be deleted or redone. It will be available to everyone until the user deletes or changes it.
Suggestions are search suggestions that the market offers based on popular user queries. Search terms that are in the suggestions usually have more traffic.
Collections (Similar Apps) is a list of apps that are similar in topic. The collections are formed based on the internal algorithms of the app markets.
Featuring means all apps and games that have been selected for the Today, Games, and Apps tabs. Typically, apps that get featured get a lot of new users and installs.
Localization is the translation and adaptation of an app to other countries and languages.
Trending searches are the 4 most popular searches on the App Store at this hour.
Benchmarks are the average scores of apps in categories on Google Play and App Store in terms of the ratio of views and clicks to installs (average conversion).
Top charts are lists of the most popular apps in a certain period (free, paid, cash-based).
Apple Search Ads (ASA) is an advertising tool for promoting mobile applications on the App Store by keywords (user queries).
Search Ads: the popularity of a search query in Apple Search Ads. Values range from 5 (unpopular) to 100 (very popular).
An API is an application programming interface, that is, a set of protocols, methods, functions, or commands that programmers use to develop software products or to speed up interactions between different systems.