How to Fix Every App Store Audit Finding

How ASO differs from website SEO

If you already know SEO, much of ASO will feel familiar: people search, a ranking system decides what they see, and relevance and quality both matter. The differences are what trip people up.

• Space is tiny. A web page can use thousands of words to show relevance. An app listing gets a handful of short fields, so every word in the title and subtitle has to earn its place.
• The two stores work differently. Apple gives you a hidden keyword field; Google Play does not, and reads your descriptions instead. The same listing text will not suit both.
• Conversion is visible to the store. Each store can see how many people view your listing and how many install. How well the listing converts is widely believed to feed back into how visible it becomes.
• Ratings sit next to your name. Star ratings and recent reviews appear directly in search results, so they affect both whether you are chosen and how the store treats you.
• Changes are gated. On iOS most metadata changes go out with a new app version and pass review, so you cannot tweak and test as freely as on a website.

This means ASO is partly a search problem and partly a sales problem. A keyword-perfect listing with poor screenshots can be found and still fail, while a beautiful listing nobody finds does not help either. The audit scores both sides for that reason.

The listing fields at a glance

Character limits and field behaviour change occasionally, so confirm them in App Store Connect and the Google Play Console before a big rewrite. At the time of writing, the main fields look like this:

Both stores have rules about what metadata may contain. Apple's guidelines reject irrelevant terms and other companies' trademarks in keywords, and Google Play's metadata policy restricts things like ranking claims, emoji and misleading promises in the title. Keyword stuffing can get an update rejected, so aim for natural, accurate wording.

The fix guides

Each guide takes one audit finding and walks through the cause, the fix and how to check it worked.

Metadata: being found

Fixing a weak app title covers the most important field in both stores: balancing your brand name with the main term people search for, without drifting into stuffing. Fixing the subtitle or short description shows how to add secondary terms and a clear benefit in very few characters. Fixing your keyword strategy covers research for app stores specifically, how to fill Apple's hidden field efficiently and how Google Play infers keywords from your text.

Creative: being chosen

Fixing weak screenshots explains how to use the first few frames to tell a short story, with captions that state benefits rather than feature names. Fixing a missing or weak preview video covers when a video helps, when it distracts, and why the opening seconds matter most.

Trust and performance

Fixing low review velocity covers asking for ratings at the right moment with each platform's in-app review API, and replying to reviews. Fixing the wrong category helps you weigh a crowded category against a smaller one where you can stand out. Fixing a falling conversion rate is for when impressions hold steady but installs drop, and shows how to test fixes.

By platform and market

Optimising for the iOS App Store covers Apple-specific points such as the keyword field, Apple Ads and privacy labels. Optimising for Google Play covers description writing, the Play Console's experiments and Google's quality signals. Optimising app localisation explains how to adapt listings for other countries and languages, and how to choose which markets are worth the effort.

Which findings to fix first

Some fixes are cheap and fast; others need design work, an app update or weeks of data. This order front-loads the changes most likely to move installs.

1. Title and subtitle. They carry the most search weight in both stores and cost nothing but careful thought to change.
2. The first screenshots. Most people decide from what they see without scrolling or opening the gallery, so the first two or three frames matter far more than the rest.
3. Rating prompts. If the app never asks for a rating, or asks at a bad moment, fixing the timing is a small code change with a lasting effect.
4. Keyword field or description. On iOS, remove words already used in the title and subtitle and fill the space; on Google Play, make sure key terms appear naturally in the descriptions.
5. Category. Worth reviewing, but changes here affect which charts you appear in, so decide carefully.
6. Preview video and localisation. Both can help, but they take more work, so tackle them once the basics are right.

Testing listing changes properly

Both stores give you built-in ways to test listing changes on real visitors, and using them is far more reliable than judging by instinct or by a before-and-after comparison, which can be skewed by seasons, featuring or ad spend.

On iOS

Product Page Optimization in App Store Connect lets you test alternative icons, screenshots and app previews against your current page, with traffic split between them. Custom product pages let you build different versions of the page for specific campaigns or audiences. Text fields such as the title and subtitle are not part of these tests, so treat changes to them more cautiously and monitor results after each release.

On Google Play

Store listing experiments in the Play Console let you test graphics and, depending on the experiment type, text such as the short and full descriptions. Custom store listings let you show a tailored listing to visitors from particular countries or campaigns.

Running a fair test

• Test one idea per experiment, such as a new first screenshot, not a whole redesign.
• Let the test run until the console reports a clear result; ending early on a promising first few days often gives false winners.
• Avoid running tests during unusual spikes, such as a feature placement or a big ad campaign.
• Record every test and its outcome, including losers. Knowing what did not work saves time later.

The Competitor Analysis Guide is useful here too: competitors' listings are a free source of ideas worth testing, though never a reason to copy their wording.

Order of work

1. Run the App Store Audit on your iOS and Google Play listings and note every finding and how you compare with competitors.
2. Research the terms people actually search for in each store, not just on Google.
3. Rewrite the title and subtitle or short description with your most important terms, keeping the brand recognisable.
4. Fill the iOS keyword field with terms not already in the title or subtitle, and work key terms naturally into the Google Play descriptions.
5. Rework the first screenshots around clear benefits, then test them with the store's own tools.
6. Review when and how the app asks for ratings, and start replying to recent reviews.
7. Check the category, then decide whether a preview video or localisation is worth doing next.
8. Re-run the audit after each release and compare results over several weeks rather than days.

For the full reference, see the App Audit Guide, the example audit or the beginner tutorial.