ASO StudioASO tools
ASO stands for App Store Optimization. An ASO tool tells you which search terms are worth taking, and which are already gone.
Every keyword sits on two axes: how many people search it, and how hard the holders are to displace. Three corners of this plot are traps. The whole job is finding the fourth.
What one measures
Four things, and they only work together.
Any one of these on its own will send you at a keyword you cannot win.
- 01
Search demand
How many people type a term. Apple publishes no search volume, so every tool models this from live search behaviour. Treat the number as a way to rank terms against each other, not as a count. Apple Search Ads is the exception: connect an account and Apple hands you its own 1 to 100 popularity for a term.
Ask what the estimate is built from before you trust it.
- 02
Ranking difficulty
How hard the apps already holding a term are to displace. Built from their rating volume, how many of them target the term, and how saturated the results are.
High demand with high difficulty is a trap, not an opportunity.
- 03
Live rank tracking
Where you actually place for each term today, and which way it moved. Without this you are guessing at whether anything you changed worked.
Look for position history, not just a position.
- 04
Competitor and category reads
Which apps do what yours does, what they rank for, and how big the category is before you commit to competing in it.
A term list with no competitor context cannot tell you what is winnable.
Read this before you buy one
Apple publishes no search volume.
ASO Studio models keyword demand from public signals, such as how the store surfaces a term and the apps competing for it. An optional Apple Search Ads connection adds Apple's own search popularity index. Both help compare terms; neither is a count of people searching.
The same goes for downloads and revenue. Apple reports an app's figures to its own developer in App Store Connect and to nobody else, so every competitor number you see anywhere is a model, and it covers the apps that tool sampled rather than a whole market. Numbers like these are enough to choose between two terms or two categories. They are not enough to quote.
- Demand and difficulty scored together, never one without the other.
- Live rank tracking with history, so you can tell whether a change worked.
- Competitor and category context around every term.
- A plain statement of which figures are modeled estimates.
Related questions
What people ask next.
What is an ASO tool?
An ASO tool measures how apps get found in App Store search. It scores keywords for how many people search them and how hard they are to rank for, tracks where your app places for each one, and shows which competitors already hold them, so you can choose terms you can realistically win.
What does ASO stand for?
App Store Optimization. It is the practice of getting an app found in store search and browse, which is where most app discovery still happens. It is the app equivalent of SEO.
Does Apple publish App Store search volume?
Apple does not publish App Store search-volume counts. ASO Studio's modeled keyword scores compare terms using public signals. An optional Apple Search Ads connection supplies Apple's own 1 to 100 search popularity index, which is measured by Apple but still is not a search count. App Store Connect reports your own impressions, product page views, and downloads; competitor download figures remain estimates.
Are ASO tools worth it for indie developers?
They are worth it once you are choosing between terms rather than guessing at one. A tool pays for itself the first time it stops you spending your app name on a keyword that has no search traffic, or on one held by an app a hundred times your size.
What should I look for in an ASO tool?
Demand and difficulty scored together, live rank tracking with history, competitor and category context, and a clear statement of which figures are estimates. Anything presenting modeled numbers as Apple's own is worth being careful with.