ASO for tiny studios that ship a lot
You don't need a big budget to rank in the App Store. You need a tight loop: research, ship, measure, iterate. Here's the playbook we run on every release - distilled from 30+ launches.
Step 1 - keyword research before you write code
Before naming the app, we spend two hours mapping the keyword space. We look at search volume, competition, and what the top 10 results currently look like. If the top results are all polished apps with thousands of ratings, we either find a sub-niche or pick a different problem.
Step 2 - title, subtitle, keyword field
- Title (30 chars): brand + the strongest 1-2 keywords
- Subtitle (30 chars): the next 2-3 keywords in plain English
- Keyword field (100 chars): long-tail variants, comma-separated, no duplicates with title/subtitle
Step 3 - screenshots that sell, not document
Each screenshot leads with a one-line value claim, not the feature name. "Track every habit, see real trends" beats "Habits screen". The first three screenshots do 90% of the work - that's all most users see.
Step 4 - localize for at least 8 markets
Spanish, German, French, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese, Italian, and Turkish double our reach with one afternoon of effort. We use the same template per language and tune the title/subtitle keywords per locale.
Step 5 - measure, then change one thing
We let a release sit for 7-14 days before changing anything. Then we change one variable: a screenshot, a subtitle keyword, or a localized title. Two changes at once means you can't tell what worked.
The compounding loop
None of this is rocket science. The advantage compounds: every app teaches us something about a keyword cluster, a country, or a screenshot pattern that we apply to the next launch. After 48 apps, we have a small library of what works - and that's the actual moat.
If you want help running this loop on your own app, say hi.