In short: App store optimisation is improving how an app ranks in store search, converts from listing to install, and passes store review. For fintech and crypto apps that cannot buy installs freely, the store is open-band distribution every other channel depends on, so the listing is the channel.
Key points
- Store search ranks on metadata, install volume and velocity, ratings, retention signals and listing conversion.
- Write metadata for how people search, such as 'budget app', not for the brand's own category name.
- A rating below four stars measurably reduces both ranking and conversion.
- Restricted-category apps should submit with licensing and disclosure documentation to avoid weeks lost in review.
- Improving store conversion lowers cost per install on every channel at once.
App store optimization, ASO, is the practice of improving how an app is found and chosen in the app stores: its ranking in store search, its conversion from store page to install, and its eligibility for featuring. For any company whose product is an app, the store is a distribution channel with its own rules, and for reviewed categories it is often the largest channel that cannot be bought.
How the stores decide what to show
Store search ranks apps on the words in the title, subtitle, and keyword fields; on install volume and velocity; on ratings and reviews; on retention and engagement signals the stores measure themselves; and on conversion from the listing. Featuring, editorial placement on store pages, is decided by store teams based on quality, design, use of platform features, and, to a degree nobody outside the stores fully understands, relationships and timing.
Both stores also review apps against content and category policies before listing and at every update. Financial, crypto, health, and gambling apps face specific requirements: licensing evidence, geographic restrictions, disclosure of risks, and limits on what the listing may claim.
What ASO involves
Metadata. Title, subtitle, keywords, and description written for how people actually search, not for how the company describes itself. People search "savings account" and "budget app," not the brand's category invention.
Conversion assets. Screenshots, preview video, and icon that explain the product in the two seconds a browser gives them. The first screenshot does most of the work.
Ratings and reviews. Prompting satisfied users at the right moment, responding to reviews, and fixing what the negative ones repeat. A drop below four stars measurably reduces both ranking and conversion.
Localization. Listings adapted to each market's language and search behavior, not machine-translated.
Ongoing testing. The stores offer native tools to test listing variations. Few companies use them.
Why it matters more for reviewed categories
A fintech or crypto app that cannot buy installs through the large ad platforms depends on the store for a larger share of its acquisition than a game or a productivity app does. The store is open-band distribution: nobody has to approve a search result. That makes the listing's quality, its ranking, and its conversion worth more, and it makes the store review process a constraint the company has to plan around rather than discover.
The mistakes
Treating the listing as an afterthought written by whoever was free. Keyword stuffing the title, which the stores now penalize. Screenshots that show interface rather than outcome. Ignoring reviews. Claims in the listing that the compliance team would never approve in an ad, which the store reviewers catch and which delay every subsequent update. And, for restricted categories, submitting without the licensing and disclosure documentation the store requires, then losing weeks in review.
The relationship to everything else
Every other channel ends at the store. A creator's link, an affiliate placement, a programmatic ad, and a search result all deliver a person to the listing, where the conversion rate determines how many of them become users. An improvement in store conversion improves the cost per install on every channel at once. For companies that fought to open each of those channels, that is the cheapest gain available.
lowob takeaway: ASO is search ranking, listing conversion, ratings, and store review, and it is open-band distribution that every other channel depends on. For fintech and crypto apps that cannot buy installs freely, the listing is the channel.
Common questions
What is app store optimisation?
The practice of improving how an app is found and chosen in the app stores: its search ranking, its conversion from store page to install, and its eligibility for featuring.
Why does ASO matter more for fintech and crypto apps?
Apps that cannot buy installs freely through large ad platforms rely more on the store, where nobody has to approve a search result.
What are common app store optimisation mistakes?
Treating the listing as an afterthought, keyword stuffing the title, screenshots of interface rather than outcome, ignoring reviews, unapproved claims, and submitting without required licensing documentation.
How much do app ratings affect downloads?
A drop below four stars measurably reduces both ranking and conversion.