App Store Optimisation for Beginners: Get Found Without Ads

The best user you’ll ever get is the one already searching for your app. They don’t need convincing. They need to find you.

This is app store optimisation, and it’s free. You set up a few fields once, test your screenshots, and search brings people to your app for years.

SEO and app store optimisation are my forte from my years selling online. Search has been great for my apps, and it’s the channel I’d set up first. Here’s how it works on both stores, field by field. If you want help building your app first, here’s where I teach this.

What does Apple use to rank apps in search?

Apple ranks apps on two things: text relevance and user behaviour. Apple’s search page names the title, subtitle, keywords and primary and secondary category for text, and downloads, ratings and reviews for behaviour.

So you do two jobs:

1. Put the words your users search for in the right fields.
2. Win downloads and good ratings.

The first job takes an afternoon. The second is your marketing. Every time I speak at an event or host a workshop, the wave of new downloads helps my ranking too.

How long are the app name, subtitle and keyword fields?

Apple gives you 3 search fields:

Apple’s product page guide sets the name and subtitle limits. The keyword field is hidden from users, so use it for words not fitting naturally in the name or subtitle.

How do you choose keywords for Apple’s 100 characters?

Start with your users’ words, not yours. You call it a “habit tracker”. Your user searches “stop snacking at night”.

Apple’s own rules for the keyword field:

• Don’t repeat words already in your name, subtitle or category.
• Don’t spend characters on plurals of words you already used.
• Skip generic words like “app”.
• Your app name and company name are searchable already.
• Never use competitor app names, trademarks or celebrity names. Improper keywords are a common rejection reason.

Separate words with commas and no spaces: snacking,cravings,night,eating,diary. Each word combines with your name and subtitle, so “night” plus “snacking” in your subtitle covers “night snacking”.

Use the “find your search phrases” prompt below to build your first list, then the “fit your words” prompt to squeeze it into the limits.

What about the description and promotional text?

Write the description for people, not for search. Apple’s search page doesn’t list the description as a ranking factor, and Apple advises against adding extra keywords to it. You get up to 4,000 characters.

Promotional text sits at the top of your description, up to 170 characters. You change it any time without a new app version, and it doesn’t affect search. Use it for launch news, events and offers.

What makes people download from search results?

Your first screenshots. In search results, Apple shows the first 1 to 3 screenshots when you have no app preview video.

You upload 1 to 10 screenshots per device size. Make the first 3 do the selling:

1. The result your user wants, with a short caption in their words
2. The main screen, doing the main job
3. What makes your app different

Captions beat feature lists. “Know what you spent this week” beats “Expense categories”.

How do ratings and reviews help, and when should you ask?

Ratings and reviews feed Apple’s ranking. Apple’s rating prompt appears up to 3 times in a 365-day period, so each ask counts.

Ask after a user finishes something useful: their first saved entry, a completed task, a streak. Never on first launch. Ask at the moment your app has helped.

Reply to reviews, especially the bad ones. Future users read your replies.

How do you test your store page for free?

Both stores test your page against variations, for free.

• Apple product page optimisation tests alternate icons, screenshots and app previews on a share of random users. Results show in App Analytics.
• Apple custom product pages give you up to 70 extra versions of your page, each with its own URL. You also assign keywords to a custom page, so it shows in search for those words.
• Google Play store listing experiments test graphics and descriptions, with up to 2 variants, and stop after 6 months.

Test one thing at a time, starting with the first screenshot.

What’s different on Google Play?

Google Play has 3 text fields: a title up to 30 characters, a short description up to 80, and a full description up to 4,000. Google ranks apps on ratings, reviews, downloads and other factors, and doesn’t publish the weights.

Write the full description for people, with your main phrase in the first lines. Keyword stuffing is a real risk: under Google’s metadata policy, repetitive or irrelevant keywords in your title or descriptions are grounds for suspension.

Where does app store optimisation fit in your launch?

Set it up before launch, then improve it with real data. Your store page is where every other channel ends: talks, Pinterest, social posts and search.

For the channels sending people to your page, read how to get your first users. If your app isn’t live yet, start with how to ship your first app. And keep version one small, as in what to put in your first app version, so your screenshots show one clear job. For the full path, read how to build an app as a non-technical founder.

Store fields and limits checked on Apple’s and Google’s own developer pages on 24 October 2026.

Help me find the phrases people type into the App Store when they need an app like mine.

My app: [one sentence]
Who it's for: [one kind of person]
The problem in their words: [how they describe it]
Similar apps I know: [names, for reference only]

List 30 search phrases a user would type, from short (1 to 2 words) to specific (3 to 4 words). For each, say why someone would search it. Don't include competitor names or trademarks. If you're unsure people search a phrase, mark it as a guess.

Write my App Store name, subtitle and keyword field from these search phrases.

My app: [one sentence]
My search phrases: [paste your best 10]
My category: [category]

Rules: name up to 30 characters, subtitle up to 30 characters, keyword field up to 100 characters with commas and no spaces. Never repeat a word across the three fields or from my category. No plurals of words already used, and no words like app or free. Give me 3 options, and count the characters for each field.

Write my Google Play short description and full description.

My app: [one sentence]
Who it's for: [one kind of person]
My main search phrase: [phrase]
The 3 things the app does: [list]

Short description: one sentence with the main phrase early. Full description: short paragraphs for people, the main phrase in the first lines, no keyword lists or repeated phrases. Count the characters of each.