App Store Optimization Services
App store optimization built on search demand, listing evidence, and controlled tests.
Audit and improve Apple App Store and Google Play discovery, listing comprehension, product-page conversion, ratings operations, and localisation. RaftLabs connects store data to acquisition and product context, then tests the elements each platform supports. Store algorithms, editorial placement, rankings, downloads, reviews, and revenue remain outside any agency's control.
Bring the problem, the current workflow, or the existing code. We reply with a practical next step within one business day.
The brief
Start with what is not working.
Good software decisions begin with the constraint, not a list of features or a preferred technology.
Are listing changes driven by opinions while search terms, impressions, product-page views, installs, source mix, and retention tell different stories?
Are the same keywords, screenshots, and claims copied across Apple and Google despite different fields, policies, tests, and audiences?
Plain answer
App Store Optimization improves how the right users discover and understand an app across Apple App Store and Google Play. RaftLabs audits search terms, metadata, screenshots, reviews, localisation, acquisition sources, and product-page conversion, then creates platform-specific changes and tests. A focused engagement starts around $3,000; rankings, editorial features, reviews, downloads, and revenue are not guaranteed.
The screenshot is attractive. It still does not explain the app.
A high-intent visitor lands on the listing and sees a login screen, a dashboard, and three feature labels. The first image never states who the product is for or what changes after installation. Search brought the right person to the page, but the creative asked them to decode the product.
ASO joins discovery and comprehension. It cannot compensate for weak product value, unstable releases, or poor retention.
Engagement facts
- starting point for one two-store audit
- $3K
- Indicative scope, fixed after a scoping call
- typical audit and implementation window
- 3-4 weeks
- Store access and creative readiness affect timing
- Apple and Google treated separately
- 2 stores
- Shared positioning, platform-specific fields and tests
RaftLabs has shipped mobile products that earned documented store ratings and usage, including a UAE mobile POS with 5,000+ downloads and a 4.8-star Google Play rating in its first three months. That proves mobile product and release experience, not that ASO alone caused those results. Product value, distribution, market, paid activity, reviews, retention, and operational execution also contributed.
ASO needs a real product and interpretable data
The app is live or launch-ready, positioning is sufficiently stable, and store access and product evidence are available.
The team can separate store search, browse, referral, and paid traffic and connect listing changes to product metrics.
There is enough traffic for directional learning, or the immediate goal is a rigorous launch baseline rather than a fast test result.
The product is unstable, poorly retained, or unclear, and a listing change is being asked to solve the underlying value problem.
The expectation is guaranteed ranking, editorial featuring, reviews, downloads, conversion, or revenue.
You need app development, broad mobile acquisition, web SEO, or reputation crisis support rather than store-listing work.
ASO, product work, or paid acquisition
A listing can improve expectation setting and conversion, but it cannot fix a broken onboarding flow or missing capability. Paid campaigns can produce enough qualified traffic for a test but also change the visitor mix. Product changes can improve ratings and retention while creating a new screenshot story. Plan the boundaries together and attribute results cautiously.
Decision guide
Choose the intervention closest to the problem
| Service | Primary job | Constraint |
|---|---|---|
| App Store Optimization | Improve store discovery, listing comprehension, and product-page conversion | Depends on product quality, demand, traffic, reviews, and store systems |
| Mobile product design and development | Improve the installed experience, capability, reliability, and retention | Requires a product release and cannot control store demand |
| Paid app acquisition | Buy targeted distribution and test audience-message fit | Performance depends on creative, listing, product economics, attribution, and spend |
Scope one app, two platforms, and a clean baseline
Apple and Google should share positioning and approved facts, but their searchable fields, policy language, experiments, and console data differ. The first engagement produces one strategy with separate implementation and measurement for each store. Country and language decisions follow actual audience value rather than translating every market at once.
Scope
A focused ASO engagement
- 01
Search and competitor evidence
Audience jobs, query themes, store suggestions and available tool data, current keyword positions where measurable, competitor fields, category patterns, seasonality, demand limits, and a prioritised search map.
- 02
Platform-specific metadata
Apple name, subtitle, keyword field, promotional text, and description; Google title, short description, and long description; approved claims, readable language, localisation notes, and a reason for each change.
- 03
Creative sequence and brief
Icon context, first-impression promise, screenshot order, device frames, captions, product truth, visual proof, preview-video role, accessibility, localisation, production specifications, and hypotheses rather than aesthetic preference.
- 04
Ratings and review operations
In-product prompt context, platform-compliant timing, review themes, response ownership, escalation, release-note connection, support feedback, and no manipulation, gating, fabricated reviews, or incentives that violate policy.
- 05
Tests and measurement
Product-page view to install, search and browse context, custom pages where applicable, experiment hypothesis, variants, guardrails, run conditions, confidence, release annotations, retention context, and a decision log.
Change one interpretable layer at a time
From store baseline to controlled listing test
- Phase 101
Define audience and baseline
Map app, markets, users, jobs, competitors, acquisition, search terms, store metrics, ratings, releases, product constraints, claims, owners, and acceptance.
- Phase 202
Diagnose discovery and conversion
Review platform fields, keyword coverage, impressions, page views, installs, source mix, screenshots, video, reviews, localisation, competitor patterns, measurement limits, and product-store mismatch.
- Phase 303
Prepare platform changes
Deliver Apple and Google metadata, keyword rationale, visual sequence and creative brief, approved claims, localisation priorities, review-response guidance, instrumentation gaps, and test design.
- Phase 404
Publish and learn
Coordinate approved store updates, record release context, monitor indexing and metrics, evaluate tests cautiously, and prioritise the next listing, product, acquisition, localisation, or reputation change.
Risk
What can make an ASO result look stronger than it is
- Paid traffic changes during the listing test
- Segment acquisition sources where the platform allows, annotate campaign and spend changes, and avoid crediting metadata for a different visitor mix.
- Several listing elements change together
- Use supported experiments where possible, state the combined hypothesis when not, and avoid claiming which element caused a result the design cannot isolate.
- More installs hide weaker users
- Pair product-page conversion with activation, retention, uninstall, refund, rating, support, and customer-quality context. Volume alone may reward misleading expectations.
- Keyword copy creates policy or trust risk
- Use accurate approved claims, respect trademarks and platform rules, avoid unsupported superlatives, and keep store language aligned with the product users actually receive.
Scope and price
A focused two-store ASO engagement starts at $3,000.
Start with one app, selected markets, baseline, search strategy, Apple and Google metadata, a visual brief, review guidance, localisation priorities, and a test plan.
This is an indicative starting point, not a quote or a guarantee of indexing, ranking, editorial placement, review, download, conversion, retention, revenue, or test significance. Store platforms control their systems.
Starting investment
Starts at $3,000
The initial audit and implementation usually takes 3 to 4 weeks. Creative production, many markets, several apps, custom pages, or ongoing testing add work.
Every recommendation has a hypothesis
Apple and Google remain distinct
Related mobile and growth services
- 01
Mobile App Development
Build or improve the installed product, release system, and mobile operations.
- 02
UX and UI Design
Research and design the product experience behind the listing promise.
- 03
Growth Marketing
Coordinate acquisition, activation, measurement, and channel investment.
- 04
Content Marketing
Produce and maintain useful web content across the buyer journey.
Work with us
Bring the listing change your team is debating without evidence.
We will connect the audience, search demand, store fields, creative sequence, product reality, and a test you can interpret.
- Scope and cost agreed before work starts. No surprises. No obligation.
- Working prototype within 3 weeks of kickoff.
- Pay by milestone. You see progress before each invoice.
- 60-day post-launch warranty. Bug fixes, UI tweaks, and deployment support. No retainer.
- All conversations are NDA-protected.
Common questions
A focused engagement includes audience and competitor context, store-console baseline, search-term research, Apple and Google metadata, screenshot and video sequence brief, localisation priorities, ratings and review operations, product-page test plan, measurement limits, and a prioritised change backlog. Design production, translation, product changes, or ongoing testing can be added separately.
ASO focuses on discovery and product-page conversion inside app stores. SEO focuses on web search and indexable pages. Paid acquisition buys distribution and can also affect the traffic mix reaching a listing. The channels interact, but keyword fields, creative surfaces, attribution, platform policies, and success measures differ. One should not receive credit for every install.
No. Store algorithms, competitors, category demand, paid activity, product quality, ratings, retention, release health, localisation, and platform decisions all affect results. We make evidence-backed changes, use supported tests, record other changes, and report outcomes with uncertainty. Apple or Google editorial placement and specific rankings cannot be purchased or guaranteed.
A focused engagement starts around $3,000 for one app across Apple App Store and Google Play, including baseline, search research, metadata, visual brief, review guidance, localisation priorities, and a test plan. Creative production, many markets, custom product pages, several apps, review operations, or ongoing experiments add scope.
The initial audit and implementation usually takes 3 to 4 weeks. Store review, indexing, traffic volume, seasonality, and experiment sample size determine when results can be interpreted. A low-volume listing may not reach a reliable test conclusion quickly. We agree minimum run conditions and avoid claiming a winner from small or contaminated samples.