App store optimization is essential for the success of your app or mobile game. To do it right, it’s a smart move to use ASO tools or app store optimization tools.
ASO tools, like the ones we’re going to review in this article, can help you improve the visibility of your app and boost conversions. Moreover, a good ASO tool can help you track important metrics and KPIs.
Let’s dive right in!
1. Apptweak
Apptweak is one of the best ASO tools for apps and games. Some of Apptweak’s clients are PayPal, Jam City, Yelp, Big Fish, Amazon, Expedia, Adobe, Udemy, LinkedIn, and Electronic Arts.
Here’s what you can do with an app store optimization tool.
Apptweak’s keyword research and suggestion ASO tool allows developers to find relevant keywords for their app. As you probably know, a smart keyword strategy is essential for ASO and helps your app get to the top of the search results.
You can also spy on your competitors and see which keywords they’re using.
Apptweak uses Apple’s Search Popularity to show you the search volume for each keyword. Furthermore, you can see the difficulty score for keywords which helps you choose keywords that have the best chance to rank.
Apptweak Key Features
- Keyword research and suggestion ASO tool
- Keyword ranking history
- Organic installs per keyword
- Keyword volume and search popularity
- Keyword impact analysis
- ASO timeline
- Featured app list
- Keyword translations
- Visibility score
- ASO update history
- Competitor keyword spy
- Category rankings
- Keyword rankings and install growth
- App download and revenue estimates
Apptweak Pricing Plan
- Starter $69/mo
- Guru $299/mo
- Power $599/mo
2. AppFollow
AppFollow offers developers all the app store optimization tools they need for organic user acquisition. Their clients are HBO, Zynga, JamCity, Disney, Comcast, Sony, Yahoo, Vevo, Autodesk, Hubspot, Flo, and many others.
AppFollow claims it can increase weekly impressions by 5 times, increase the number of organic installs by as much as 490%, and increase conversion rate by 11% on average.
Here’s what you can do with this ASO tool.
With AppFollow, you can track the most important KPIs like downloads, conversion rates, and changes in keyword positions. Additionally, you can receive average conversion rates reports by app category and country on a monthly basis.
With Top Chart Rankings, you can see which apps and games are trending on Google Play and Apple’s App Store. Furthermore, you can analyze your competitors’ app store optimization strategies.
When it comes to keywords, with this ASO analysis tool, you can identify keywords that are relevant for your app. You can also automatically translate them, which is very useful for localization. Additionally, you can track the most popular keywords and get their difficulty score.
AppFollow Key Features
- Track KPIs and app performance
- Conversion rate benchmarks
- Top chart rankings
- Competitors overview and analysis
- Keyword popularity and difficulty data
- Keyword research automation
- Featured app alerts
- ASO alerts in Slack and email
- Store performance index
- ASO analysis tool
AppFollow Pricing Plan
For startups
- Free (2 apps, 20 keywords, 20 replies per month, 5 team members)
- Essential – $23/mo
- Startup – $47/mo
For companies
- Growth – $55/mo
- Advanced – $111/mo
- Enterprise – custom
3. ASOTools
ASOTools is an app store optimization tool that helps you analyze your competitors and do extensive keyword research.
With the keyword research tool, you can search for a keyword and see whether your competitors are using it, its popularity score, volume, and keyword difficulty. You can filter the keywords by country and platform.
Furthermore, you can get keyword suggestions based on the keyword you search for. Here you also see the aforementioned data for each keyword, as well as which apps are using it.
All that data helps you choose the most effective keywords for your app and game and get ahead of the competition.
ASOTools also offers data analysis – you can get accurate download and revenue estimates for mobile games and apps. Furthermore, you can track top apps and games and filter them by category, country, ratings, downloads, revenue, MAU, and the number of Facebook ads.
ASOTools Key Features
- KeywordsSearch
- App Search
- Detail Popup
- Down&Rev. Rank
- Preapp ADs Rank
- App Tracking
- Down Estimate
- Rev. Estimate
- ASO Suggestions
- App Information
- App MAU Estimate
- App Google Search Volume
- App Comments Trend
ASOTools Pricing Plan
- Free $0/mo
- Basic $9/mo
- Pro $99/mo
- Business $299/mo
Get ASOTools by clicking on this link. Use code UDONIS10 to get 10% off for 3 months!
4.App Radar
Another giant among ASO tools is App Radar. Some of their trusted clients are iTranslate, Arise, Kolibri, Wargaming.net, Meister, and Mixvibes.
As you know, successful app store optimization includes using relevant keywords that attract high-quality users. With App Radar, you can easily find the right keywords for your app or mobile game. You can also see which keywords your app is ranking for as well as compare it to your competitors.
For example, App Radar will show you whether you outrank competitors. Furthermore, you can reverse engineer their keyword strategy, and see if they’re featured on Google Play or App Store.
Appradar Key Features
- Keyword analysis
- Keyword optimization
- Large keyword database
- Real-time app store ranking
- App store ranking tracking
- Ratings & reviews management
- Competitor research
- App analytics
- App localization management
Appradar Pricing Plan
- Free
- Starter – $39/mo
- Advanced – $69/mo
- Expert – $129/mo
5. Sensor Tower
Sensor Tower is a mobile marketing intelligence platform that provides ASO intelligence, among other things. Its Store Intelligence offers millions of data points that can help you make better decisions when it comes to app store optimization. With App Intelligence, you can optimize your keyword strategy and analyze your competitors.
Here’s the most important store data you can get from Sensor Tower.
You can identify the most popular apps and top publishers by downloads, revenue, category, or country on Google Play and Apple’s App Store.
With App Intelligence, you can research keywords to get traffic and difficulty scores, as well as info on how many apps are competing for a certain keyword. With Keyword Spy, you can find out which keywords your competitors are using.
Furthermore, you can get keyword suggestions and use Sensor Tower’s Predictive Rank feature to get estimates on how likely it is that your app will rank for a particular keyword.
Additionally, you can easily translate keywords and measure the success of your localization strategy.
Sensor Tower Key Features
- Store data
- Top charts
- Keyword research
- Keyword suggestion
- Competitor analysis
- Keyword translation
- Search traffic score estimates
- Predictive rank
- Localization analysis
- App profiles
- Review history
- Featured app history
- Daily reports
Sensor Tower Pricing Plan
No pricing info available publicly.
6. Split Metrics
Split Metrics is a great ASO tool for boosting organic traffic and lowering user acquisition costs. It is used by companies like Lab Cave, Zimad, Lovoo, Verv, Wallapop, Yandex, Mytona, and Fruit Ninja.
What’s great about Split Metrics is that it allows you to understand exactly how users interact with your app store page. For example, you can track how long they watch your promo video or whether they scroll through screenshots (heatmaps). This will give you more insight into user behavior and the elements of your app store page that trigger the most conversions.
Furthermore, you can test every element of your app store page including app name, icon, description, keywords, screenshots, promo video, etc. More than 30 different experiments are available.
You can also get valuable tips from SplitMetrics’ team on how to optimize your page to get the most conversions.
Split Metrics Key Features
- A/B tests
- User behavior analysis
- Testing against competitors
- Prelaunch app testing
- Test different locations
- App store optimization tips
Split Metrics Pricing Plan
Not available.
7. Storemaven
If you want to increase app store conversion rates, Storemaven is a great tool for you. It is trusted by companies like Yahoo, Electronic Arts, Zynga, Warner Brothers, Kabam, Postmates, HBO, TikTok, and Uber.
What’s great about Storemaven is that it has a very scientific approach to organic user acquisition. Their App Store Testing Platform guides you through creating A/B tests. From creating a strategic hypothesis, designing different variants, increasing test accuracy, and analyzing the results.
Furthermore, with Storemaven’s ASO Tool Box, you can do extensive research on your competitors.
For example, you can identify app store optimization strategies your competitors use. That’s for every app, in every country, and every language. You can also download app store assets from your competitors like videos, screenshots, and descriptions. The ASO Tool Box is available as a Chrome extension as well.
With their approach, Storemaven claims to increase conversion rate by 24%, reduce user acquisition costs by 57%, and re-engage 34% of users.
Storemaven Key Features
- Data-driven approach
- A/B testing
- Test results analysis
- Competitor research
- Personalized ASO strategy plan
Storemaven Pricing Plan
Not available – you need to request a demo.
8. TheTool
TheTool is a performance-based ASO tool with clients like Pixonic, Ten Square Games, and Privalia.
With TheTool, you can track everything related to ASO including organic and non-organic installs, keyword rankings, app store top charts, ratings & reviews, etc.
With ASO Score, you can grade how well your app is optimized.
Keyword research is simple and quick with TheTool and it will help you improve the visibility of your app. For example, you can get keyword suggestions, as well as track difficulty and traffic of each keyword. You can also do research on competitors and get insight into their ASO strategy.
TheTool Key Features
- Keyword rankings
- Keyword research
- Top charts
- Keyword suggestion
- ASO score grader
- Organic and non-organic installs tracking
- Insight on competitors
- Worldwide tracking
- Downloads data
- CSV export
TheTool Pricing Plan
- Startup – €29/mo
- Growth – €69/mo
- Ninja – €199/mo
9. ASOdesk
ASOdesk is an excellent ASO tool with a ton of useful features. It is used by companies like Split Metrics, Abbyy, Yandex, Zephyr, Mamba, Playkot, Appyfurious, Verv, and Kaspersky.
Here’s what ASOdesk can help you with.
You can find out which queries users use when searching for your app in the app stores. Also, you’ll be able to see which keywords your competitors rank for. Additionally, ASOdesk will identify queries with low competition, i.e., those that are easier to rank for.
Furthermore, you’ll be able to see which keywords are popular – this is based on ASOdesk’s Traffic Score algorithm and Apple Search Ads Popularity Index.
Last but not least, ASOdesk will help you measure the results of your app store optimization strategy. This is based on data App Store Connect and includes metrics like Impressions, Product Page Views, Downloads, and Conversion Rate by device and by country.
ASOdesk Key Features
- Keyword analytics
- Keyword explorer
- Competitors and keyword chats
- Keyword autosuggestions
- ASO comparative report
- Organic report
- Reviews and monitoring
- Trending searches alert
ASOdesk Pricing Plan
For Startups
- S – $24.7/mo
- M – $49.9/mo
- L – $84.2/mo
- XL – $118.3/mo
For Companies
- S – $126.7/mo
- M – $169.1/mo
- L – $249.9/mo
- XL – $416.6/mo
10. Checkaso
Checkaso is an ASO tool that offers solutions to indie developers, publishers & agencies, and game developers.
To start, you can check how well your app or game is optimized for app stores with Checkaso’ ASOindex. Then you can get customized tips that will help you improve your ASO strategy.
Another great thing about Checkaso is that you get a keyword starter pack, as well as automatic keyword suggestions. You can choose from adding the keywords manually or automatically.
Checkaso also allows you to monitor app ranking and get keyword analytics.
Key Features
- ASO index
- Customized tips
- Monitor app ranking
- Keyword starter pack
- Automatic and manual keyword adding
- Data from app stores
- Keyword analytics
- Live search results
- Insight on competitors
Checkaso Pricing Plan
- Free
- Startup – $14/mo
- Growing business $62/mo
- Publisher & agency $126/mo
11. Gummicube
Gummicube is another excellent ASO tool. It helps you improve app store visibility by ranking for the right keywords. Gummicube is used by companies like Home Advisor, Stubhub, Nexon, NBC Universal, Lime, Zynga, CNBC, Scopely, and CyberLink.
With Gummicube’s data and algorithms, you can improve every element of app store optimization – app title, app keywords, app description, app logo, app screenshots, ratings & reviews.
You can find the best keywords, optimize all creative assets to boost conversions, as well as do A/B testing. Additionally, you can get feedback from real users through focus groups and surveys.
Gummicube Key Features
- Keyword optimization
- Conversion optimization
- Creative assets optimization
- A/B multivariate testing
- Focus groups and surveys
Gummicube Pricing Plan
Not available – you need to schedule a demo.
12. SearchMan
With SearchMan, you can track searches for Android and iOS on a daily basis and analyze the visibility of your app and competitor’s apps. Furthermore, you can get keyword suggestions to improve your app store optimization strategy.
Additionally, you can use Keyword Spy to see which keywords your competitors are using as well as track trending keywords.
SearchMan Key Features
- Unified dashboards
- Top charts/category rankings
- Search tracking and trending searches
- Keyword suggestions
- Keyword spy
- Related and trending keywords
- Custom reports and notifications
SearchMan Pricing Plan
- Research – free
- ASO Dashboard – $25/App/Month
- Spreadsheet – $99/Month
- API – $250/month
- Enterprise – Starting at $1,500
13. Mobile Action
Mobile Action’s ASO tool comes with similar features like the #4 on our list, Sensor Tower. The tool promises to provide all the essentials to enhance app visibility and conversion rates.
Here’s what it offers for apps to achieve that.
It consists of a diverse set of tools that allows you to dive deep into keyword research. It comes with a big keyword dataset that helps you track down potential keywords. These keywords are gathered from more than one source: from your competitor’s keywords, your app description, and keywords that are most likely to bring downloads.
After tracking down keywords, it is time for optimization and testing.
Mobile Action is going big on competitor insights. Its Keyword Suggestion feature allows you to see the competitor keywords you are not ranking for. The next step in competition research is its Keyword Spy. With this tool, you can even see which keywords work best for your competition. This allows you to copy them. I mean, get some inspiration.
Mobile Action Key Features
- Keyword tracking and optimization
- Keyword suggestion
- Trending keywords
- Keyword spying
- Keyword research and keyword explorer
- ASO report
- Visibility report
- Keyword intelligence
- Search ads intelligence
- Localization
- App update timeline
Mobile Action Pricing Plan
- Free trial
- Startup – $49/month
- Growth – $299/month
- Business – $599/month
14. Kumulos
Kumulos is an all-in-one mobile app management platform. It contains analytics, content management, ASO, push notifications, and more all in one place. It also provides a mobile backend as a service module.
Kumulos’ ASO tool allows the user to measure the user sentiment by giving an overview of the reviews and ratings. The reviews and ratings are country-specific, which makes the insights even more detailed.
Additionally, it gives its users the ability to benchmark competition apps to see how to better optimize their own presence on the app stores. Publishers can check their standings in both the App Store and Google Play store, all in one place.
Kumulos Key Features:
- Search term tracking and ranking
- Side-by-side performance comparison for the App Store and Google Play
- Competition listing and screenshot comparisons
- Country-specific rankings
- Review tracking
- Weekly or monthly ASO Reports
Kumulos Pricing Plan:
Pay as you go, meaning their plans are no-contract and are personalized based on what features are used.
Why Is App Store Optimization So Important?
Many developers ignore app store optimization or don’t put enough time and effort into it. That’s a huge mistake because ASO can help your app or game in so many ways.
Here’s what you can achieve with app store optimization.
Improve App Store Visibility
Most users search for apps and games on Google Play or Apple’s App Store. That makes it a great place to get discovered.
However, there are hundreds of new apps being released every day and it’s really hard to get noticed in that sea of apps.
This is where app store optimization comes in.
If done right, it can improve the visibility of your app. When you include relevant and competitive keywords in your app store listing, your app ranks higher in search results.
It’s a lot like search engine optimization.
A user enters a search query in the App Store or Google Play, and the best and most relevant apps come up in the search results.
More Downloads
Not only will ASO make it easier for users to find your app, but it will also drive conversions.
If you put effort into getting all ASO elements right (keywords, icon, description, etc.), users will download your app.
What’s important is to A/B test many creative assets to see what works and what doesn’t. Doing a simple thing like changing your app icon can significantly boost conversions.
There are many publishers who don’t pay for ads but rely solely on app store optimization to reach users organically. This tells you how powerful ASO is.
Lowers User Acquisition Costs
Since app store optimization helps get more users organically, that means your user acquisition costs will go down.
While paying for ads is a very effective way of acquiring users, it can get quite expensive. Many developers who are just starting out can only dream of having large budgets for user acquisition.
So if money is tight, focus your efforts on ASO and get users organically.
Aids Paid User Acquisition
Even though app store optimization is a vital part of your organic UA strategy, it goes hand in hand with your paid UA efforts. When people click on your app install ad, most commonly, they’re sent to the Google Play or Apple App Store page of your app. From there, they can choose to click the install button and complete the conversion.
If your app store page is not optimized, you run the risk of losing that conversion, even though the user clicked on an ad.
On the other hand, if your app store page is full of top-notch, well-optimized content, it can convince the user to pull the trigger and install the app. This is particularly important for the so-called explorers – users who still haven’t decided for sure whether they want to install the app or not and want to get more information about it first.
Reach a Global Audience
Another great thing about app store optimization is the ability to reach a worldwide audience.
However, you need to make sure that you localize your app as well as your app store listing. By translating all app store creative assets and optimizing them for different cultures, you reach target markets more effectively.
Attract High-Quality Users
Your aim should not be to get just any user. The key is to get discovered by high-quality users who are searching for an app like yours.
This is also achieved with a smart keyword strategy.
App store optimization helps you attract the right users because it matches your app to relevant keywords.
Furthermore, because users have discovered your app on their own and decided to download it based on the info on your app’s store listing, they’re more likely to keep using the app. That’s beneficial not only for retention, but monetization.
Increase App Revenue
If you attract a large number of high-quality users through ASO, it will directly affect your app revenue. No matter which monetization method you use, you need users to make it work.
So ultimately, a good app store optimization strategy boosts app revenue and makes your app a success.
Improve Brand Awareness
Because you can showcase your app name, icon, and other content on your app store page, you get the opportunity to establish your brand. The goal, of course, is to become a household name and have everybody recognize your brand appearance.
For example, Playrix did a great job of crafting a distinct brand identity across its games. App stores played a big part in that – the more times users come across some of its games, the more recognizable they become. After some time, it’s enough to see an icon or a game title to know this is a Playrix game.
How Can ASO Tools Help You?
App store optimization is a complex and time-consuming process. There are many elements you need to get right in order for it to work – keywords, description, icon, app title, etc.
It’s also not something you do once.
It’s important to update the app listing frequently, as you publish new features or as you update the app. As the new functionalities are introduced, and the bugs from the past are fixed, encourage users to install the updates.
Furthermore, to be successful at app store optimization, you need data and insight into your competitors’ strategies.
All of these are reasons to use ASO tools.
Tools like those I have reviewed in the article make this process easy and less time-consuming.
You can get help with things like keyword research and even get suggestions. Most ASO tools also allow you to spy on your competitors and reverse engineer their strategies.
Another reason why it’s useful to use ASO tools is the ability to track the popularity, search volume, and effectiveness of certain keywords.
What’s great about ASO tools is that there is something for everybody. You can find an app store optimization tool that fits your specific needs as well as your budget.
What to Look for in ASO Tools?
There are so many great ASO tools available, so which one do you choose?
Here are some of the main features ASO tools should have.
Keyword-Related Features
As I mentioned before, keywords are an essential part of app store optimization – they help users discover your app store listing. Because of that, all good ASO tools have a variety of keyword features.
One of the most important ones is keyword research – the ability to find relevant keywords for your app based on specific topics and see which keywords your competitors use. It’s also helpful to see a difficulty score for each keyword, i.e., how hard it is to rank for a specific keyword because that influences your choice of keywords.
Furthermore, a keyword suggestion feature is often a lifesaver because you can significantly speed up the keyword research process by receiving quality keyword ideas. Finally, the ability to track keywords is another essential feature every ASO tool should have.
Competitor Research
A big part of app store optimization is based on competitor research. It’s essential that you understand which tactics your competitors use to grow their user base organically. This includes not only the keywords, but all other aspects of their app store page listing, such as the app promo video, screenshot design, and how their logo looks.
Furthermore, a top charts feature is also preferable as it lets you see which apps are performing best in each category.
Localization Features
Localization is also very important for ASO, so having tools that can help you translate and appropriate content for different cultures is very helpful. However, localization is not just about translation. For example, it’s also useful to be able to search for keywords in different languages as well as manage all of your localized listings.
Testing
As you probably know, you can’t achieve good app store optimization without testing. In fact, every single element of your app’s store listing needs to be split-tested. Having a tool that makes it easy to do that and setting up various A/B tests can certainly make your life much easier.
- Keyword research
- A/B testing
- Keyword suggestion
- Top charts
- Keyword tracking
- Keyword difficulty score
- Competitor research
- Translation (and other localization features)
Final Thoughts on ASO Tools
Hopefully, this list will help you choose an app store optimization tool that fits your needs and your budget.
But now we want to hear from you, which ASO tool do you find the most useful? Did I miss any? Let me know in the comments below.
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