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    How to Improve Your App Ranking in the App Stores

    Developer checking an app store search ranking

    You improve app ranking by fixing three things in order: how well your listing matches what people search for, how many of those people install after seeing it, and how they rate and review the app afterward. Apple says search results rest on text relevance and user behavior. Google Play adds app-experience quality and editorial value. Everything below is a way to move one of those levers without breaking store rules.

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    TL;DR

    • Rankings come from relevance (title, subtitle, keywords, category) plus behavior (download conversion, ratings, reviews). Work on both.
    • Use your keyword field fully, avoid trademarked terms and duplicates, and localize the listing into the markets you want to rank in.
    • Ask for ratings with the platform’s own API at moments of success, answer reviews briefly, and never offer rewards for ratings.
    • If your rating dropped, segment reviews by app version and topic before you change anything.
    • Change one thing at a time and track keyword positions daily so you can tell what worked.

    Table of Contents

    What the stores actually rank on

    Start with the official word, because most ranking advice online is guesswork. Apple states that App Store search results are based on text relevance, meaning your title, subtitle, keywords and category, and on user behavior such as download conversion, ratings and reviews (Apple Developer).

    Google Play describes a similar picture in its own terms. Ranking considers user relevance, the quality of the app experience, editorial value, ads and the user experience on Google Play, and search results lean heavily on how relevant the app is to the query (Play Console Help).

    That gives you two buckets to work on:

    Bucket What it covers Where you control it
    Relevance Title, subtitle, keywords, category, description, localized text Your store listing
    Behavior and quality Conversion from page view to install, ratings, reviews, app experience Your product page, your app, your review handling

    Most teams over-invest in one bucket. A perfectly keyworded page with a 3.2 rating converts poorly, and a beloved app with a vague title never gets found. For the full picture on the Apple side, see our iOS optimization guide; for Android, the Google Play ASO tips cover the differences.

    Get the keywords and metadata right

    Metadata is the fastest lever because you control it completely and changes ship with your next version or, for many fields, through App Store Connect.

    Respect the keyword field rules

    Apple’s keyword field is limited to 100 characters, with terms separated by commas and no spaces. Apple also advises against plurals when the singular is already present, category names, duplicate words and trademarked terms (Apple Developer). Each of those wastes characters you could spend on a phrase people actually search.

    A practical way to use the 100 characters:

    1. List 30 to 50 candidate terms from your own search data, competitor listings and user reviews.
    2. Remove anything already in your title or subtitle, since repeating it adds nothing.
    3. Drop category names and brand names you do not own.
    4. Prefer terms where you can plausibly reach the top results over the highest-volume terms where you cannot.
    5. Fill the field, count the characters, and record what you chose so you can compare later.

    If you want a deeper look at what this field does and does not do, we wrote about five myths around the keyword field, and our keyword research process walks through choosing terms. Before you commit to a term, our free keyword difficulty checker shows how crowded it is on the App Store and Google Play.

    Write for relevance, not stuffing

    Apple advises highlighting your app’s unique features in the description and avoiding unnecessary keywords in an attempt to improve search results (Apple Developer). The App Review Guidelines go further: packing metadata with trademarked terms, popular app names, pricing or irrelevant phrases to game the system is something Apple warns against (App Review Guidelines).

    In practice, that means:

    • Title: your brand plus the one phrase that best describes what the app does.
    • Subtitle: a second relevant phrase that reads naturally, not a list of words.
    • Description: written for humans first. Our guide to structure, limits and examples shows how to lay it out.
    • Category: the one where your app genuinely belongs.

    If you want to check every field against a single list, the 24-check ASO checklist and the full listing checklist are built for exactly that.

    Localize to rank in more places

    Every language you add is another set of searches your app can appear in. Apple recommends localizing your App Store product pages into multiple languages and notes this may make people more likely to download your app (Apple Developer).

    Localization done well is not translation. A keyword that works in English may be unused in German or Japanese, where people search with different words. Research each market’s terms separately, then write the title, subtitle, keywords and screenshots captions for them. Our multi-market localization guide explains how to prioritize markets so you do not spread effort thin.

    A sensible order for most apps:

    1. Start with markets where you already get organic installs.
    2. Add markets that share a language with them, since the work is cheaper.
    3. Add markets where competitors are thin for your core keywords.
    4. Review keyword positions per market after four to six weeks before expanding further.

    Raise your ratings the right way

    Ratings and reviews feed ranking directly on the App Store, and they also decide whether a visitor taps install. Here is how to earn better ones without risking your listing.

    Ask at the right moment

    Apple provides the SKStoreReviewController API to prompt users for a rating at appropriate moments of satisfaction, without interrupting what they are doing, and it limits prompts to three times in a 365-day period (Apple Developer). Because the number of prompts is capped, each one should count.

    Good moments to trigger the prompt:

    • After a user completes a task they came for, such as finishing a workout, exporting a file or reaching a level.
    • After a streak or milestone, when the app has clearly delivered value.
    • After a successful support interaction that you have already resolved.

    Bad moments: on first launch, in the middle of a task, right after an error or just after a paywall.

    Answer reviews, briefly and professionally

    Apple lets developers respond to App Store reviews, and reviewers can update their review after receiving a response (Apple Developer). A fix plus a short, polite reply can turn a one-star review into a better one.

    Keep replies tight:

    • Thank the user and name the specific issue.
    • Say what changed, or when it will.
    • For download errors or billing problems, point users to Apple Support instead of trying to solve them in a review reply, as Apple advises (Apple Developer).

    On Google Play, keep responses focused on the issues raised, and do not ask for a higher rating or offer rewards (Play Console Help).

    Do not buy or bribe ratings

    Google Play prohibits incentivizing ratings or reviews, using forced pop-ups and paying for fake feedback. Ratings have to be earned through a high-quality user experience (Play Console Help). Apple says manipulating ratings or App Store discovery can lead to removal from the store (App Review Guidelines). Shortcuts here put the whole listing at risk.

    If your app rating dropped

    A falling rating is a symptom. Find the cause before you react.

    1. Check the timing. Match the drop to a release, an SDK update, a pricing change or a new market launch.
    2. Break it down by version. Google Play Console lets you analyze ratings by app version and other factors, and its review analysis surfaces recurring themes (Play Console Help).
    3. Compare with your category. Play Console benchmark reports show how topics like speed, stability and usability affect your rating compared with similar apps (Play Console Help).
    4. Read the one- and two-star reviews from the last 30 days. Tag each by topic: crashes, login, pricing, missing feature, ads.
    5. Fix the biggest cluster first, then reply to those reviewers to tell them.
    6. Wait before judging. Google Play may hold new ratings and reviews for about 24 hours to check for suspicious activity before they appear or are removed (Play Console Help), so a snapshot taken the day after a release can mislead.

    On iOS, you can reset the summary rating in App Store Connect when you release a new version. Apple says to use this sparingly, because a rating count that becomes too low may discourage users (Apple Developer). Reset only when a major rebuild has made the old score unrepresentative.

    If the drop is in rankings rather than ratings, our walkthrough on how to read an App Store ranking drop separates algorithm noise from real problems.

    Turn more page views into installs

    Because Apple counts download conversion as a behavior signal, a page that converts better can help you rank better. That makes the product page a ranking tool, not just a sales page.

    Work through it in this order:

    1. First two screenshots and icon. They are what most people see in search results. Show the main benefit, not a login screen.
    2. Captions. Use the words people searched for, in the language of that market.
    3. Tests. Try one change at a time. Product page optimization lets you run tests on Apple’s side, and our overview of A/B testing covers how to read results without fooling yourself.
    4. Paid traffic. If you buy installs, send each campaign to a page that matches the ad. Custom product pages are made for that, and our free custom product page URL generator builds the links.

    For the wider approach, see our page on app store conversion rate optimization.

    Measure what each change did

    Ranking work fails most often because nobody can say which change helped. Set up a simple routine:

    • Before you change anything, record keyword positions, impressions, product page views, conversion rate, rating and review count.
    • Change one group of things at a time: keywords, or screenshots, or the rating prompt.
    • Track daily. Positions move for many reasons, and daily data shows the shape of a move. Rank tracking explains what to watch, and our rank-tracking articles go deeper.
    • Give it time. Compare against the same weekdays to avoid weekend effects, and give a metadata change a few weeks before you call it.
    • Write it down. A short log of date, change and result is worth more than any dashboard a year later.

    You can find more on picking and testing terms in our keywords articles.

    Our perspective: ranking is a routine, not a project

    We built appXL because we kept seeing the same pattern. A team spends a week on a keyword refresh, watches positions climb, and then the work stops. Competitors keep moving, new markets stay untouched, reviews pile up unanswered, and six months later the listing is stale.

    Our perspective: ranking is a routine, not a project

    Most ASO tools hand you data and leave the work to you. We think the data was never the hard part. The hard part is doing the next step every week: rewriting metadata, localizing it, checking rankings, responding to reviews, pushing the update. That is why appXL is designed to act as an automated partner that analyzes competitors and market trends, rewrites your metadata, localizes into more than 35 languages, and ships updates directly through App Store Connect.

    Our view is simple: the apps that rank well over time are not the ones with one brilliant listing. They are the ones where someone, or something, keeps improving it every day. If your team is small, or your markets are many, we believe automating that routine is the most reliable route to better rankings and more downloads.

    — Samuel

    Let appXL handle the routine

    If you would rather not rewrite keywords, localize listings and push updates by hand, appXL does that work for you. It monitors your rankings daily, manages reviews, optimizes custom product pages and sends changes straight to App Store Connect. Plans are Starter, Growth and Scale, and you can compare them on the pricing page. To see how the whole approach fits together, start with the appXL ASO agent.

    Appxl

    Want to see where you stand first? Our complete ASO guide is a good place to begin.

    What to avoid

    A few habits quietly hurt rankings or put your listing at risk:

    • Keyword stuffing. Apple advises against unnecessary keywords and irrelevant phrases.
    • Trademarked terms and rival app names in your metadata. Apple lists them as things not to use.
    • Rating gates and incentives. Google Play prohibits incentivized ratings and forced pop-ups.
    • Asking too early. A rating prompt on first launch gets you reviews about onboarding, not value.
    • Ignoring non-English markets where your category is under-served.
    • Changing everything at once, which leaves you unable to learn anything.

    FAQ

    How long does it take to improve app ranking?

    Metadata changes can show movement in keyword positions within days to a few weeks, depending on competition and how often the store refreshes. Ratings improve more slowly because they depend on new reviews arriving. Track daily and compare after a few weeks rather than after one day.

    Why did my app rating drop after an update?

    The usual cause is a bug, a changed feature or a pricing change that irritated a group of users. Break reviews down by app version and topic, as Google Play Console allows, and fix the largest cluster first. Then reply to those reviewers so they can update their review.

    How do I increase app store ratings without breaking the rules?

    Use the platform’s own prompt, such as Apple’s SKStoreReviewController, at moments when users have just succeeded at something. Respond to reviews briefly and fix reported problems. Never offer rewards for ratings, and never gate the prompt so only happy users see it in a way the store forbids.

    Do keywords or ratings matter more for ranking?

    They do different jobs. Keywords and metadata decide whether you appear for a search, while conversion, ratings and reviews influence how you rank once you appear and whether people install. Weakness in either one caps your results, so work on both.

    Does localization really help ranking?

    Apple recommends localizing product pages and says it may make people more likely to download. It also lets you target keywords in each market’s own language, which opens up searches your English listing never touches. Start with the markets where you already have organic installs.

    Sources

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