# ASO checklist

URL: https://storelift.net/guide/aso-checklist/
Language: en
Updated: 2026-08-31

Most ASO checklists are a list of fields to fill in. This one adds the two steps people skip: measuring before you change anything, and measuring after — without those two, you can't tell if the change did anything at all.

## Before you touch metadata

Write down your current rank for the keywords you care about, in every country you sell in, before you change a single field. Without a baseline, a rank change after the fact could be your metadata, a competitor's update, or nothing but daily noise — you have no way to tell them apart.

- Record today's rank for your top 10-15 keywords, per storefront.
- Note who ranks above you on each keyword — rating count and score, not just the name.
- Screenshot your current listing (icon, screenshots, description) so you know what you're changing from.

## Metadata, field by field

| Field | App Store (iOS) | Google Play |
| --- | --- | --- |
| App name | 30 chars, indexed | 30 chars, indexed |
| Subtitle / short description | 30 chars, indexed | 80 chars, indexed |
| Keyword field | 100 chars, invisible, indexed | Not applicable |
| Long description | Not indexed | 4,000 chars, indexed |

NOTE: Don't repeat a word that's already in your name or subtitle — Apple combines terms across fields when matching, so a repeat wastes characters you can't spare in a 100-character field. Details on the keyword field's own page.

- Pick terms people actually search — check autocomplete/suggest for each candidate before committing a field to it.
- Protect the app name for brand; spend the subtitle and short description on search terms, not the name.
- Write the long description for humans, not the index — Apple doesn't read it for search, and stuffing keywords into a field nobody reads only hurts conversion.

## Icon and screenshots

Metadata gets you into search results; the icon and first screenshot decide whether someone taps through. There's no honest "searches per month" or "conversion lift" number to promise here without running your own A/B test — this checklist only covers what's checkable without one:

- First screenshot communicates the app's core value with no text required to understand it.
- Icon is legible at the smallest size it actually renders at (a store search row, not a full-screen mockup).
- Localized screenshots exist for every storefront with meaningfully different language, not just a translated caption on the same image.

## Ratings and reviews

Rating count and score are part of what the store — and the person searching — weighs alongside rank. They're also slow to move, so they belong in the checklist as an ongoing practice, not a one-time task.

- Prompt for a rating after a moment of clear value, not on first launch.
- Reply to negative reviews when the store allows it — a visible, specific reply changes how the review reads to the next person, even if the score doesn't move.
- Track how many ratings the apps above you on your target keywords have — that's the wall you're actually climbing.

## After you ship

Metadata changes typically start showing in rank within a few days. Re-run the same keyword list, in the same countries, on a fixed schedule — and compare against the baseline you recorded before the change, not against a guess of what "should" have happened.

NOTE: If a keyword didn't move, that's a real result too — it tells you the field change wasn't the lever, and saves you from repeating it elsewhere. A checklist that only measures success has a survivorship problem.

## FAQ

Q: How often should I redo this checklist?
A: There's no fixed cadence that's right for every app. A practical trigger is: after any metadata change (to measure the effect), and on a fixed review cycle (monthly is common) to catch rank drift that wasn't caused by you.

Q: Does following this checklist guarantee a rank improvement?
A: No. It removes the common ways ASO work gets undermined — no baseline, wasted keyword-field characters, no localization, no after-check — but rank also depends on competitors' own changes and store algorithm shifts outside your control.

Q: Do I need different checklists for App Store and Google Play?
A: The steps are the same; the fields differ. iOS has a separate invisible keyword field Android doesn't have; Android indexes the long description, iOS doesn't. The table above is the field-level difference to keep straight.