app-store-optimization
Improves visibility and conversion in the App Store and Google Play — metadata, keywords, screenshots, ratings, and the listing experience that turns an impression into an install. Use this to audit or optimize an app listing, plan a launch listing, diagnose poor install conversion, or improve store search visibility.
git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/cbrock84/headcount /tmp/app-store-optimization && cp -r /tmp/app-store-optimization/plugins/demand-generation/skills/app-store-optimization ~/.claude/skills/app-store-optimizationSKILL.md
# App store optimization Two levers, and they are separate problems: being **found**, and being **installed** once found. Diagnose which is failing before changing anything. ## Being found The stores index different fields, so the same metadata does not work on both. - **App name / title** — the single heaviest field. Brand plus the primary descriptive term. Do not spend it on brand alone. - **Subtitle and keyword field** — no repetition across fields; duplicated terms are wasted characters, not reinforcement. - **Long description** — indexed on one store, effectively not on the other. Write it for the store that indexes it and for humans on the store that does not. - **Category** — pick where you can rank, not where you technically belong. Target terms with real intent. Ranking first for a term nobody searches is a vanity result. ## Being installed Most visitors decide from the first screenshot and the rating, without scrolling or reading. - **Screenshots** — the first two carry the decision. Lead with the outcome or the core screen, with a caption stating the benefit. Never lead with an onboarding or login screen. - **Icon** — recognizable at actual size, distinct from category conventions. Test at real scale on a device. - **Rating** — the strongest single conversion factor. Prompt for review after a success moment, never on launch or mid-task. - **Video** — only if it demonstrates something a screenshot cannot. A weak one costs installs. ## Reviews Respond to negative reviews specifically and without defensiveness, naming the fix and its version where there is one. Prospects read the responses as much as the complaints, and a pattern of real answers converts. Watch review text for recurring themes — it is the cheapest continuous product research available. ## Testing Change one element at a time and let it run a full weekly cycle; app traffic is strongly day-of-week seasonal. Attributing a lift to the wrong change is worse than not testing. ## Never - Chase a keyword the app does not deliver on. Installs from a mismatched query become one-star reviews and a worse ranking than you started with. - Change metadata, screenshots, and the icon in the same release. Nothing that moves afterward can be attributed. - Solicit ratings from a user mid-task. The prompt lands where frustration is highest and the score reflects that. - Ignore reviews on the version you just shipped. They are the fastest signal you will get that a release broke something.
Corporate Strategy (CSO). Owns plugins/corporate-strategy/** and nothing else. Delegate work in this department's remit here.
Customer Experience (CCO). Owns plugins/customer-experience/** and nothing else. Delegate work in this department's remit here.
Data & Analytics (CDO). Owns plugins/data-analytics/** and nothing else. Delegate work in this department's remit here.
Demand Generation (CMO). Owns plugins/demand-generation/** and nothing else. Delegate work in this department's remit here.
Office of the CEO. Owns plugins/executive/** and nothing else. Delegate work in this department's remit here.
Finance (CFO). Owns plugins/finance/** and nothing else. Delegate work in this department's remit here.
Corporate IT. Owns plugins/it-operations/** and nothing else. Delegate service desk, systems and network administration, virtualization and cloud, telephony and conferencing, endpoints, assets, identity lifecycle, and backup work here.
Reviewer-class. Read-only review of what other departments commit to — contract terms, privacy and data handling, risk acceptance, and compliance findings. Holds no write surface. Its findings are not overrulable by the department under review.