Key Points
- Knowing how to optimize your app for search engine visibility is essential for boosting downloads on the Apple App Store and Google Play Store.
- Growing organic traffic can be challenging, but using ASO tools can give you a competitive advantage.
- Popular and best ASO tools include AppFollow, MobileAction, App Radar, Sensor Tower, AppTweak, and ASOTools.
- ASO often requires the expertise of an agency with years of understanding of how ASO and SaaS SEO work to promote your app. We recommend getting an agency to promote your app on app stores. NUOPTIMA is a leading growth marketing agency that can help you do just that.
In the crowded app marketplace, making your app stand out in Google Play and Apple App Store is a never-ending battle among app developers and marketers. However, by leveraging app store optimization (ASO) tools, you can gain a competitive edge and ensure your app is quickly discovered.
So, if you’re hungry for visibility and greater success in app stores, look no further! In this article, we explain ASO, its importance, and the type of tools available before sharing our list of the 10 best ASO tools and their features. These ASO optimization tools will boost your app ranking, drive engagement, and ultimately increase download rates. Let’s get started!
What Is ASO?
Competition is one factor that is pervasive across all industries. The tech sector is no exception, with new and exciting applications added daily to the app store. While users enjoy the luxury of choice, product owners struggle to stay relevant.
A major strategy to stay ahead of the competition within app stores is optimizing for visibility. ASO involves researching, analyzing, and gathering data on the best methods for increasing app visibility, ranking, and downloads. Accurate analysis of the best optimization strategy can be achieved with the help of the best ASO tools.
Making the Best Use of ASO Strategies
Just like there are search engine optimization (SEO) strategies to ensure that content ends up on the first page of search engines, laying down the perfect optimization strategy also often involves three key processes:
- Competitive Market Analysis: To implement an effective ASO strategy, you need to understand the competitive market. Extensive research on existing trends, competitors’ strategies, and app strengths and weaknesses is necessary. By doing so, an app’s features can meet user needs and surpass the competition.
- Keywords Search Optimization: To achieve successful ASO, optimizing keywords for better app store visibility is essential. Also, it is important to conduct user keyword research, integrate the right keywords, and run A/B tests. While results take time, proper optimization with the best ASO tools can lead to consistent organic growth.
- Optimizing for Conversion: ASO aims to increase app downloads, not just visibility. A report by Statista revealed that 59% of iOS users downloaded apps after finding them through their respective app store[1]. When users look for new apps to download, they often go to the app store search tool on their devices to find what they need. This highlights the importance of app developers making sure their apps are easily discoverable through search within these stores by putting in place a conversion plan that considers factors such as app design, logo, descriptions, videos, and reviews. These elements can influence users to click the download button, making them crucial to a successful ASO strategy.
Creating a foolproof ASO strategy requires a lot of deliberate planning and effort. Considering all the crucial elements necessary for ASO can sometimes be overwhelming — this is where the best ASO tools come in. Much like SaaS tools, they can consolidate all the requisite strategies and data to promote your app’s visibility.
Importance of ASO Tools
The app market is vast, and it’s only getting bigger. People are spending a lot of money on apps, which means app developers have a massive opportunity to succeed. A recent study by Statista shows that in 2024, consumer spending on mobile apps is approximately $522.70 billion and is projected to surpass $673.80 billion by 2027[2].
Thus, with so much competition, ensuring your app is easy to find and download is crucial. Leveraging the best ASO tools for your app is highly recommended because they give you much-needed visibility amid overwhelming apps introduced daily. They also streamline the optimization process, saving time and effort.
Let’s break down some of the key reasons to use ASO tools:
| Reasons | Description |
| Competitor Tracking | ASO tools help you understand what your rivals are doing and find ways to make your app stand out. |
| Keyword Research and Optimization | Discover the terms people mostly search for and use them to boost your app’s ranking. |
| Better App Visibility | The best ASO tools spotlight your app and help it get noticed in the crowded app stores. They ensure people searching for apps like yours find it. The better your visibility, the more people get to see what your app has to offer. |
| A/B Testing Capabilities | Experiment with different app listing elements, such as titles, images, subtitles, and screenshots, to see what gets the most downloads. |
| Analytics & Reporting | Get in-depth data on your app’s overall performance, as well as page, category, and keyword rankings. This helps you track your progress and refine your strategy. |
| Unlock Extra Features for Ratings and Reviews With ASO Tools | With the best ASO tools, you get alerts when someone leaves a review. This enables you to respond quickly, showing users you care. You can also analyze those reviews and app feedback to understand users’ likes and dislikes and use these insights to fix issues and add features your audience wants. |
| More Downloads | When people find your app, you naturally get more downloads. ASO tools help turn those searches into clicks and installs. |
| Reduced User Acquisition Costs | ASO focuses on increasing organic downloads, where people download your app through organic searches rather than paid ads. This means you can spend less on advertising. |
| App Revenue Growth | ASO is a long-term investment. It helps your app grow steadily and sustainably. |
Types of ASO Tools
Choosing the best ASO tool for your app marketing strategy can be tough, given the many options available. Let’s break down the different types into categories and highlight some of the most popular options to simplify your search.
- All-In-One ASO Intelligence Suites: These tools offer keyword optimization, competitor tracking, review analysis…you name it! They’re great if you need a single platform to handle all your ASO needs.
- User Review Analysis ASO Tools: User reviews are a goldmine of insights. These tools help you analyze reviews to pinpoint what users like or dislike about your app, allowing you to make improvements that address any pain points and boost your appeal.
- Keyword-Focused ASO Tools: As the name suggests, these tools zero in on keywords. They help you find the best words for your app and track your rankings for those keywords.
- Search Ads Optimization ASO Tools: When running ad campaigns on Apple Search Ads, it’s beneficial to understand your competitors’ strategies. Tools in this category provide these valuable insights and the intel to make smarter decisions with your ad campaigns for maximum success.
- A/B Testing ASO Tools: Can’t decide between two icons or descriptions? Or do you want to know which gets the most clicks? A/B testing tools let you try out different versions of your landing page to see which one gets the most downloads.
10 Best ASO Tools
Google Play boasts over 3.5 million apps, and the Apple App Store hosts around 1.6 million[3]. With such an abundance, you need the best ASO tools to stand out.
Did You Know? Combining ASO tools can be an excellent strategy to cover all aspects of your app optimization journey.
Let’s dive deep into the 10 best ASO tools that can support the growth of your business. We’ve broken them down into two categories based on general and specific user needs, namely:
- Three best free ASO tools,
- Seven premium ASO tools.
3 Best Free ASO Tools
If you are a startup or an individual app developer with a limited budget, start with some of the best free ASO tools available. These tools offer basic features and functionalities that optimize your app for app stores, such as keyword research, app store analytics, and competitor analysis, without the hefty price tag of monthly or annual subscriptions.
However, without subscribing to the paid version, they may have limitations, such as limited data sources, apps, or keywords.
1. AppFollow
AppFollow provides an all-inclusive solution for monitoring app engagement and growth. Its easy-to-use interface and in-depth analytics make it one of the best ASO tools available. AppFollow supports both iOS and Android apps and covers over 100 countries. You can use this tool for free for up to two apps, 100 AI replies in a month, and track 1,000 keywords. Here are some frequently talked about features:
- App Performance Monitoring: AppFollow helps you improve your app and stand out by collecting and keeping track of user feedback and insights from competitors through sentiment, competitor, and phrase analysis. This allows app publishers to understand how users truly feel about their app by reading reviews from all over the business. Armed with this vital information from these reviews, users can break down how their competitors are doing to determine how to outperform them, improve their business performance, and get ahead of the competition.
- Country-Specific Industry Trends: The tool’s data system can analyze industry-specific trends and patterns in different countries. This helps app publishers gain insights into vertical market developments and gain a competitive edge. The information enables publishers to understand how their business landscape is evolving.
- Keywords and ASO: This feature covers everything about spying, tracking, and ranking for your target keyword(s). AppFollow, one of the sought-after ASO tools, offers a Keyword Tracking tool that helps you understand how your keywords perform and how popular they are. Plus, tools that help you find the best words or phrases your users use — Keyword Live Ranking. And then, there’s the Keyword Spy tool that lets you see what keywords your competitors’ apps use in the app stores.
- AI-Enabled Review Management: AppFollow now offers AI-powered review management that allows for automatic responses to 100% of your user reviews in any language. This feature helps maximize productivity and maintain your company’s tone of voice in responses.
2. MobileAction
MobileAction, one of the best ASO tools in the market, focuses on customer insight analysis and keyword research. Its App Intelligence platform monitors over 25 billion app downloads and has generated over $15 billion in app revenue[4]. With a network of over 95,000 interconnected mobile apps, the platform can provide accurate predictions on app downloads and revenue estimates. It offers insightful reports to help make strategic decisions and investments. Key features include:
- Google Play and Apple App Store Metadata Management: MobileAction allows users to make changes directly to both app stores’ metadata and get an outline and comparative detailed breakdown of each app update. This helps you keep your app’s details up-to-date and relevant.
- Keyword Performance Tracking: The platform enables users to position their apps in different countries and regions to stand out amongst competitors and create opportunities. With this feature, MobileAction helps improve your app’s visibility in app store searches and ultimately drives organic clicks or installs.
The free version allows users to analyze up to 100 keywords, 10 competitors, and is usable by one team member.
3. App Radar
App Radar offers an all-in-one app store optimization tool and is widely considered one of the best ASO tools on the market. The tool includes keyword optimization, competition analytics, and user tracking. With its data-driven approach, App Radar has helped generate over 100 million downloads for its customers, such as Wargaming, iTranslate, and Kolibri Games[5]. The free version allows you to analyze up to 20 keywords, two competitors, and is accessible to one team member. Here are some useful features:
- AI-Powered Recommendations: App Radar uses AI to provide personalized and data-driven analytics. The AI can perform in-depth and automated research in marketing and user insights, helping you achieve your app optimization goals more accurately.
- App Store Performance Tracking: This tool shows app store insights to help you reach your goals. You can watch app install and conversion rate changes and improve your app performance over time.
- Ad Performance Tracking: This tool helps make your ads more successful. It shows ASO, Google App campaigns, and Apple Search Ads data in one place. You can see your organic and app store ad performance numbers on one dashboard and easily understand their relationship.
Best Tools for ASO: 7 Premium Options
The following ASO optimization tools are premium options that unlock advanced capabilities that can give your app an edge in the competitive app store landscape.
However, remember that the best tools for ASO (premium) depend on your specific needs, budget, and app category. Consider each tool’s advanced features and if they can help you achieve your desired ASO goals. Fortunately, free trials are available for many premium tools, so you can test them before committing or signing up.
Here’s a look at the top seven premium ASO optimization tools and their unique strengths.
4. Sensor Tower
Sensor Tower is reputed as a top-notch ASO tool for boosting app visibility and downloads. In March 2024, Sensor Tower acquired data.ai, a highly regarded ASO tool and market intelligence platform. This acquisition has significantly positioned the platform as the go-to place for insights into the global digital economy.
With a team of algorithms and data scientists, Sensor Tower offers noteworthy features such as:
- Pathmatic Dashboard: This feature gives you a clear view of digital advertising in many countries, including Italy, the US, Australia, Canada, Germany, Mexico, Spain, the UK, and New Zealand. With the Pathmatics Dashboard, you can see ads, get estimates of spending and impressions, and understand how brands advertise on platforms like Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, video, and mobile.
- Easy-To-Use Interface With an Efficient Customer Support System: This tool offers a user-friendly interface and intuitive design, making it easy for non-technical users. The standby support team helps optimize app performance and resolve technical issues, ensuring uninterrupted use of the tool.
- Store Intelligence: Sensor Tower uses up-to-date Apple App Store and Google Play data to spot app download changes. This helps understand what’s driving the mobile app market. It breaks down performance details by factors like country and device type.
- Game Intelligence: Game Intelligence is an exciting new feature on the platform powered by Store Intelligence. It brings together some of the best features from the Mobile Success Suite and uses a unique system to show the most important features of the top mobile games in the world.
5. AppTweak
Trusted by over 2,000 mobile interaction giants, AppTweak is a data-science-backed tool that can drive growth for popular games and apps through actionable insights designed within a user-friendly interface. AppTweak can gather data and provide real-time app store analytics. Some of its key features include:
- Competition Monitoring: AppTweak analyzes an app’s performance indicators and compares them to its top competitors. This helps businesses understand their position relative to their competition and provide insightful decisions to improve performance.
- Atlas AI for Apple App Store and Google Play: This unique intelligence, trained entirely on app store data, provides smart insights and KPIs, AI-generated keyword lists and suggestions, and more accurate app classifications. This helps your app or game get noticed on the app store and boosts installs.
- Ad Intelligence: AppTweak’s Ad Intelligence feature analyzes competitors’ marketing strategies and optimizes your budget allocation for advertising.
- ASO Consulting Services: Using a data-focused method, AppTweak’s growth experts can liaise with your team and provide key insights to help your app and games grow. This service is available in over 18 languages, with multilingual and international expertise.
- Explore Growth Opportunities With the Market Intelligence Feature: AppTweak now has an App Market Intelligence feature that collects data based on market preference. This feature provides information on performance metrics, trends, competition, and seasonality.
6. ASOTools
As the name implies, ASOTools is a fully-fledged ASO platform that allows you to conduct comprehensive keyword research and analyze your competitor’s performance strategy. This ASO optimization tool lets you know the relevant keywords your competitors are targeting.
ASOTools works for Android and iOS and has free tools that help businesses streamline their ASO efforts. Here are some key features:
- App Analytics Tools: The tool provides accurate data insights on downloads, review trends, and revenue estimates for your app and mobile games in over 45 countries.
- App Keyword Tools: You can use its keyword tools to climb to the top of the search results in the Apple App Store and Google Play Store.
7. RankMyApp
RankMyApp is a global leader in ASO and performance media for apps. Founded in 2015, it has served over 600 clients across 17 countries. Currently, 45% of the top 500 apps in Brazil choose RankMyApp to enhance their growth.
Below are some key features that rank this tool as a top choice by companies like adidas, Zoom, and McDonald’s:
- Mobile Intelligence: RankMyApp offers a 360º view for your app strategy. This includes complete analyses, insights, and technical recommendations.
- Customized Solutions: With a data-driven approach, RankMyApp tracks and delivers results with a focus on the goals and indicators of each app. This allows your app to have a personalized strategy that suits your specific needs.
- Mobile App Growth Specialists: RankMyApp’s team of mobile growth and app marketing experts monitor indicators and develop strategies focused on delivering results. This tool ensures app publishers and marketers are always on track to achieve their goals with the expert guidance and support they need.
- User Engagement Estimation: If you want to understand your users better and have more engaged customers using your app, RankMyApp’s User Engagement Estimation can be a great tool. This tool offers you insights into how users interact with your app. It tracks a wide range of user engagement metrics, including daily active users (DAU), monthly active users (MAU), and stickiness — a metric that shows how often users come back to your app.
8. Gummicube
Gummicube is a leading proprietary ASO optimization tool that provides real-time data analytics. Trusted by thousands of leading companies, Gummicube has worked with large brands, including LinkedIn, Microsoft, McAfee, and Grubhub.
Here are some of their offerings:
- ASO Technology: Gummicube offers best-in-class ASO technology. Their proprietary tools, DATACUBE and Splitcube, can help improve your app growth and discoverability.
- Conversion Optimization: Gummicube’s award-winning ASO tool, DATACUBE, allows you to conduct smart A/B testing for different experiments to improve your app conversion, driving more organic downloads and better rankings.
- App Store Intelligence: With DATACUBE software, you can understand market trends and deploy laser-focused marketing strategies to quickly reach the audience searching for your products and services.
- Search Optimization: Most people find new apps by searching in the store, so showing up in those searches is key. DATACUBE makes it easy to track your keyword ranking and get insights into optimizing your metadata. This means more people get to see your app and download it.
9. Appfigures
Appfigures is a reliable platform that 200,000 companies across the globe trust to optimize their app performance and drive organic downloads. Among its happy clientele are big brands like Barclays, Trello, and Buffer, to name a few. With a comprehensive suite of tools, Appfigures empowers developers, marketers, and investors to make informed decisions and achieve growth.
Here are some of the unique features this tool offers:
- AI-Powered Keyword Research: Appfigures offers robust ASO tools for keyword research and analysis. It employs AI to find relevant keywords to boost your ASO efforts. This feature simplifies the process of discovering new keywords with intelligent suggestions, all based on data gathered from the Apple App Store and Google Play every hour.
- Competitor Analysis: Appfigures enables you to compare your app against any competitor. You can quickly see how your competitors perform in search results compared to your app and discover the keywords they use in various countries and devices worldwide.
- Keyword Rank Monitoring: With Appfigures, you can monitor keyword rank trends for your app and competitors across both app stores globally with hourly rank updates. You can stay informed with alerts about keyword rank changes sent directly to Slack or your inbox.
- Review Management: Appfigures provides tools to convert reviews into valuable feedback with automatic review collection, translation, and detailed filters. You can respond to reviews to enhance customer satisfaction and improve your overall ASO.
10. Asodesk
With its comprehensive features, Asodesk helps app developers and marketers boost app visibility and drive more downloads while retaining users effectively. It is used by over 300 app and game developers. The platform gives a 14-day free trial that lets users test its features before committing to a subscription. These include competitor research, app metric monitoring, and researching and collecting keywords.
Other standout offerings of the tool include:
- Streamline Review Management: Reply to reviews instantly, reducing your support team’s workload and boosting user engagement with automated review management tools.
- Top Charts and Store Analytics: Get comprehensive insights into Google Play and Apple App Store analytics to discover trending apps, searches, and popular keywords across any country.
Discover NUOPTIMA: Get Even More Downloads for Your App
Integrating SEO with the best ASO tools offers a brilliant boost for your app marketing. A report by Statista suggests that just like SEO helps websites rank higher and become more visible online, a strong ASO strategy can improve the ranking and visibility of apps in Google Play, Apple App Store, and other app marketplaces[6].
That is why, at NUOPTIMA, we understand the importance of building a robust online presence in today’s digital world. We are a full B2B SaaS marketing agency that offers a full suite of services, including SEO keyword research services, B2B content marketing, SaaS link building, on-page SEO services, and SaaS PPC to help your business grow. Our commitment to excellence and delivering successful campaigns make us the right choice for businesses looking to improve their online presence.
For example, we helped sleep app Pzizz skyrocket its traffic by 228%, resulting in 40x app installs and an improved ROI. Here’s how we achieved such a remarkable result:
- Optimized for relevant keywords, not just generic sleep topics.
- Created engaging and high-quality content targeting Pzizz’s ideal audience — people with sleep issues.
- Implemented technical SEO to improve Pzizz’s website user experience for better engagement.
We know every client has unique needs, so we work closely with them to create a tailored strategy. Our focus on productivity ensures our clients receive the best possible results on time. Also, our team of experts continuously stays up-to-date with the latest SEO trends, ensuring that our clients receive the most effective solution.
With NUOPTIMA, you can expect to see clear improvements in app store rankings. Our clients trust us to deliver, and we take that responsibility seriously. Whether you are a small startup or a large corporation, we have the expertise to help you achieve your goals. Book a free 30-minute discovery call today to learn how we can help you grow your business.
Maximizing Your App’s Potential With ASO Optimization Tools
Choosing the right and best ASO tools is akin to selecting the right gear for a mountain expedition and is crucial for achieving long-term success in app stores. The 10 best ASO tools we have shared provide valuable insights and capabilities that can help maximize your app’s visibility, drive more downloads, and ultimately increase revenue.
However, it can also be highly beneficial to engage the services of a growth marketing agency, like NUOPTIMA, to navigate your way better and get the results you need.
- Target Relevant Keywords: Research and integrate high-volume, relevant keywords into your app title, description, and metadata.
- Optimize App Store Listing: Craft compelling titles, descriptions, and screenshots that showcase your app’s value.
- Encourage Positive Reviews: Respond to reviews and address user concerns to build trust and credibility.
- Monitor and Iterate: Regularly track your ASO KPIs and use ASO tools to analyze performance and refine your strategy.
FAQ
In ASO, key performance indicators (KPIs) track your app’s success in the app store. Common ASO KPIs include install rate, conversion rate (views to installs), and keyword ranking.
Yes, ASO is similar to SEO. Both aim to improve organic visibility in search results. However, ASO focuses on app store algorithms, considering factors like app title, description, and ratings alongside keywords.
ASO tools offer a suite of features to optimize your app store presence. They typically help with keyword research, competitor analysis, app listing optimization, and performance tracking.
Here are some key ways to improve your ASO ranking:
- Target Relevant Keywords: Research and integrate high-volume, relevant keywords into your app title, description, and metadata.
- Optimize App Store Listing: Craft compelling titles, descriptions, and screenshots that showcase your app’s value.
- Encourage Positive Reviews: Respond to reviews and address user concerns to build trust and credibility.
- Monitor and Iterate: Regularly track your ASO KPIs and use ASO tools to analyze performance and refine your strategy.
Resources
[1]https://www.statista.com/statistics/1227712/global-distribution-app-download-source-apple-app-store/
[2]https://www.statista.com/outlook/amo/app/worldwide
[3]https://www.statista.com/statistics/276623/number-of-apps-available-in-leading-app-stores/
[4]https://alternativeto.net/software/mobile-action/
[5]https://www.g2.com/products/app-radar/reviews
[6]https://www.statista.com/topics/11352/aso-app-store-optimization/#topicOverview
