If you, as a developer, have already uploaded a game or app to the App Store or Google Play, you might be wondering if there are other ways to boost downloads besides paid promotion. Have you considered using App Store Optimization (ASO) or coordinating with other marketing activities to make your game or app stand out in the highly competitive yet lucrative market?
For example, in 2021, hyper-casual games accounted for more than 50% of downloads on both the App Store and Google Play. With billions of installations and revenue in dollars each year, they have become one of the most competitive categories in mobile gaming. Among them, App Store Optimization (ASO) has become one of the key parts of success because it helps increase game visibility and drive more downloads.
What Are Hyper-Casual Games?
Hyper-casual games are typically simple to play and feature minimalistic user interfaces. The gameplay is usually very intuitive, requiring no tutorial to get started. This genre gained popularity in the early 2010s with the release of easy-to-play, low-effort mobile games like Flappy Bird and Candy Crush Saga. Today, there are thousands of hyper-casual games available in app stores, covering various subcategories such as match-three, simulation, racing, and more.
Understanding what hyper-casual games are and knowing that you can increase organic traffic through App Store Optimization, let’s now discuss seven simple and actionable tips.
Seven Simple and Actionable ASO Tips
1. Choose the Right App Store Category for Your Mobile Game
Selecting the correct app store category for your mobile game is essential. When uploading a game, you need to choose a category for it. But what is this category for? Simply put, game categories are elements used by Apple and Google algorithms to better classify and understand your game, aiding in user discovery.
- App Store: The primary category name (while a secondary category must also be selected) will be automatically indexed by the algorithm.
- Google Play: A similar element is added within categories – tags. Tags help Google understand what the app is about, define the game’s elements, and more accurately target users who might be interested in the game.
2. Optimize Keywords Through Metadata
- Utilize the Entire Character Space in Metadata Many developers know that adding and optimizing keywords in the metadata can significantly increase keyword coverage and ranking. However, the space provided by the App Store or Google Play is limited, making it impossible to describe the mobile game and its advantages in detail. Therefore, we should allocate the space wisely. Use different available text fields (title, short description/subtitle, and detailed description) to showcase game features and set expectations. Most importantly, encourage store visitors to play your game. Clearly structure the game content, keeping in mind the different roles of each field. Remember, the title (which should include descriptive keywords along with your brand name) and the subtitle/short description are crucial for conversion. Ensure these fields are short and memorable to attract store visitors’ clicks. On the other hand, the (long) description is an opportunity to showcase the game in more detail. Keep in mind that visitors reading the detailed description are more rational users looking for more information, so we need to convince them to download the game before they do.


2. Targeting Generic and Relevant Keywords in Metadata
When developers write metadata, they might think their only audience is store visitors. However, Apple and Google’s algorithms regularly analyze app pages to better understand game content, relying heavily on the keywords present in the metadata. These algorithms track whether store visitors click on the game and, if those clicks do not convert, it could negatively impact the ranking in search results. Therefore, targeting relevant generic keywords in the metadata is crucial. If the keywords users search for are included in the metadata, the game has a better chance of ranking for those search terms.
3. Adding More Keywords to the Keyword List (Focusing on the App Store)
For example, in the United States, the Apple Store uses keyword lists in English, Spanish, Russian, Chinese, and five other languages (see the table below for the full list of 175 countries/regions and all localization versions available for App Store optimization, updated as of April 25, 2023). This means that if an app is not localized into one of these languages, it can introduce 100 new English character keywords for each additional localization.
ISO | Country | Primary Language | Additional Languages |
AFG | Afghanistan | English (U.K.) | |
AE | United Arab Emirates | English (U.K.) | Arabic |
AG | Antigua and Barbuda | English (U.K.) | |
AI | Anguilla | English (U.K.) | |
AL | Albania | English (U.K.) | |
AM | Armenia | English (U.K.) | |
AO | Angola | English (U.K.) | |
AR | Argentina | Spanish (Mexico) | English (U.K.) |
AT | Austria | German | English (U.K.) |
AU | Australia | English (Australia) | |
AZ | Azerbaijan | English (U.K.) | |
BB | Barbados | English (U.K.) | |
BE | Belgium | English (U.K.) | Dutch, French |
BIH | Bosnia and Herzegovina | English (U.K.) | Croatian |
BF | Burkina Faso | English (U.K.) | French |
BG | Bulgaria | English (U.K.) | |
BH | Bahrain | English (U.K.) | |
BJ | Benin | English (U.K.) | French |
BM | Bermuda | English (U.K.) | |
BN | Brunei | English (U.K.) | |
BO | Bolivia | Spanish (Spain) | English (U.K.) |
BR | Brazil | Portuguese (Brazil) | English (U.K.) |
BS | Bahamas | English (U.K.) | |
BT | Bhutan | English (U.K.) | |
BW | Botswana | English (U.K.) | |
BY | Belarus | English (U.K.) | |
BZ | Belize | English (U.K.) | Spanish (Spain) |
CMR | Cameroon | French | English (U.K.) |
CA | Canada | English (Canada) | French (Canada) |
CG | Congo, Republic of the | English (U.K.) | French |
CH | Switzerland | German | English (U.K.), French, Italian |
CIV | Cote d’Ivoire | French | English (U.K.) |
CL | Chile | Spanish (Mexico) | English (U.K.) |
CN | China mainland | Simplified Chinese | English (U.K.) |
CO | Colombia | Spanish (Mexico) | English (U.K.) |
COD | Congo, Democratic Republic of the | English (U.K.) | French |
CR | Costa Rica | Spanish (Mexico) | English (U.K.) |
CV | Cape Verde | English (U.K.) | |
CY | Cyprus | English (U.K.) | Turkish |
CZ | Czech Republic | English (U.K.) | Czech |
DE | Germany | German | English (U.K.) |
DK | Denmark | English (U.K.) | Danish |
DM | Dominica | English (U.K.) | |
DO | Dominican Republic | Spanish (Mexico) | French |
DZ | Algeria | English (U.K.) | Arabic, French |
EC | Ecuador | Spanish (Mexico) | English (U.K.) |
EE | Estonia | English (U.K.) | |
EG | Egypt | English (U.K.) | Arabic, French |
ES | Spain | Spanish (Spain) | Catalan, English (U.K.) |
FI | Finland | English (U.K.) | Finnish |
FJ | Fiji | English (U.K.) | |
FM | Micronesia | English (U.K.) | |
FR | France | French | English (U.K.) |
GAB | Gabon | French | English (U.K.) |
GB | United Kingdom | English (U.K.) | |
GD | Grenada | English (U.K.) | |
GEO | Georgia | English (U.K.) | |
GH | Ghana | English (U.K.) | |
GM | Gambia | English (U.K.) | |
GR | Greece | Greek | |
GT | Guatemala | Spanish (Mexico) | English (U.K.) |
GW | Guinea-Bissau | English (U.K.) | French |
GY | Guyana | English (U.K.) | |
HK | Hong Kong | Chinese (Traditional) | English (U.K.) |
HN | Honduras | Spanish (Mexico) | English (U.K.) |
HR | Croatia | English (U.K.) | Croatian |
HU | Hungary | English (U.K.) | Hungarian |
ID | Indonesia | English (U.K.) | Indonesian |
IE | Ireland | English (U.K.) | |
IL | Israel | English (U.K.) | Hebrew |
IN | India | English (U.K.) | Hindi |
IRQ | Iraq | English (U.K.) | Arabic |
IS | Iceland | English (U.K.) | |
IT | Italy | Italian | English (U.K.) |
JM | Jamaica | English (U.K.) | |
JO | Jordan | English (U.K.) | Arabic |
JP | Japan | Japanese | English (U.K.) |
KE | Kenya | English (U.K.) | |
KG | Kyrgyzstan | English (U.K.) | |
KH | Cambodia | English (U.K.) | French |
KN | St. Kitts and Nevis | English (U.K.) | |
KR | Republic of Korea | Korean | English (U.K.) |
KW | Kuwait | English (U.K.) | Arabic |
KY | Cayman Islands | English (U.K.) | |
KZ | Kazakhstan | English (U.K.) | |
LA | Laos | English (U.K.) | French |
LB | Lebanon | English (U.K.) | Arabic, French |
LBY | Libya | English (U.K.) | Arabic |
LC | St. Lucia | English (U.K.) | |
LK | Sri Lanka | English (U.K.) | |
LR | Liberia | English (U.K.) | |
LT | Lithuania | English (U.K.) | |
LU | Luxembourg | English (U.K.) | French, German |
LV | Latvia | English (U.K.) | |
MAR | Morocco | English (U.K.) | Arabic, French |
MD | Moldova | English (U.K.) | |
MDV | Maldives | English (U.K.) | |
MG | Madagascar | English (U.K.) | French |
MK | North Macedonia | English (U.K.) | |
ML | Mali | English (U.K.) | French |
MMR | Myanmar | English (U.K.) | |
MN | Mongolia | English (U.K.) | |
MNE | Montenegro | English (U.K.) | Croatian |
MO | Macau | Chinese (Traditional) | English (U.K.) |
MR | Mauritania | English (U.K.) | Arabic, French |
MS | Montserrat | English (U.K.) | |
MT | Malta | English (U.K.) | |
MU | Mauritius | English (U.K.) | French |
MW | Malawi | English (U.K.) | |
MX | Mexico | Spanish (Mexico) | |
MY | Malaysia | English (U.K.) | |
MZ | Mozambique | English (U.K.) | |
NA | Namibia | English (U.K.) | |
NE | Niger | English (U.K.) | |
NG | Nigeria | English (U.K.) | |
NI | Nicaragua | Spanish (Mexico) | English (U.K.) |
NL | Netherlands | Dutch | English (U.K.) |
NO | Norway | English (U.K.) | Norwegian |
NP | Nepal | English (U.K.) | |
NRU | Nauru | English (U.K.) | |
NZ | New Zealand | English (U.K.) | |
OM | Oman | English (U.K.) | Arabic |
PA | Panama | Spanish (Mexico) | English (U.K.) |
PE | Peru | Spanish (Mexico) | English (U.K.) |
PG | Papua New Guinea | English (U.K.) | |
PH | Philippines | English (U.K.) | |
PK | Pakistan | English (U.K.) | |
PL | Poland | English (U.K.) | Polish |
PT | Portugal | Portuguese (Portugal) | English (U.K.) |
PW | Palau | English (U.K.) | |
PY | Paraguay | Spanish (Mexico) | English (U.K.) |
QA | Qatar | English (U.K.) | Arabic |
RO | Romania | English (U.K.) | Romanian |
RU | Russia | Russian | English (U.K.), Ukrainian |
RWA | Rwanda | English (U.K.) | French |
SA | Saudi Arabia | English (U.K.) | Arabic |
SB | Solomon Islands | English (U.K.) | |
SC | Seychelles | English (U.K.) | French |
SE | Sweden | Swedish | English (U.K.) |
SG | Singapore | English (U.K.) | Chinese (Simplified) |
SI | Slovenia | English (U.K.) | |
SK | Slovakia | English (U.K.) | Slovak |
SL | Sierra Leone | English (U.K.) | |
SN | Senegal | English (U.K.) | French |
SR | Suriname | English (U.K.) | Dutch |
SRB | Serbia | English (U.K.) | Croatian |
ST | Sao Tome and Principe | English (U.K.) | |
SV | El Salvador | Spanish (Mexico) | English (U.K.) |
SZ | Eswatini | English (U.K.) | |
TC | Turks and Caicos Islands | English (U.K.) | |
TD | Chad | English (U.K.) | French |
TH | Thailand | English (U.K.) | Thai |
TJ | Tajikistan | English (U.K.) | |
TM | Turkmenistan | English (U.K.) | |
TN | Tunisia | English (U.K.) | Arabic, French |
TON | Tonga | English (U.K.) | |
TR | Turkey | English (U.K.) | Turkish |
TT | Trinidad and Tobago | English (U.K.) | French |
TW | Taiwan | Chinese (Traditional) | English (U.K.) |
TZ | Tanzania | English (U.K.) | |
UA | Ukraine | English (U.K.) | Russian, Ukrainian |
UG | Uganda | English (U.K.) | |
US | United States | English (U.S.) | Arabic, Chinese (Simplified), Chinese (Traditional), French, Korean, Portuguese (Brazil), Russian, Spanish (Mexico), Vietnamese |
UY | Uruguay | English (U.K.) | Spanish (Mexico) |
UZ | Uzbekistan | English (U.K.) | |
VC | St. Vincent and the Grenadines | English (U.K.) | |
VE | Venezuela | Spanish (Mexico) | English (U.K.) |
VG | British Virgin Islands | English (U.K.) | |
VN | Vietnam | English (U.K.) | Vietnamese |
VUT | Vanuatu | English (U.K.) | French |
XKS | Kosovo | English (U.K.) | |
YE | Yemen | English (U.K.) | Arabic |
ZA | South Africa | English (U.K.) | |
ZMB | Zambia | English (U.K.) | |
ZW | Zimbabwe | English (U.K.) |
When writing keywords, there are 8 key considerations:
- Break search terms into individual words. Instead of entering the complete search terms, input their components. For example, “buy sneakers” should be broken into “buy” and “sneakers.” The Apple Store will automatically create combinations like “buy sneakers” for you.
- Remove all spaces.
- Avoid plural words. The Apple algorithm is sophisticated enough to handle plural forms of keywords.
- Do not include your own app or company name or category name unless you want the game name to be quickly indexed.
- Simplify complex words. Users’ searches on the App Store are often short; they typically do not want to enter complex keywords.
- Use all 100 characters.
- Place the most important keywords early. Just like the app name and subtitle, the position of keywords in the list is very important. The algorithm cares more about the keywords at the beginning of the list than those at the end. For this reason, your list should start with the most important words and end with less competitive or long-tail keywords.
- Eliminate stop words. The Apple Store will completely filter out some keywords because they are too generic. Words like “app,” “the,” and “most” are considered “stop words” by Apple. The specific stop words are:a, about, above, after, again, against, all, am, an, and, any, app, are, aren’t, as, at, be, because, been, before, being, below, between, both, but, by, can’t, cannot, could, couldn’t, did, didn’t, do, does, doesn’t, doing, don’t, down, during, each, few, for, from, further, had, hadn’t, has, hasn’t, have, haven’t, having, he, he’d, he’ll, he’s, her, here, here’s, hers, herself, him, himself, his, how, how’s, i, i’d, i’ll, i’m, i’ve, if, in, into, is, isn’t, it, it’s, its, itself, let’s, me, more, most, mustn’t, my, myself, no, nor, not, of, off, on, once, only, or, other, ought, our, ours, ourselves, out, over, own, same, shan’t, she, she’d, she’ll, she’s, should, shouldn’t, so, some, such, than, that, that’s, the, their, theirs, them, themselves, then, there, there’s, these, they, they’d, they’ll, they’re, they’ve, this, those, through, to, too, under, until, up, very, was, wasn’t, we, we’d, we’ll, we’re, we’ve, were, weren’t, what, what’s, when, when’s, where, where’s, which, while, who, who’s, whom, why, why’s, with, won’t, would, wouldn’t, you, you’d, you’ll, you’re, you’ve, your, yours, yourself, yourselves
3. Continuously Optimize Screenshot Creatives Through A/B Testing
Visuals are a crucial component of App Store Optimization (ASO) on both the App Store and Google Play. By using A/B testing—comparing one or more variations of an app page element against the default element—you can objectively and easily discover visitor preferences. A/B testing helps you better understand the expectations of your target market, allowing you to adjust your app page accordingly.
4. Localize Store Pages
Developers sometimes use their English store page as the default for all markets where their game is available. However, each market has its own unique social attitudes and cultural norms, and aligning your store page with these characteristics can help increase game downloads. First, identify which markets generate the highest revenue for mobile games and which languages are worth localizing your game into. Next, determine how much effort to invest in localization. To increase your game’s visibility in new markets, it is important to conduct keyword research and optimize for that specific region. Further, consider localizing your creatives for the target market. This requires a deeper analysis to better understand the target market, its cultural norms, and seasonal events. This also means looking at the app pages of games similar to yours or in the same category to understand creative trends on both app stores.
5. Read (and Respond to) Reviews
When iterating on levels and characters for a mobile game but lacking inspiration, you can find ideas from user reviews left on the app page. Reviews and ratings inform developers about which aspects of the game are performing well and which should be adjusted or even removed. Reviews can also help identify bugs that disrupt user experience. Since bugs can increase user churn and lead to negative reviews, developers should address them promptly. Responding to reviews is crucial for maintaining a strong relationship with users. Prioritize responding to negative reviews, as it shows other users that product issues are being actively addressed, thereby improving conversion rates.
6. In-App Rating Prompts
Store visitors who leave ratings are usually dissatisfied users, which means they are likely to leave negative ratings. Since the average rating is a key factor for store visitors before installing a game, developers do not want a low average rating. In this case, the best approach is to proactively seek positive ratings rather than waiting for users to leave them. Both app stores offer developers the option to implement rating prompts within the game—a pop-up window asking users to rate the game from 1 to 5 stars. Finding the right moment to ask for ratings is crucial. Instead of interrupting users during critical actions and causing frustration, trigger rating prompts when users have just completed a challenging task and are more likely to leave a positive rating. In games, this can be as simple as completing a particularly difficult boss fight or finishing a tense chapter in the story.
7. Use CPP to Personalize Store Pages
Custom Product Pages (CPP) allow for the customization and variation of the default app page for specific audiences. This can be an excellent tool for creating a consistent user acquisition journey and improving the conversion rates of mobile games.