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ASO glossary

The terms you will meet, in plain English.

ASO (app store optimization): Improving an app's listing and signals so it ranks higher in store search and converts more visitors into installs.
Keyword: A word or phrase people type into a store's search box.
Keyword rank: The position of an app in the results for a keyword, in one country and language. Position 1 is the top.
Search volume: How often a keyword is searched. Stores do not publish it, so NextASO shows it as a level.
Keyword difficulty: How hard it is to rank for a keyword, judged from how strong the apps already on top are (installs, ratings).
Chance: How likely your app is to win a keyword, given its difficulty.
Relevancy: How closely a keyword belongs to your app's niche, judged from whether the top results are apps like yours.
Long-tail keyword: A longer, more specific phrase that is searched less often but is usually easier to rank for.
Autocomplete: The suggestions a store shows while you type. They come from what people really search, so they are a source of keyword ideas.
Listing: Everything on an app's store page: title, descriptions, icon, screenshots, video, ratings.
Title: The app's name on the store. Both stores allow 30 characters, and the title carries the most weight for search.
Short description (Google Play): The 80-character line under the title on Google Play. It is indexed for search.
Long description (Google Play): The 4,000-character description on Google Play. It is indexed for search, but a phrase here weighs less than in the title.
Subtitle (App Store): A 30-character line under the title on the App Store, indexed for search.
Keyword field (App Store): A hidden 100-character field in App Store Connect where you list keywords, separated by commas. Users never see it.
Installs: How many times an app has been installed. Google Play shows it as a bucket such as 10M+, and its page data also carries a more exact count.
Ratings: The number of people who rated the app, and the average of their stars.
Storefront: A store's version for one country, such as Google Play in Pakistan.
Search language: The language of a store search. The same keyword can rank different apps in different languages of the same country.
Competitor: An app that appears in the same results as yours. NextASO suggests competitors from the apps that show up most often for your keywords.
Keyword gap: A keyword where a competitor ranks and you do not.
Organic install: An install that comes from search or browsing, not from paid ads.
Top 30: The first 30 results for a search. Further down, a keyword reads "not in top 30".