App Store Optimization
Terminology | Glossary

Everything you need to know for App Store & Google Play success and beyond.




    A A/B testing
    App Store A/B testing is the science of running an experiment on elements inside a product page on the app stores in order to compare two or more variants.
    Read More     A/B Testing Statistics
    A/B testing statistics refers to the statistical model used in the conduction of an A/B test.
    Read More     App Store Acquisition Channels
    App Store Acquisition Channels are all the potential channels that user acquisition (UA) teams can utilize, to advertise an app or game and generate more visitors.
    Read More     App Store Audience Testing
    App Store audience testing is the practice of testing different segments of an audience and measuring how they respond to app store marketing creatives.
    Read More     App Store Optimization (ASO)
    App store optimization, or ASO for short, is the science of improving the performance of an app store listing.
    Read More     Apple App Store Connect
    App Store Connect is the platform that Apple provides to app developers to publish and to track their app’s performance on the App Store.
    Read More     Apple Arcade
    Apple Arcade is a paid mobile game subscription service on the App Store that allows users to sign up and enjoy high-quality games straight from a separate tab.
    Read More     Attribution
    Attribution is the science of attributing a user to its source.
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    B App Store Behavior
    App Store behavior is the science of understanding how users engage with app store pages.
    Read More     App Store Browse
    App Store Browse is an organic traffic source which includes all visitors that arrived to an app while browsing Top Charts, Category Charts, the Today tab or Featuring placements.
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    C App Store Categories
    Apps are listed and categorized according to the requirements a user needs them.
    Read More     App Store Conversion Rate
    Conversion rate = total conversions/app store impressions OR app store product page views.
    Read More     App Store Creatives
    App store creatives are all the visual elements that appear on an App Store or Google Play product page.
    Read More     App Store Culturalization
    App Store culturalization is the practice of changing an app’s product page to be in line textually and visually with the region’s unique nuances and values.
    Read More     Cost per Install
    Cost per install (CPI) is the term that describes the pricing model of mobile user acquisition (UA) efforts to drive installations.
    Read More     Google Play Creatives
    Google Play creatives are all the visual elements that appear in a Google Play product page.
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    D App Store App Description
    The app description is a text paragraph explaining to users about the app or game.
    Read More     App Store Description Read Rate
    Description read rate is the percentage of users that tap to read more of the description on a product page, past the text that shows at a first impression.
    Read More     Google Play Long Description
    The Google Play long description is a full paragraph of text describing an app or game that appears on a product page.
    Read More     Google Play Short Description
    The Google Play short description is a sentence that’ll appear in the first impression of your Google Play product page below the screenshot.
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    E Google Play Explore
    Google Play Explore is an organic traffic source that includes all visitors arriving at an app listing while exploring and navigating.
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    F App Store Featuring
    App Store featuring is the process whereby App Store editors feature an app in one of a few placement locations within the App Store.
    Read More     Google Play Featuring
    Google Play Featuring refers to an app being ‘featured’ on the Google Play Store in one of a number of different types of featured apps lists.
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    G Google Play Console
    Google Play Console is the platform that Google provides for Google Play and Android developers to publish and monitor their app’s performance in the Google Play store.
    Read More     Google Play Experiments
    Google Play Store listing experiments or GEx, is the A/B testing functionality provided by Google.
    Read More     Google Play Pass
    Google Play Pass is a paid for subscription service that provides access to high-quality, curated games without ads and in-app purchases.
    Read More     Google Play Points
    Google Play Points are part of an award system whereby Google Play users earn points on their regular behavior in the Google Play store.
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    H App Store Test Hypotheses
    App Store Test Hypotheses are solid intentions that will be either proven or disproven at the end of an A/B testing period.
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    I App Install Rates
    App install rates are the percentage of users that decide to install an app after visiting an App Store or Google Play product page.
    Read More     App Store Icon
    The app store icon is the only creative element that appears throughout the user journey in the app stores.
    Read More     Influencer Marketing
    Influencer marketing is the practice of using influencers from an app’s industry or category in order to promote and bring traffic to an app/game.
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    K App Store and Google Play Keywords Optimization
    Keyword optimization is the ongoing process of measuring the impact of keywords on an app’s ranking and search traffic.
    Read More     App Store Keywords
    App Store keywords are standalone words or those that form part of a phrase, which are entered as search queries in order to locate an app or game.
    Read More     App Store Keywords Research
    A keywords research is the process of gathering information to help a developer decide which keywords to add to an app listing’s metadata.
    Read More     Google Play Keywords
    Google Play keywords are single words or part of phrases that a user uses to search for an android app or game.
    Read More     Keyword Localization
    Keyword localization is the process of implementing translated and localized keywords/creatives located in the metadata of an app’s product page.
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    L App Store Localization
    App Store localization is the practice of adapting and localizing the elements that a user sees on an app’s product page into a target language.
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    M Mobile Growth
    Mobile growth is the science of growing and gaining ground in reaching and retaining users in the App Store or Google Play.
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    O Offline App Marketing and TV user acquisition
    Offline mobile app marketing is the practice of using non-digital advertising and marketing to drive traffic to an app’s page in the App Store or Google Play.
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    P App Store Page Scroll Rate
    The App Store page scroll rate is the percentage of users that scroll down an App Store product page in the direction of the reviews section.
    Read More     App Store Personalization
    App Store personalization is Apple’s process in surfacing the most relevant apps to individual users at the most relevant time.
    Read More     App Store Pre-Launch
    App Store pre-launch is a phase in marketing directly before the launch of a new game or app.
    Read More     App Store Preview Videos
    The App Store promo video is a short video that appears on both the App Store product page and within search results.
    Read More     App Store Product Page
    The App Store product page is the landing page for a mobile app or game distributed and published on Apple’s App Store.
    Read More     Google Play Personalization
    The process of personalizing the Google Play experience for each user, surfacing apps that are relevant to them based on a variety of metrics.
    Read More     Google Play Product Page
    The Google Play product page is the landing page for a mobile app or game distributed and published on the Google Play store.
    Read More     Pre/Post App Store Tests
    A pre/post App Store test is the practise of testing a creative asset and measuring its impact on mobile marketing and growth KPIs before placement and after.
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    R App Store App Referral
    App Store app referral is a traffic source that includes visitors that come to an app store listing via apps (not from the web).
    Read More     App Store Ranking
    If an app’s discoverability is low, this will result in fewer impressions and limited growth.
    Read More     App Store Ratings
    In the App Store, each app gets a rating of 0.0-5 which is based on users’ opinions.
    Read More     App Store Review Engagement Rate
    A review engagement rate is the percentage of users who actually engage with the reviews on an app or game’s product page.
    Read More     App Store Reviews
    In the App Store, reviews are presented in the review gallery below-the-fold. This means that only about 20%-25% of users are exposed to it.
    Read More     App Store Web Referral
    App Store web referral is a traffic source which includes all visitors that arrive at an app listing from an external source (mobile web), most commonly the iOS Safari browser.
    Read More     Google Play Ranking
    Google Play ranking is a crucial element to an app’s visibility and audience impressions which is why the industry and ASO teams look to it as a priority when strategizing.
    Read More     Google Play Third-party Referral
    Google Play third-party referrals refer to traffic sourced by users that open a link, that takes them straight to the product page in Google Play.
    Read More     Re-engagement
    Re-engagement is the marketing strategy that targets and entices users who are no longer engaged in an app when once they were via a campaign, usually of the ad variety.
    Read More     Replicated App Store Page
    A replicated App Store page is a tool that third-party A/B testing platforms use to replicate an App Store or Google Play environment in order to understand on-page behavior and run A/B tests.
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    S App Size
    Every app has a megabyte size which determines the amount of storage it requires in order to run on on users’ devices
    Read More     App Store Screenshot View Rate
    Screenshot view rate is the percentage of users that view each screenshot in the gallery section of an app’s product page.
    Read More     App Store Screenshots
    App Store screenshots are the main visual element within the App Store product page.
    Read More     App Store Search
    App Store Search is an organic traffic source that includes all users who find an app after searching for a query or keyword in the search tab in the App Store.
    Read More     App Store Seasonality
    App Store seasonality is the process of updating an app’s product page to coincide with seasonal events/public holidays.
    Read More     App Store Subtitle
    The app store subtitle is an element all users view in their journey to install an app.
    Read More     Google Play Search
    Google Play Search is an organic traffic source that includes all users who find an app after searching for a query or keyword in the search bar in the Play Store.
    Read More     Search Ads
    Apple search ads (ASA) are paid adverts located at the top of the search results page on the iOS App Store.
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    T App Store Title
    The app store title is the name of a mobile app or game as it appears throughout the app stores on all different placements.
    Read More     Test Traffic
    App store test traffic is a sample group of users being sent to a replicated app store test which is a statistically representative sample of the traffic an app will target outside the test.
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    U App Store Update
    An update is a newer version of the app than the one that’s available to download in the App Store.
    Read More     Decisive Users
    Decisive users are visitors that upon landing on an App Store or Google Play Store product page make minimal engagement before deciding to install or drop.
    Read More     Explorative Users
    Explorative users are visitors that upon landing on a store page explore the content that’s presented to them before making the decision to install or drop.
    Read More     Organic User Acquisition
    Organic user acquisition (UA) is the science of leveraging a set of marketing initiatives to drive organic installs.
    Read More     Paid User Acquisition
    Paid user acquisition is the process of paying to advertise an app or game on UA channels in efforts to drive relevant traffic to an app store and convert new users.
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    V App Store Video Watch Rate
    Video watch rate is the percentage of users that start watching a video on a product page.
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