Is Your ASO Ready for 2026? App Store Optimization Q&A
Hello everyone. Happy 2026.
I haven't done this in a few weeks. It's 2026. We made it.
Today I'm kicking off the year with a live App Store Optimization Q&A. You can ask me anything as we get ready for 2026 and everything that changed toward the tail end of 2025.
AI is now making its way into Apple's algorithm. Google made a bunch of changes. There are many things that are a little bit different, just enough that you have to make a few tweaks here and there.
How Far Can ASO Alone Get You in a Saturated Niche?
The answer? It's extremely hard to tell. As with a lot of App Store Optimization questions like this, it really depends on the keywords, the niche, and the competition.
It's very possible that you are in a niche where the competitors are not really active. While maybe a bunch exist, they're not doing much in terms of App Store Optimization.
Or you might be in a category where there are a few competitors, but they're really, really, really active, and so you have to make sure that you know what's going on.
I've seen ASO take apps from nothing to something meaningful, like "quit your job and be an indie developer." I've also seen apps that launched and had absolutely no downloads thanks to ASO alone. It really depends on what you're trying to do.
In every single case, whether it's easy to rank or hard to rank, there are always strategies that will allow you to get some downloads.
The question is always how. And the how is usually the keywords that are not the popular ones. They're not the very high popularity, they're not the really competitive ones.
That's kind of the same for Apple Search Ads. Make sure that you do your keyword research really well if you're in a popular niche. You still have chance to go a long way — meaning, start making money first, then leverage that to buy ads, whether on Apple Search Ads, Meta, or elsewhere, feed that back in and watch the machine grow.
What Happened in the December Algorithm Change?
Many people have asked: what exactly happened in the December algorithm change? Many have talked about this, but I don't think anything substantial changed.
What changed in December is probably a continuation of what started at the end of June and carried into July. Two things are important here.
Apple Reading Screenshots with AI
First, Apple is reading your screenshots. They're using AI or OCR or something similar to read your screenshots and take keywords from there. They have confirmed that to TechCrunch.
How the keywords from screenshots work within the algorithm is not extremely defined yet. It takes a ton of work to figure it out. I've been trying to figure it out for a long time and have a vague idea of how it works, very similar to the initial hypothesis.
What we are seeing now is that being refined.
Apple came out at WWDC and said, "We're going to do all these things to improve discovery" — from tags to using custom product pages to, of course, AI reading your description and everything else to try to rank better.
I think that's what we're seeing now. We're not seeing a complete AI takeover of the algorithm and I don't think that's going to happen. After doing a lot of work on AI over the last year, I know that a deterministic model is very hard to tame, especially at the scale of millions of apps with millions of searches.
Apple's use of AI is a little bit different than everyone else's. So what I think is happening is refinement of how these keywords are extracted, how the AI is learning from descriptions, and that's changing over time.
So there isn't a very specific change we can point to, like a bug fix with ampersands or other characters. Instead, we need to focus on keywords significantly more than we are now. Over time, we'll see this continue to expand.
We know (or at least I believe) this is the case not just because Apple is looking at screenshots, something someone told me would happen several years ago and just took a long time to arrive, but also because of how Apple uses custom product pages.
If you've used custom product pages for organic results (not just Apple Search Ads), you know the relationship between the keywords and the custom product pages is kind of wonky.
Apple tries to figure out which keywords make sense. They extract the keywords from your keyword list and let you assign them. I believe that relationship is also going to improve because it kind of has to.
Apple knows how things work and they want to make sure that ultimately users download apps. That's really the key. If you keep that in mind, 'as long as users are downloading apps, everything is fine', that's what the algorithm is really focused on and optimized for: getting downloads.
So nothing changed to a point where we can say, "This one thing changed and now everything is different." Instead, there's more emphasis on keywords, and we've seen that over the last six months.
How to Assess Algorithm Changes and Identify What Changed
Stephen asks: what methodology do you use to assess the impact of algorithm changes and identify what changed so we can be proactive?
From the data side, it's straightforward: look at the number of changes. If there are more changes than the average day, then something probably changed.
Also look at the magnitude of changes: are ranks going up a lot, up a little, down a lot, down a little? That's what was seen over the summer when Apple released a change that started reading screenshots.
Beyond that, it gets tricky because it's hard to tell what's causing it. There is no change log. I don't know anyone at Apple who would just give an inside view of what's happening. Even people at Apple may not know what goes on in the algorithm; it's probably more complicated now than before.
So the next step is to look at all the changes and try to understand what changed the most. There’s an internal score for this. I go after the apps that changed the most and try to see if there's anything obvious that can be seen with the human eye. A lot of it is intuition and having done this for a long time, but also trying to do that at scale.
Once a pattern (or a few patterns) is found, it's run across all the apps that changed to see if the pattern repeats. If it does, then "this is what changed" becomes the working conclusion.
This iterative process is how I got to the change in screenshots, which was not intuitive at all. Nothing else was obvious and it took a lot of time, including some custom AI agents built just to understand what happened.
Once it was clear that screenshots were the key, I began going through more apps, reading their screenshots, extracting their keywords, building a model, and seeing if that would work. Eventually it worked and made sense.
So it's mostly data, then some intuition to find the right data, and then proving the data at scale. That's how it works. That's also why it's not always easy: the data can tell you something changed, but it doesn't mean something substantial or actionable changed. That part has to be determined manually.
Using Different Keywords, Titles, and Subtitles in Different Localizations
Darren asks: how important are different keywords, titles, and subtitles in different languages/localizations, even if all the keywords are in English?
How US Localizations Work
In the US, on the App Store, Apple uses 10 different localizations to rank for the US. That means when I take out my phone in the US, what I type into search will be compared against English, Russian, Arabic, Chinese simplified, Chinese traditional, and others. There are 10 in total.
Apple's intention is that someone in the US might speak these languages. There are large populations that speak Arabic, Russian, and Chinese. Apple wants them to be able to find apps that are not necessarily from China, Arabic-speaking countries, or Russia. They want them to find apps that are available in the US.
So Apple did this. They talk about this - it's not a secret or a dark pattern. They expect you to put localized languages in those metadata sets.
Instead, what I, and others, discovered many years ago is that you can put English keywords and Apple will take them and index them.
Treat Each Localization as a Separate Keyword Set
What that means is that you can use multiple sets of keywords.
For example, if an app is about tarot cards and horoscopes, you can take the English (US) localization and focus it on tarot cards. Then you can take the Russian localization (if you're not localizing for Russians specifically) and cater it to horoscopes.
In theory, the algorithm will read the tarot side and the horoscope side, and either one of those will help you rank—again, if you have the ratings and everything else.
That's the question Darren is alluding to. The answer: it depends on how many keyword sets you want to focus on.
If there's exactly one keyword you want to focus on, you probably don't need to go through all that trouble and might as well localize properly for the country. That's rarely the case, though.
If you think about every localization as one keyword set, then use as many sets as you need.
Start with the one that's obviously most important, the one you think will drive most users to your app, and then go from there.
I always uses them as sets, which allows staying focused in every localization.
Repetition is bad within a localization, not between localizations. So you can use the same keyword across different localizations as long as you don't repeat it within the same localization.
More on Keyword Emphasis After the Algorithm Changes
Someone follows up: when you say "more emphasis on keywords," do you mean the actual keyword field or keywords in your screenshot designs or both?
I mean both — really all of the keywords.
Think of it as Apple combining the name, subtitle, keyword list, and keywords found in screenshots into one understanding of what your app is about and who should be using it.
The keywords in the name and subtitle work together to make that happen. The keywords in the keyword list and in the screenshots work a little differently: they reinforce the other keywords and give them more focus and context.
You want to think about the right keywords for your app and then how to sprinkle them appropriately between the name, subtitle, and keyword list.
Does Changing Your App Title Reset ASO Weight?
Another question: if I change my app title to a completely new keyword, does my existing ASO weight help those keywords or do they start ranking from zero?
The answer is: kind of a combination.
Generally speaking, it doesn't really help, because what does help is ratings. If you have enough ratings for this new keyword, you'll do pretty well. Otherwise, it's not going to do much.
The flip side: the algorithm will remember the old keywords. So depending on what keywords you're replacing, if there isn't a ton of competition on those, you might still rank for them and not drop immediately.
Why Aren't 200+ Daily Downloads Generating Reviews?
Someone says: "I have four apps that I launched one to two months ago with 200+ downloads each (per day or total) and they're all stuck at one review. Is this normal?"
No, not at all—unless you're confusing reviews with ratings. Reviews (text) are harder and harder to get, but ratings should be more frequent.
You're probably not asking for a rating at the right time. Either you're asking too early when someone doesn't yet know if the app is good or bad, or you're waiting too long and users churn, lose interest, or are no longer engaged.
Look at when you trigger the rating prompt. Then check your analytics: are enough people getting to that point?
If not, bring it earlier into the experience—not too early, because they'll just dismiss it. If they dismiss it, you lose your chance and you only have three chances on the App Store.
So make sure you ask at the right time, then, if necessary, slowly bring it earlier and earlier.
Do Keywords Combine Across Localizations?
Stephen asks: can keywords index between different localizations in the US? If I place "habit" in the US (English) and "tracker" in the Russian localization, would the keyword "habit tracker" index in the US?
No, it wouldn't.
Keywords are specific to each localization. Within a localization, they work together. Across localizations, they're independent.
Russian and English in this case would be two independent localizations. Apple reads them with all the rules of no repetition and combines keywords per localization.
That's why you can duplicate across localizations, but not within a localization.
Should You Fill All 100 Characters with Keywords?
Someone asks: on the App Store, is it better to have only two to three strong keywords and not use all 100 characters, or to have a lot of poor ones?
Never have poor ones unless that's explicitly part of your experimental strategy. Use separate localizations.
In your main localization (the one that isn't "throwaway"), focus only on the important ones. You don't have to fill up the 100 characters—only take what is necessary.
Don't throw in keywords that are way above your weight. For example, keywords where most competitors get 1,000 new ratings a month and you're getting seven. Could you eventually succeed by focusing? Maybe, but instead find keywords where you can compete.
Maybe you're a little far off: you get seven new ratings a month and the top five are in the 20–50 range. Try focusing only on those and not filling up the entire 100 characters; you might get good performance.
This really depends on the keywords and competition, but focus works. Use an extra localization to throw all the "poor" or experimental keywords—ones with lower popularity or those you’re not sure about.
If they work, you can bring them into your main localization.
I've been asked if different localizations have different weight and in my experience, they do not. They appear to get equal weight.
Apple wants people who speak a language that is not English in the US to have a chance to download an app they can use. So treat localizations as equal.
The only reason to pull a keyword out of the throwaway localization is so you don't accidentally delete it later when you replace throwaway experiments.
Category Choices and Ranking by Category
"I noticed that most of the competitors are in a different category, but not all. Should I consider changing the category? What would happen? What are the rules about it?"
I was asked something similar by a large game recently, and the answer is the same: it depends on the category and how aligned your app is with it.
The algorithm for very generic keywords like "games" doesn't usually give results based on keywords in names, because most apps don't have "games" in their name. Instead, it goes to the Games category and takes the top results and puts those into search.
Apple does this across many generic keywords that are either too easy or too hard to optimize for.
If your app is not in that category, it may not get displayed for such generic searches.
I've also noticed a relationship between some apps, some keywords, and category: it's not always that Apple takes the top results from the category chart, but sometimes they downplay or boost apps that are in the "right" category for that query.
This shows up in books, magazines, and other areas.
So make sure your category is right for your app and also right for the algorithm.
How to check: search for many of the keywords that apply to you and see if the apps ranking for them are in your category or in the competitors' category. If most of the top-ranking apps are in a different category than you, you might need to reconsider.
Portfolio of 80+ Google Play Apps and AdMob Accounts
"I have over 80 apps in Google Play, my account is in good standing, and we want to go global. Should we use the same or different AdMob accounts?"
This depends on the type of apps and what you plan to do with them.
Generally speaking, you don't need another AdMob account; one can serve all.
But if you're trying to sell the apps, or if you have one app that's a bit more "spicy" than others and you're concerned some countries may complain and Google might block your whole account, then you might want different accounts.
Do English (US) Keywords Have Higher Priority Than Other Localizations?
Leonardo asks: do keywords in the English (US) localization have higher priority in the US than other localizations?
Not in my experience.
For a long time, it was just English and Spanish (Mexico) that were indexed in the US, and they performed similarly.
Then Apple expanded the set to five, and eventually to ten.
Given that Apple's goal is to get a download in the US, it doesn't really matter to Apple if the language is English, Chinese, Russian, or Arabic. If someone searches on their phone in the US, there's no reason Apple has to prioritize one localization over another if both are relevant.
So no, I don't think English (US) has higher priority than other US-indexed localizations.
Recovering Rankings After an Apple Review-Gating Penalty
Someone says: our app lost rankings in all countries after Apple flagged us for review gating. We fixed it and were approved in November, but category rankings still haven't returned. What can we do to restore them?
Category rankings are all about downloads and download momentum.
If downloads decreased drastically because of the flagging, you have to rebuild momentum: use Apple Search Ads, use off-store advertising to get more users. That's how you get back in category charts.
For search rankings, it's even harder. The algorithm takes a long time to learn, and once it does, some apps become stickier even if ratings fluctuate. But building momentum back after Apple crushes it is hard and takes time.
I always say: don't review-gate. Developers who take a shortcut usually get into a black hole that's hard to escape.
Now it's a matter of continuing, starting from scratch in some sense, and building momentum again: start with long-tail keywords and focus, then build up and eventually get back to where you were.
Closing
There were many more questions in the live chat which I'll answer them in the comments right after the stream.
It's good to be on camera again after only one live stream in December and too many days off. Another live stream is coming soon, probably an app teardown.
Keep an eye out for an email with all the information and where you can submit your app.
If you have feedback or questions, drop them in the comments after the video, and I'll make sure to answer.
More live streams are coming over the next few weeks as well as standalone videos with more tips that I'm finally going to share on video and not just as a written guide.
That's it from me, for now. See you on the next one.
✨ This transcript was generated and enhanced by AI and may differ from the original video.
