ASO for Games: A Practical Guide

To improve ASO for a game, research the phrases players use for its genre and gameplay, check which games appear for those searches, and make the listing match the strongest relevant phrases. Review each market in its local language, then track the same keywords after you update the listing.

Choose keywords for your game's genre and gameplay

Build phrase candidates from what a player does in the game. Write down its genre, core mechanic, setting and play mode, then turn each into a few search ideas:

1. Name the genre or subgenre a player would recognize.
2. Describe the main action with a verb and object, such as matching tiles or building a town.
3. Add a distinctive setting, theme or mode only when it changes what the game offers.
4. List common alternate wording for each idea; remove phrases that promise a feature the game does not have.

Keep the mechanic behind each phrase beside it. This gives you a quick relevance check when you review search results.

Research competing games and search results

In Wow Keywords' App Store keyword research, add your game's public App Store listing, select target countries, then add the candidate phrases in Keywords. Localize phrases for each market and review their Volume and Difficulty beside the competing apps and your game's ranks. Public-app research does not require App Store Connect.

For each country, compare the scores across your candidates, then open the listed games. Check names and subtitles: do the results offer similar gameplay, or do they only share a broad word? Keep phrases whose wording and results fit your game; set aside phrases that point to another kind of player or experience.

When the same games appear across several candidates, inspect their public listings for how they describe the genre and core mechanic. Use that to spot a missing detail in your own listing, not to borrow another game's copy.

Map game keywords to your App Store listing

Assign each retained phrase to a distinct listing job: the central game concept, a supporting mechanic, or a meaningful theme or mode. Review the name, subtitle, keyword field, promotional text and description together. Remove duplicate ideas and reject wording that implies gameplay the game does not offer.

In Wow Keywords, use Optimize to review listing fields, prepare alternatives and export selected metadata. Compare its drafts with the phrase shortlist, edit them to fit the game, and read the fields together before using them.

Localize game keywords for each market

For each target country, review the localized phrase rather than carrying over the source-language wording. Check its meaning and the games in that market's results; keep it only when both fit the game. Wow Keywords localizes keyword phrases and prepares listing metadata for App Store markets.

Review the localized name, subtitle and supporting fields together. Edit terms that sound unnatural or change the game's meaning, then export the selected metadata for your listing update.

Review game keyword ranks after an update

Keep the selected phrases attached to the same countries in Wow Keywords. After updating the listing, review the game's ranks for those phrases and inspect the results again. Record the listing change date so later checks have context.

If a phrase's results stop matching the game, replace it with a candidate based on another mechanic or theme and review that phrase in the same markets. The App Store optimization guide covers the wider listing workflow, and mobile app competitor analysis explains how to review competing apps.