ASO vs SEO in 2026: what's different, what carries over, and where they now overlap
App Store search and Google search reward different things. But your App Store page is also a web page — and the text Apple ignores for ranking is exactly what Google and ChatGPT read.
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ASO ranks your app inside the App Store using a few short fields — name, subtitle, a hidden keyword field and category — plus downloads, ratings and reviews. SEO ranks web pages in Google using page content, links and page experience. The research mindset carries over; the levers don't. They now overlap: App Store pages are crawlable web pages, so your description, which Apple doesn't use for ranking, is read by Google and AI assistants.
If you've done SEO, App Store Optimization looks familiar: keywords, rankings, click-through. Then you find out the most important text field is invisible, links don't count, and the description you'd optimise on a website doesn't affect App Store ranking at all. Here's what each search engine says it rewards, field by field — and the place where the two have started to meet.
ASO and SEO side by side
| ASO (Apple App Store) | SEO (Google web search) | |
|---|---|---|
| What ranks | Apps, inside the App Store | Web pages, in Google results |
| Text the engine uses | App name, subtitle, keyword field, primary category | The whole page: titles, headings, body text, structured data |
| Behaviour signals | Downloads, ratings and reviews | Many systems; Google doesn't publish weights |
| Links | Not a signal Apple names | PageRank “continues to be part of our core ranking systems” |
| Hidden fields | A 100-character keyword field | None that count — Google reads what visitors can see |
| Change speed | Most text changes need a new app version | Publish any time |
| Conversion surface | Icon, screenshots, ratings in results | Title link and snippet in results |
Apple's search guide is short: “Search results are based on a number of factors, including text relevance (matches for your app's title, subtitle, keywords, and primary category), as well as user behavior (downloads, ratings and reviews, and more).” Google's ranking systems guide describes automated systems that look at “many factors and signals about hundreds of billions of web pages”, including link analysis and its helpful content system, which since March 2024 is part of its core ranking.
The fields, and their limits
| Field | Apple App Store | Google Play |
|---|---|---|
| App name / title | 30 characters | 30 characters |
| Subtitle / short description | Subtitle, 30 characters | Short description, 80 characters |
| Keyword field | 100 characters, hidden | None |
| Promotional text | 170 characters; Apple says it “doesn't affect your app's search ranking” | Promo text, one line |
| Description | Up to 4,000 characters; Apple: don't add keywords “in an attempt to improve search results” | 4,000 characters; Google: “Use SEO best practices” |
Google Play sits between the two worlds. Its Play Console help tells you to “use SEO best practices” in your description — it has no keyword field, so the description does that job — and says apps “are ranked based on a combination of ratings, reviews, downloads, and other factors.” On the App Store, the description is for people; the keyword field is for search. Our keywords field playbook covers how to fill it.
What carries over from SEO
- Intent-led keyword research. Pick terms people actually search, with a realistic chance of ranking. Fighting “calorie tracker” against apps with millions of ratings is like fighting for a head term against Wikipedia.
- Relevance beats volume. Apple bans irrelevant keywords; Google's systems are built to reward helpful pages. Stuffing loses in both.
- The click is half the job. In Google it's your title and snippet; in the App Store it's your icon, first screenshots and rating in the result.
- Localization multiplies reach. Separate localized metadata works in both — each App Store localization even has its own keyword field.
- Measure, change one thing, measure again. Both need patience: App Store changes ship with versions, and Google takes time to recrawl.
What doesn't
- Long content. A 2,000-word description won't lift App Store rank. Apple names four text fields, and the description isn't one.
- Links. Backlinks are central to SEO. Apple doesn't list links as an App Store ranking signal — what outside promotion buys you is downloads and brand searches.
- Fast iteration. You can rewrite a web page today. Your App Store name, subtitle and keywords change with a new app version.
- Repetition. Repeating a phrase across a web page is normal. In the App Store, repeating a word from your name in the keyword field wastes characters; Apple says not to.
Brand demand is the exception that works in both. In our Cal AI teardown, the search “cal ai” scored a popularity of 68 in the App Store — above “calorie counter” at 65 — built by creators off the store. People searching your name is the strongest signal either engine gets.
Where they overlap: your App Store page is a web page
App Store product pages live on apps.apple.com, and they're built to be crawled. When we checked on October 9, 2026, Apple's robots.txt blocked only API, search and legacy paths, listed app sitemaps, and Cal AI's page carried a canonical URL with no noindex tag. Apple also relaunched the App Store on the web in November 2025, with browsing and search across platforms.
That puts the description — the field Apple tells you not to stuff for App Store search — in front of other readers. AppTweak's analysis of more than 125,000 ChatGPT recommendation responses (May 2026, US) found that “App store listings account for nearly half of all sources ChatGPT cites when recommending apps” — 38% from the App Store and 9.5% from Google Play. And Apple itself now runs language models over your metadata: App Store “app tags” are “generated using large language models (LLMs) based on the metadata you've provided in App Store Connect.”
According to ASOitis, the App Store description has quietly become an SEO and AI asset: Apple says it isn't a ranking field for App Store search, but App Store pages are crawlable web pages and AppTweak found that store listings make up nearly half of the sources ChatGPT cites when recommending apps — so write the description for the people and models reading it, not for Apple's search index.
Google's position on its own AI features is simple. Its AI features guide says “there are no additional requirements to appear in AI Overviews or AI Mode” beyond normal SEO, and “you don't need to create new machine readable files, AI text files, or markup to appear in these features.” Other assistants work differently; our ASO vs GEO guide covers getting an app cited by ChatGPT, Perplexity and Claude.
What an indie app should do first
- ASO first. Apple says 70% of App Store visitors use search to discover apps and almost 65% of downloads happen directly after a search (2022 data, on its Apple Ads site). Get the name, subtitle and keyword field right.
- Write the description for humans and models. Plain sentences saying what the app does, for whom, and how it differs — the text assistants quote.
- Give your app a real website. One page per key use case, so Google has something to rank and assistants have something to cite beyond the store.
- Earn brand searches. Creators, PR and communities drive the searches both engines reward.
- Collect ratings at the right moment. They count in App Store search and they're shown in results — see how to ask.
Frequently asked questions
Is ASO the same as SEO?
No. ASO ranks apps inside an app store using a few metadata fields plus downloads, ratings and reviews. SEO ranks web pages in search engines using page content, links and page experience. The research approach is similar; the levers are different.
Does the App Store description help ranking?
Not in App Store search: Apple lists the title, subtitle, keywords and primary category as the text it matches, and tells developers not to add keywords to the description to improve search results. On Google Play the description is indexed, and App Store pages can be read by Google and AI assistants.
Do backlinks help App Store rankings?
Apple doesn't list links as a ranking signal. Outside promotion helps indirectly by driving downloads and searches for your app's name, which Apple does count as user behavior.
Are App Store pages indexed by Google?
They're built to be: apps.apple.com allows crawling of app pages, lists them in sitemaps and sets canonical URLs. Neither Apple nor Google publishes a statement on how they rank, but the pages are open to crawlers.
Should an app company do SEO or ASO first?
For most indie iOS apps, ASO first: Apple says most App Store visitors discover apps through search. Then build a website and a clear description so Google and AI assistants can find and cite the app.
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