How do you grow a mobile app in the App Store?

The biggest ASO lesson from taking this app from $114 → $1,190 MRR in ~2 months:

I care much less about chasing the obvious high-volume keywords now.

Most of my keyword research is focused on finding the intersection between popularity and difficulty.

Enough people need to be searching for it, but I also need a realistic path to ranking high enough for that demand to matter.

That sounds simple, but doing it consistently across different markets and localizations has been one of the biggest drivers for me.

The screenshot is basically what I look for now: relevant keywords with real search demand where the competition still leaves room to rank.

Much rather own 50 of those than spend months fighting for one massive keyword.

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Most devs launch in English and hope for the best.

I localized my store listing into 52 languages on Day 1.

The Result: Japan is now my #1 market (tied with the US at 13%). While my English traffic actually dipped by 29%, my Japanese listing views spiked 198%.

Localize early. It’s a "Blue Ocean" for SEO. 🌊

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Apple Search Ads - ~5% of growth, at $30-40/day. Small, but profitable and predictable. I keep it tight on a handful of converting keywords instead of chasing volume. It basically buys the top of my own category terms.

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