{"id":988333,"date":"2026-09-06T18:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-09-06T18:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/croncodestudio.com\/en\/?post_type=croncode_post&p=988333"},"modified":"2026-09-04T20:05:19","modified_gmt":"2026-09-04T20:05:19","slug":"the-aso-playbook-nobody-talks-about-positioning-a-new-consumer-app-in-a-saturated-category","status":"publish","type":"croncode_post","link":"https:\/\/croncodestudio.com\/en\/journal\/the-aso-playbook-nobody-talks-about-positioning-a-new-consumer-app-in-a-saturated-category\/","title":{"rendered":"The ASO Playbook Nobody Talks About: Positioning a New Consumer App in a Saturated Category"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Typically, ASO advice begins with keywords, which is already somewhat too late because by the time you choose your words, you\u2019ve made a choice that is already vital in determining whether or not the app stands a chance: which shelf to compete in. If you make the wrong choice, then all your keyword research is going to do is optimize you in the wrong competition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Keyword mechanics, on a technical level, are the easy part. You examine the search volume, evaluate keyword difficulty, incorporate the title and subtitles respecting the character limits, look into the competition\u2019s success. It is quite a tough job, and it matters, but it\u2019s an optimization that comes after a choice is made at another point in the system. The moment a person chooses the app segment is the moment they determine the category of the app \u2013 though, most probably, no one realizes that the choice has been made.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The important issue is: who are you really competing against in the App Store? In other words, which apps are closer to you than the competitions that you mentioned in your business pitch? Suppose one of the apps is a numerology app, and it wants to reference its other numerology apps as competitors on the app shelf. Then, the app may either think it competes against other numerology apps and niche players in this narrow sphere, or extend its viewpoint to see even bigger competitors like the astrology or spirituality apps. The main point here is that both competitors mentioned here could be described as the right and viable alternatives for the envisioned numerology app. However, only one of these apps is bringing profit with minimum investments in advertising and other value-adding functions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Choosing a competitive set deliberately means asking what you’d actually win, not what sounds most ambitious. A crowded category with weak incumbents beats an empty category nobody’s searching in, and a narrow category where you can plausibly be one of the top few results beats a broad one where you’re competing against apps with real marketing spend behind them. This is uncomfortable to say out loud in a room that wants to talk about total addressable market, because the honest version of the answer is often smaller and less exciting than the pitch.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is important to note that no money has to be spent in marketing activities, which is where most zero-cost growth advices miss the point. As far as organic App Store Optimization is concerned, it is a matter of proper categorization and then providing the most relevant answer to search queries of real users \u2013 this means that the copy of the application in the store should have a look of an answer targeted for a person rather than for an algorithm. The speed of getting reviews and ratings is underestimated by most business owners, and, as a rule, it heavily depends on choosing an appropriate category in which an application can excel. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The activities undertaken by croncode for its own applications always pass through the same evaluation process, where the smallest right category is checked against the broadest possible category. Numira’s ASO leaned into the specific numerology niche instead of the broader spirituality shelf, on the logic that being a strong, credible answer to a narrow search beats being a weak answer to a broad one. The subsequent keyword investigations are part of the work, yet they are not crucial \u2013 the category choice is what is essential.<\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Typically, ASO advice begins with keywords, which is already somewhat too late because by the time you choose your words, you\u2019ve made a choice that is already vital in determining whether or not the app stands a chance: which shelf to compete in. If you make the wrong choice, then all your keyword research is…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":988334,"template":"","croncode_category":[46,48],"croncode_author":[47],"class_list":["post-988333","croncode_post","type-croncode_post","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","croncode_category-blog","croncode_category-studio","croncode_author-yusufhan-sokur"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/croncodestudio.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/croncode_post\/988333","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/croncodestudio.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/croncode_post"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/croncodestudio.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/croncode_post"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/croncodestudio.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/988334"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/croncodestudio.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=988333"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"croncode_category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/croncodestudio.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/croncode_category?post=988333"},{"taxonomy":"croncode_author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/croncodestudio.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/croncode_author?post=988333"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}