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TL;DR
Steve Young’s live ASO Q&A: when launching brand new, pick 3-5 keywords and repeat them across title/subtitle/keyword field rather than stuffing all 100 characters — one keyword at search-score ~30 ranked #1 can drive 100-200 downloads/day. Pure white-hat ASO is no longer enough; you need a download-driving engine (free lifetime promos, paid ads, or a little “gray hat”) to get indexed and ranked. This source belongs to the app-masters-youtube batch.
Biggest lessons
- Don’t fill all 100 keyword characters when brand new. Pick 3-5 keywords, repeat the main one in title, subtitle, and keyword field, go all-in. Young got a meditation app to #1 this way; only later filled out the full 100.
- A single ~30 search-score keyword at #1 can fund a six-figure business. Target the right blend of traffic and low competition (difficulty under ~3-4 on most tools) — but treat tool difficulty scores as a barometer, not truth. Check live results: who actually has the keyword in their title/subtitle.
- White-hat ASO alone won’t rank you anymore. Competitors use black-hat (buying reviews, keyword boosting), paid ads, or viral TikTok. You need a download driver too. Young admits using “gray hat” once to hit #1, then stopping and holding the rank.
- Free-lifetime promos are a download engine, not a marketing cost. Run App Advice (free, requires ratings) for lifetime-free to boost downloads/ratings, then Indie App Santa (no ratings required) with a price-drop offer — one app made $1,000 in a day; another $7,000 in a month off a 2-day free push.
- iPad is a blue ocean. No tool separates iPhone/iPad search scores, so target higher-traffic keywords (40+) — they’re far easier to rank #1 on iPad. One client did $1.4M on iPad of $2M total.
- Google ads barely work on iOS. Focus iOS spend on Apple Search Ads (only a handful of exact-match keywords go ROI-positive even at $40-50k/mo spend), then Meta or TikTok. Check App Store Connect data — Meta under-reports installs, so a reported $5-6 CPI may really be $3-4.
Why it matters
- Reinforces the wiki’s core ASO playbook: keyword-blend targeting, live-results validation, and pairing ASO with a download driver rather than relying on metadata alone.
- The free-lifetime-promo loop (App Advice → Indie App Santa) is a concrete cheap launch tactic for indie apps with no ad budget.