ASO Documentation

Apple Ads playbook

Apple Ads works best when it is tied to ASO. Use the same keywords you care about organically, keep the first campaign boring, and scale only when the keyword turns into revenue.

Benchmarks to watch

TTR around 15%

A tap-through rate near 15% is a good sign that the keyword and creative match the search. It is a guidepost, not a universal rule.

CR above 75%

If product page conversion is weak, fix the icon, screenshots, and first promise before increasing bids.

Revenue over CPI

Cheap installs are not the goal. Watch trials, paid conversions, revenue, and ROAS by keyword and country.

Fix the App Store page first

Your icon and screenshots are the sales page. Bad screenshots make paid traffic more expensive because people tap, hesitate, and leave.

First campaign setup

Choose Search Results only

Start with Search Results because the intent is clean. The user is already looking for something. Leave Today tab, Search tab, and Product Pages for later.

Pick countries carefully

Do not throw every country into one campaign. Separate markets when language, purchasing power, app relevance, or LTV is different.

Use manual bids

Choose Manage bids. Start with a daily budget you are comfortable losing, then start around EUR 0.50 to EUR 1 CPT, or about $1 max CPT. If nothing spends, increase slowly.

Keep the audience simple

Use all eligible users and the default ad for the first campaign. Do not add audience rules until you have keyword signal.

Research setup

For a new or revival campaign, it is fine to put the first research keywords in one ad group. Once you see signal, split only the winners into tighter Exact campaigns.

Budget notes

  • Start with what you can lose: The first campaign is research. Set the daily budget to an amount you can spend without needing the test to be perfect.
  • $100 credit: If Apple offers your account a $100 credit, use it to learn which keywords and countries deserve more budget.
  • $300/day is not a starting point: That kind of daily budget is scale context for an app that already has signal, not what a new account needs on day one.
  • Big tests can hurt profit: A $2K experiment can produce learning and still hurt short-term profit. Keep early tests narrow.

Keyword setup

  • Disable Search Match: Search Match can burn budget before you know what works. Turn it off for the first campaign.
  • Add keywords manually: Start from your title, subtitle, keyword field, competitor names, App Store autocomplete, and the terms you want to rank for organically.
  • Use Exact match first: Exact means Apple should show the ad only when the user searches that exact keyword. Broad match comes later.
  • Test competitors: Competitor keywords are worth testing, but judge them by trials and revenue, not curiosity clicks.
  • Keep groups tight: After the research phase, move only the few promising terms into tighter Exact campaigns. Do not scale 50 half-good keywords.

Daily checks

When a campaign is new, check it daily. You are looking for signal, not instant certainty.

  • Impressions: If there are almost none, your bid may be too low or the keyword may be too narrow.
  • TTR: Low TTR usually means the keyword, icon, title, or screenshot promise is not matching the search.
  • CR: Low conversion often means the product page is not selling. Look at screenshots first.
  • Spend and installs: Useful, but not enough. A cheap install can still be a bad user.
  • Trials, paid conversions, revenue, ROAS: These are the numbers that decide whether to scale.

Optimization loop

  • Run the first pass for about a week: Use the exact keywords you are also testing for organic ASO. Avoid very expensive markets at first unless you can afford the learning.
  • Do not kill keywords too early: Early Apple Ads data can lie. Wait for enough taps, installs, or spend before making the call.
  • Read keyword and country together: A keyword can lose money in one country and pay back in another.
  • Move winners to Exact: After a few days of signal, create tighter Exact campaigns with only the keywords that look profitable.
  • Scale what pays back: Raise budgets and bids for keywords with revenue or clear ROAS. Do not scale only because CPI is low.

Country and LTV traps

  • Cheap countries can be expensive: A EUR0.40 CPA can be worse than a EUR0.66 CPA if the lower-cost country has much lower LTV.
  • US can look scary: The US is often more competitive, but higher LTV can make a higher CPA worth it.
  • Non-English markets can be gold: Apple Ads can work especially well when competitors ignore localization and local keyword intent.

For market selection and pricing, use the localization and pricing guide.

Attribution and revenue

  • Apple gives spend and installs: That is not enough to decide scale. You need trials, paid conversions, revenue, and ROAS if you want keyword-level decisions.
  • Track revenue from ad taps: Organic lift is nice, but direct paid revenue tells you which keywords actually pay.
  • Influenced installs can muddy the picture: If an ad is shown and the user installs organically later, Apple can still attribute influence to Apple Ads. Keep that in mind when reading results.

Why AppSprint ASO helps here

AppSprint ASO keeps Apple Ads work next to keyword and App Store context, so you can compare paid signal with organic ranking targets instead of optimizing inside the Apple Ads UI alone.

Ratings before scale

  • Ratings help ASO and ads: More reviews and a stronger rating can improve organic ranking, tap-through, and product page conversion.
  • Ask paying users: A good prompt moment is after a paying user completes a useful action. They have already seen value.
  • Do not prompt too early: Asking before users get value can create negative reviews and hurt the listing.

Common mistakes

  • Scaling before the page converts: If CR is bad, fix the icon, first screenshot, and promise before buying more traffic.
  • Mixing every country together: You will hide what works and what loses money.
  • Judging only by CPI: The cheapest installs are often not the best users.
  • Letting Broad match run too early: Broad can be useful later, but it burns budget fast when you do not have data.
  • Treating credits like free money: If your account gets a $100 credit, use it to learn. Do not spray it across random keywords.

The simple rule

Start narrow, measure revenue, move winners into tighter campaigns, and keep ASO and Apple Ads pointed at the same search intent.

Connect Apple Ads

To connect Apple Ads credentials to AppSprint ASO, use the Apple Ads credentials guide.