Most indie ASO is built on one person’s gut feel about what users type. That works until the next competitor walks in with a tool, looks at your title, and copies the same vibes-based keywords. AI cannot replace a real ASO tool, but it can do the structured first pass: cluster terms by intent, flag the obviously hard ones, and propose three title/subtitle options that each carry the keyword weight.
The task
Produce a 20-30 keyword shortlist with intent (problem-aware, solution-aware, brand), an estimated difficulty band (low/med/high), and three title/subtitle combos that each carry the strongest keywords without sounding stuffed.
When this is the right job for AI
- You have a description and one specific locale (en-US, ja-JP, zh-CN — pick one per pass).
- You have a real list of 5-10 competitors by App Store name.
- You can describe your two clearest user personas in a sentence each.
- You are willing to validate difficulty estimates against Sensor Tower / AppTweak afterward — AI guesses based on linguistic priors, not real data.
- You want the title/subtitle to read like English, not Scrabble.
What to feed the AI
- App description (the actual current store listing, not a marketing tagline)
- Locale (en-US, ja-JP, etc.) — keyword behavior is locale-specific
- 5-10 competitor app names with one-line positioning
- 2 user personas in one sentence each (“ADHD adult who forgets meds”, “indie iOS dev planning their first launch”)
- Current title and subtitle (so AI does not propose what you already have)
- The 3 keywords you are most afraid of losing (your brand, your category, your hero feature)
Copy-ready prompt
You are an ASO analyst. Locale: en-US, App Store.
App description (current):
"Daily — a one-tap habit tracker for ADHD adults. No streaks, no leaderboard, no shame. Pick one habit and check it off in under 3 seconds a day."
Current title: "Daily — Habit Tracker"
Current subtitle: "Calm, one-tap habit tracker"
Personas:
1. ADHD adult who has tried 4+ habit apps, hates streak pressure.
2. Therapy-seeking adult tracking a single mood or medication.
Competitors:
- Streaks (premium, streak-heavy)
- Habitica (gamified, RPG aesthetic)
- Way of Life (long-time tracker, dated UI)
- Done (clean, but streak-driven)
- Productive (broad, feature-heavy)
Keywords I cannot lose:
- "habit tracker"
- "adhd"
- "daily"
Output:
1. A keyword table with 24 rows. Columns:
- keyword
- intent: problem-aware / solution-aware / brand / accessibility-modifier
- difficulty band: low / med / high
- rationale in 6 words max
Mix in long-tail (3-4 word) phrases that match the persona language, not just head terms.
2. Three title + subtitle combos. Constraints:
- Title under 30 chars.
- Subtitle under 30 chars.
- Each combo must carry "habit tracker" and at least one persona-specific term.
- No keyword stuffing — read each one out loud.
- Show what each combo trades off.
3. Five risky keywords I should NOT chase, with a one-line reason each.
4. Two locale-specific tweaks I would miss if I only thought in en-US terms (synonyms, slang, App Store search-suggest behavior).
Rules:
- Do not invent install volume numbers. Difficulty is a band, not a precise score.
- Mark anything that requires real ASO-tool data as [verify in ASO tool].Sample output structure
Keyword table (24 rows). Highlights: “habit tracker adhd” (solution-aware, low-med, persona match), “one tap habit” (solution-aware, low, differentiator), “no streak habit” (problem-aware, low, niche but high intent), “habit tracker for adults” (solution-aware, med, broad bridge), “medication reminder” (adjacent, high, [verify in ASO tool]).
Title combos.
- Title: “Daily: ADHD Habit Tracker” / Subtitle: “One-tap, no streaks”. Trade-off: leads with ADHD, may scare off non-ADHD users searching general habit.
- Title: “Daily Habit Tracker” / Subtitle: “Calm, one-tap, ADHD-friendly”. Trade-off: broader top funnel; ADHD intent buried in subtitle.
- Title: “Daily — One-Tap Habit” / Subtitle: “ADHD-friendly tracker”. Trade-off: leads with the differentiator (“one-tap”), weaker on the head term.
Risky keywords to skip. “habit” alone (too broad, dominated by Productive). “tracker” alone (no intent). “self-care” (broad, off-positioning). “routine” (high difficulty, weak conversion). “discipline” (high competition, off-brand for an ADHD-friendly app).
Locale tweaks. en-US users search “for adults” more than “for grown-ups” — match that. App Store search-suggest in en-US auto-suggests “habit tracker for” + persona; align subtitle to land on those completions. [verify in ASO tool: search-suggest data for “habit tracker for adhd”].
How to refine
- Keywords are all head terms → require “at least 8 long-tail 3-4 word phrases.”
- Difficulty bands are uniform → demand “explain the band in 6 words; if everything is
med, you are not trying.” - Titles are stuffed → require “read each title aloud; if it sounds like a list, rewrite.”
- Persona language ignored → repeat “use the words the persona would type, not category jargon.”
- No trade-off named → enforce “each title combo names what it loses, not just what it gains.”
Common mistakes
- Optimizing for a head term you cannot rank for; you get neither the head nor the long-tail.
- Putting the differentiator only in the description — App Store search weighs title and subtitle much higher.
- Ignoring locale; en-US keyword winners are often the wrong picks in en-GB or en-IN.
- Changing the title every 2 weeks; rank takes time to settle. Pick a combo and live with it 6-8 weeks.
FAQ
- Can I skip a paid ASO tool? For a first pass, yes — but verify the top 5 keyword bets before you commit a title.
- How often should I revisit? Quarterly, plus any time a major competitor renames or you ship a new hero feature.
- What about keywords field (iOS) versus Play short description? Different mechanics — run the prompt once per platform. The intent table stays useful; the title/subtitle does not.
- Will adding ADHD in the title cost me general traffic? It will narrow you. That is the point if your retention from broad traffic is bad.
Related
- AI App Store Copy
- AI App Store Screenshots Copy
- AI App Review Reply
- AI Product Launch Copy
- AI User Persona
Tags: #AI writing #aso #App Store #app-product-ops #Indie dev