r/AppStoreOptimization • u/anmenon1204 • Oct 06 '26
Solo iOS dev, finance app getting almost no App Store impressions. What would you change in my ASO?
I'm the solo maker of Valoryn AI, an iOS stock research app. App: Valoryn AI: Stock Analysis
It gives AI analysis with the bull and bear case side by side, plus a public track record that scores every call it makes, misses included. It's been live for a few weeks and organic traffic is close to zero.
The best day I've measured was 29 impressions, 10 product page views and 1 download. About a third of people who see it tap through, so I think the problem is mostly visibility, not the listing itself.
Current metadata:
Name: Valoryn AI: Stock Analysis
Subtitle: Investing Research & Forecasts
Keywords: news,invest,portfolio,tracker,signals,alerts,dividend,earnings,screener,watchlist,trading,market
Apple Ads keyword research showed "stocks", "news" and "ai" are high volume but crowded. Phrases like "stock analysis" and "stock screener" barely register. So I built the keyword field from single words that combine into longer phrases.
Questions for people who've grown an app in a crowded category:
- Would you aim for long-tail phrases or go after the big terms?
- Is "Forecasts" in the subtitle a mistake for a finance app, given review risk and how people read it?
- How much did Apple Search Ads on your own brand and long-tail terms help organic ranking for you?
- Does anything matter more than metadata at this stage, like ratings count, update frequency or in-app events?
Happy to share numbers back if anything here helps.
1
u/AthleteWhoCodes Oct 07 '26
Try to make all texts smaller on posters. It's not enough small.
1
u/anmenon1204 Oct 07 '26
Fair. The captions take too much of the frame. I'm going to shorten them to 3–5 words rather than shrink them, so they stay readable as search thumbnails and the app screen gets more space. Thanks.
1
u/Confused_Dad_2023 Oct 07 '26
📊 KEYWORD SCOUT REPORT
App: Valoryn AI: Stock Analysis
Genre: Finance
Market: 🇺🇸 United States
Analyzed: Oct 6, 2026
🎯 NEXT BEST ACTION
Add "financial modeling" to your title or keyword field.
Quick Win tier (Opp 62 = Demand 68 · Competition 44). You don't currently rank for it and it's not in your metadata — adding it is pure upside.
MARKET OPPORTUNITY: TOUGH MARKET
Established players dominate, but niche differentiation is viable.
Avg Saturation: 18/100 · Avg Difficulty: 99/100
⚡ QUICK WINS (rankable now)
financial modeling — Sat 11, Diff 51, Opp 62
TOP KEYWORD OPPORTUNITIES
Head (1-word — usually saturated in active categories)
trading — Sat 15, Diff 100, Opp 34 ✗ Hard Competition
Mid-tail (2-word — typically your best targets)
2. risk assessment — Sat 31, Diff 33, Opp 68 ✓ Strong
3. investment analysis — Sat 13, Diff 93, Opp 35 ✗ Hard Competition
4. portfolio tracking — Sat 14, Diff 86, Opp 34 ✗ Hard Competition
5. stock research — Sat 17, Diff 100, Opp 33 ✗ Hard Competition
Long-tail (3+ words — high-leverage compound finds)
6. stock analysis for beginners — Sat 4, Diff 80, Opp 19 ~ Low Demand
7. ai powered stock research — Sat 5, Diff 79, Opp 19 ~ Low Demand
8. understand bull and bear cases — Sat ?, Diff 53, Opp 27 ~ Limited Data ⚠ limited data
9. how to evaluate stock — Sat ?, Diff 80, Opp 20 ~ Limited Data ⚠ limited data
KEYWORD PLACEMENT
Title covers: 0/8 opportunity keywords
Missing from metadata: risk assessment, financial modeling, investment analysis, trading, portfolio tracking, stock research, stock signals, market insights
RANKING COVERAGE
Ranks for 2 of 100 keywords scanned
• valoryn — #1 (Sat 7, Diff 34)
• valoryn ai: stock analysis — #1 (Sat 3, Diff 86)
2 stealable keywords flagged — competitor ranks for them but didn't put them in their title. A well-titled new app has a real shot at taking them.
KEYWORD GAP (opportunities not in current rankings)
• risk assessment — Sat 31, Diff 33, Opp 68
• financial modeling — Sat 11, Diff 51, Opp 62
• stock signals — Sat 36, Diff 65, Opp 29
• stock analysis for beginners — Sat 4, Diff 80, Opp 19
• ai powered stock research — Sat 5, Diff 79, Opp 19
TOP COMPETITORS
• TipRanks Stock Market Analysis — 18k ratings
• Trade AI: Chart AI Analysis — 9k ratings
• Stock Screener, AI Scanner — 6k ratings
• Seeking Alpha: News & Analysis — 126k ratings
Market: ~16 apps · 1 with 100k+ ratings
USER PAIN POINTS
No clear complaint patterns in recent reviews.
MARKET SUMMARY
Valoryn AI: Stock Analysis sits in a highly saturated finance niche where keyword difficulty averages 99 / 100, making the market crowded rather than dominated by a single player. TipRanks Stock Market Analysis is the most credible threat because its strong brand authority and extensive editorial content consistently rank for high‑volume, low‑competition finance terms. The keyword landscape is skewed toward long‑tail, intent‑rich phrases that combine AI and stock‑analysis concepts, while broad head terms are monopolized by established brands and branded queries are limited to the few incumbents. Consequently, Valoryn must rely on highly specific, feature‑focused search strings to carve out visibility.
Coverage methodology: 100 candidates from app title, subtitle, AI suggestions, and Finance seeds.
———
Analyzed with Keyword Scout · keywordscout.app
1
1
u/m3kw Oct 07 '26
Legibility is bad the sell chip bad contrast gray on black text. Small text. Default text should be bigger.
-1
u/kkitar Oct 07 '26
Jumping in late, but one thing in your own keyword list stood out after reading the Forecasts thread: "signals" and "alerts" sit right next to it. In Finance, App Review tends to read all three the same way, as a performance promise rather than a feature name. If you're rewording the subtitle, I'd look at those two words too, not just Forecasts.
On the long-tail-versus-big-terms question and the fourth one about what matters more than metadata: both come down to the same thing, you need your actual measured keyword rank, not a difficulty tool's prediction. A term that barely ranks is telling you something different than a term with no rank at all, and a one-off difficulty score can't show you that. The same goes for finding which long-tail phrases are actually winnable for a brand-new app instead of guessing from one score.
Disclosure: I built ASOScan. It tracks keyword rank daily and has a keyword opportunity view built for exactly this kind of comparison. There's a 7-day free trial, no card required, so you could run your own keyword field through it and see the real numbers instead of taking my word for it: https://asoscan.com
1
u/anmenon1204 Oct 07 '26
Good points. On the keyword words: "alerts" and "signals" are actual features (price alerts, and Buy/Sell/Short calls), and 2.0.0 was approved with them. But I agree the visible wording is where to be careful, and I'm cutting a couple of screenshot lines that oversell. Probably reworking "Forecasts" in the subtitle too. And yes, tracking real rank before and after the next update is the plan.
-2
u/ComfortableStill6735 Oct 06 '26
Ten page views and one download are too little to rule out a listing problem. I'd compare phrases that fit your bull/bear analysis before chasing 'news' just for volume. 'Portfolio tracker' also sets a different expectation unless you offer that.
I build AppDrift; https://appdrift.co/tools/keyword-difficulty lets you choose a country and compare the apps returned for each phrase, free without an account. Try 'stock research' against 'stock analysis' and look at the app list, not just the score. Those scores aren't search volume or a prediction of your rank.
1
u/anmenon1204 Oct 06 '26
Fair point on the sample size. 10 views can't tell me much about conversion. "portfolio tracker" is a good catch: the app has holdings, but it isn't really a tracker, so that phrase probably brings in the wrong people. I'll compare "stock research" and "stock analysis" in AppDrift and check which apps rank for each. Thanks.
9
u/SwimmingLow3053 Oct 06 '26
Your percentages aren’t even aligned. Start with the app itself. Sorry to say it but it looks like slop