---
title: Which factors actually move App Store rankings (2026)
slug: aso-ranking-factors
summary: Steve P. Young's 2026 ranking of ASO factors — metadata and download volume first, ratings next; conversion, sales, retention secondary; updates, installs and backlinks least.
domain: mobile-apps
tags: [aso, ranking-factors, app-store, google-play]
related: [aso-metadata-fields-and-keyword-placement, aso-keyword-selection-criteria, aso-download-burst-after-metadata-update, aso-as-acquisition-channel, app-store-screenshot-copy-best-practices]
sources: [yt:ytAKZDh5eHU, yt:q3JuNLUKL1U, yt:bV5_OwDB35o]
updated: 2026-10-23
---

# Which factors actually move App Store rankings (2026)

## TL;DR
- **Most important:** metadata (title, subtitle, keyword field on iOS; title, short and long description on Google Play) and **download volume/velocity**.[^1]
- **Next:** ratings and reviews — they lift conversion, which helps paid channels, which feeds download volume.[^1]
- **Secondary:** product-page-view → download conversion, sales, and retention/engagement (big on Google, growing on iOS).[^2]
- **Least:** app update frequency, raw install counts, backlinks/external traffic.[^3]
- Rank position matters steeply: in Steve's data since 2013 the top 3 results take ~90% of clicks, most going to #1.[^4]

## Details
This is Steve P. Young's practitioner ranking (February 2026), not an Apple/Google statement.

**Tier 1 — metadata and downloads.** Your keywords in title/subtitle/keyword field remain, in his view, the single most important lever.[^1] Download volume is why established apps with paid UA or a social presence rank more easily: paid installs raise organic rankings.[^1] Big brands also earn high search scores on their *brand* term (Cal AI 62, another calorie tracker 67 in ASOMobile), which is a by-product of influencer and paid marketing, not ASO.[^5]

**Tier 2 — ratings and reviews.** More ratings → higher download likelihood → better paid efficiency → more volume for metadata to work with.[^1]

**Tier 3 — conversion, sales, retention.** Steve ignores App Store Connect's "impressions → downloads" rate ("I have no idea what impressions mean") but watches **product page view → download** and tests screenshots to raise it (see [[app-store-screenshot-copy-best-practices]]).[^2] Sales matter somewhat, but he has seen apps that rank worse out-earn better-ranked rivals.[^2] Retention/engagement is weighted by Google and, he believes, increasingly by Apple.[^2]

**Tier 4 — least.** Apps not updated for years still rank for some keywords; installs and backlinks matter little for in-store ranking (backlinks matter if you drive installs via web SEO).[^3]

**Position economics.** Because ~90% of clicks go to the top 3, being #4 for a big keyword (Cal AI for "calorie tracker", despite it being in their title) yields little.[^4][^5] Note that in the US and UK Apple now shows ads in the first slot and lower down, so organic #1 can appear as the second result (Steve, June 2026).[^6]

## Disagreements / caveats
- The ordering is one agency's experience; Apple and Google publish no weights.
- "Download velocity" is why Steve sometimes bursts downloads right after a metadata change — see [[aso-download-burst-after-metadata-update]].

## See also
- [[aso-metadata-fields-and-keyword-placement]] — where the keywords go
- [[aso-keyword-selection-criteria]] — which keywords to pick
- [[aso-as-acquisition-channel]] — when ASO alone is enough

[^1]: yt:ytAKZDh5eHU @ 01:33 — Steve P. Young
[^2]: yt:ytAKZDh5eHU @ 02:43 — Steve P. Young
[^3]: yt:ytAKZDh5eHU @ 03:36 — Steve P. Young
[^4]: yt:q3JuNLUKL1U @ 04:34 — Steve P. Young
[^5]: yt:bV5_OwDB35o @ 03:55 — Steve P. Young
[^6]: yt:q3JuNLUKL1U @ 03:42 — Steve P. Young