How to Read Your ASOhack Audit Score (Category-by-Category Breakdown)

What Your ASOhack Audit Score Actually Means

When you paste an app URL into the ASOhack audit tool, you get back a single number between 0 and 100. That number is a weighted composite of six category scores, each measuring a distinct part of your App Store or Google Play presence.

Before diving into the categories, here is how the overall score maps to real-world performance:

• 86–100 — Top-tier listing. Strong metadata, clean visuals, competitive positioning. Most apps in this band are already in the top 5–10% of their category.
• 76–85 — Solid foundation with clear gaps. Usually one or two categories are dragging the total down. Targeted fixes here produce the fastest ranking gains.
• 40–75 — Room for significant improvement. The majority of indie apps score in the 48–68 range on their first run. This is not a failure — it is the baseline that most ASO work starts from.
• Below 40 — Fundamental issues present. Metadata is likely thin, screenshots are not optimized for conversion, or technical problems are limiting indexation.

The six category scores are not equally weighted. Categories that directly affect discoverability and conversion carry more weight than categories that represent polish or future opportunity.

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The Six Categories, Explained

ASO Metadata

Metadata is the highest-weight category because it determines whether the stores' algorithms index your app for the right searches.

The audit evaluates:

• Title keyword placement — Does your primary keyword appear in the title? Apps with their top keyword in the title rank higher for that term than apps that bury it in the description.
• Subtitle and short description efficiency — For iOS, the subtitle (30 characters) is the second most indexed field after the title. For Android, the short description (80 characters) is surfaced prominently in search results. Both should contain distinct, high-value keywords — not a restatement of the title.
• iOS keyword field usage — The 100-character keyword field is invisible to users but directly indexed by the App Store algorithm. The audit checks for common waste: repeated words already in your title, spaces instead of commas as separators, and under-utilization (leaving characters unused).
• Android description structure — Google Play indexes the full long description for search. The first 167 characters appear above the fold. The audit checks keyword density, keyword placement in the first paragraph, and whether the description reads naturally versus being keyword-stuffed (which Google's algorithm now penalizes).

Use the Keyword Density Checker alongside your audit score to see exactly which fields are under-utilizing your target terms.

Reviews and Ratings

Your rating and review profile affects both algorithmic ranking and conversion. The stores use rating signals as a quality proxy, and users use them as a trust signal before downloading.

The audit evaluates:

• Rating floor — A rating below 4.0 starts to suppress conversion. Below 3.7, the effect is measurable in download data. The 4.2 and 4.5 thresholds matter for competitive positioning in categories where most apps are clustered near 4.5.
• Review recency — Apps with no reviews in the past 30 days score lower than apps with consistent recent feedback. The algorithm weights recent signals more heavily than historical ratings.
• Developer response rate — Apps where the developer responds to reviews (especially critical ones) show higher conversion rates. The audit checks whether you are responding and whether responses are substantive versus generic.
• Sentiment analysis — The audit surfaces recurring themes in recent reviews. Positive clusters (praised features) and negative clusters (reported bugs, UX friction points) both inform where to focus.
• Complaint patterns — Repeated complaints about the same issue signal an unfixed problem that is actively suppressing ratings. The audit flags these.

The Review Analyzer gives you a full sentiment breakdown and surfaces the exact phrases users repeat most often.

Ads and Paid Acquisition

This category measures how well your listing is set up to support paid campaigns — Apple Search Ads on iOS and Google UAC/App Campaigns on Android.

The audit evaluates:

• ASA keyword candidates — For iOS apps, the audit identifies which keywords in your metadata are strong candidates for Apple Search Ads exact-match bids. Keywords that appear in both the title and the keyword field tend to have higher relevance scores in ASA, which lowers your cost-per-tap.
• Creative asset quality for iOS — ASA Basic automatically pulls your App Store screenshots. If those screenshots are weak at thumbnail scale, your ASA campaigns will underperform regardless of bid. The audit scores your screenshots on the same vision model used in the Conversion category (see below).
• UAC asset quality for Android — Google's App Campaigns use your Play Store screenshots, preview video (if present), and description copy to auto-generate ad creatives. The audit checks whether you have the recommended minimum number of assets and whether the quality meets Google's documented performance thresholds.
• CTA clarity — Screenshots that include a clear call to action perform better in paid acquisition contexts. The audit checks whether your first screenshot establishes the core value proposition within the first three seconds of viewing.

Conversion

Conversion measures how effectively your listing page turns impressions into downloads. It is the most visually-focused category and uses computer vision to evaluate what a user actually sees.

The audit evaluates:

• Screenshot scores — Each screenshot is analyzed across four axes: legibility at thumbnail scale (can the text be read at 100px height?), visual hierarchy (does the eye land on the right element first?), feature signal clarity (does the image communicate a specific feature or benefit?), and brand coherence (does the screenshot feel like it belongs to a polished app?).
• Icon recognizability — Your icon is the first visual element users see in search results. The audit evaluates distinctiveness, legibility at small sizes, and whether the icon clearly communicates the app's category.
• Feature graphic (Android only) — The Play Store feature graphic appears at the top of your listing and is used as the thumbnail in Editors' Choice sections. Apps without a feature graphic, or with a generic one, score lower.
• First-three-lines value proposition — On the App Store, the first 167 characters of the description appear before the "more" fold. On Play Store, the short description is always visible. The audit checks whether you are using this space to state your primary benefit — not to describe features.

Use Screenshot Lab to generate and test new screenshot designs before updating your listing.

A common surprise: elaborate, visually rich screenshots sometimes score lower than simpler designs. The vision model evaluates at thumbnail scale, which is how most users encounter your screenshots in search results. A screenshot that looks impressive at full size can be unreadable at 100px height, which is the effective display size in search result rows on most devices.

Competitive Position

Competitive position measures how your listing compares to the top three apps in your primary category.

The audit evaluates:

• Metadata overlap — How much keyword overlap exists between your title/subtitle and the titles/subtitles of the top-ranking apps? High overlap means you are competing for the same terms; low overlap may indicate you are missing keywords that are proven to rank.
• Category, price, and rating delta — If the top three apps are free and you are paid, or rated 4.7 and you are rated 4.1, those gaps are quantified and weighted into your score.
• Listing completeness gap — If competitors have preview videos and you do not, or if they have 10 screenshots and you have 4, the audit flags the completeness gap as a competitive disadvantage.

The Metrics dashboard shows your competitive position over time, including ranking history and how your listing changes compare to competitor updates.

Technical Health

Technical health covers the mechanics of a complete, correctly configured listing. It is the lowest-weight category in the overall score because most issues are easy to fix once identified — but unfixed, they limit everything else.

The audit evaluates:

• Listing completeness — Are all available fields filled in? Missing age ratings, missing support URLs, or missing privacy nutrition labels can suppress your listing in search results.
• Localisation — Does your listing have translations for your top markets? Apps with localized metadata consistently outrank English-only listings in non-English markets, even for English-language apps.
• Screenshot dimensions — Are screenshots provided in all required sizes for the device classes you support? Missing screenshot sizes can result in the store auto-generating screenshots, which almost always underperform custom assets.
• Content and age rating — Incorrect or overly restrictive age ratings limit your audience. The audit checks whether your declared content rating matches the content described in your listing.

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Which Category to Fix First

The most common mistake developers make when reading their audit report is fixing the category they find most interesting rather than the category that will have the most impact.

The general priority order is:

1. Technical Health — Fix these first. Technical issues are usually quick to resolve, and unresolved technical problems reduce the impact of every other improvement.
2. ASO Metadata — Metadata changes affect indexation within 24–72 hours of your update going live. Higher indexation means more impressions, which amplifies every downstream improvement.
3. Conversion — Better screenshots and icon lift your download rate from existing impressions immediately. Even a 10% improvement in conversion rate on a listing with 1,000 daily impressions is 100 additional downloads per day.
4. Competitive Position — Addressing competitive gaps is higher-effort but produces durable improvements. Copying a competitor's successful metadata pattern is not plagiarism — it is reading the market signal correctly.
5. Reviews and Ratings — Improving your rating is a medium-term play. Respond to existing reviews now, but rating improvement happens over weeks and months, not days.
6. Ads and Paid Acquisition — Address this last unless you are actively running paid campaigns. If you are, move it to position 2 or 3.

The audit report's "Top Fixes" section orders recommendations by estimated impact, not by ease. Follow that order, not your own intuition about what is easiest to change.

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How the AI Vision Analysis Works

The Conversion and Ads categories both use a vision model to evaluate your screenshots. Understanding how this works helps you interpret unexpected scores.

The model evaluates each screenshot on four axes:

1. Legibility — Can the primary text be read at 100px display height? Text smaller than 14pt at full resolution typically fails this check at thumbnail scale.
2. Visual hierarchy — Is there a clear primary focal point? Screenshots with competing elements of equal visual weight score lower because the eye has no clear landing point.
3. Feature signal — Does the screenshot communicate a specific, identifiable feature or benefit within 200ms of viewing? Abstract lifestyle imagery scores lower than concrete UI demonstrations.
4. Brand coherence — Does the screenshot feel consistent with a polished, professional app? Inconsistent fonts, unbalanced color use, and low-contrast overlays all reduce this score.

The vision model evaluates at thumbnail scale because that is the context in which most users first encounter your screenshots: in App Store search results, the screenshot strip is approximately 100–120px tall on most device sizes. A screenshot that looks compelling at 1200px may communicate nothing at 100px if the primary text is small or the layout is complex.

This is why elaborate, premium-looking screenshots sometimes score lower than simple, high-contrast designs. Simplicity at small scale translates directly to conversion.

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When to Re-Audit

The audit score reflects your listing at the moment of the scan. It does not update automatically. You should re-audit:

• After every app update — Wait 72 hours after your update goes live before re-running. The stores take time to re-index metadata changes, and Apple CDN takes time to propagate new screenshots.
• Monthly minimum — Even without updates, your competitive position changes as competitors update their listings. A monthly re-audit catches drift before it compounds.
• Before launching a paid campaign — Running Apple Search Ads or Google UAC against an unoptimized listing wastes budget. Run the audit and address Critical findings before spending on acquisition.
• After a rating dip — If your rating drops by 0.1 or more in a short window, re-audit to check the Reviews category and surface the complaints driving the decline.

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Frequently Asked Questions

What is a good ASOhack audit score?

For a newly listed app, anything above 65 is a reasonable starting point. For an app that has been live for more than six months, you should be targeting 75 or above. The top 10% of listings in any category typically score 85 or higher. A score above 90 is achievable but requires sustained attention across all six categories.

My score changed between audits but I did not update my listing. Why?

The Competitive Position category is dynamic. If a competitor updated their listing, changed their price, or gained or lost reviews, your relative score against them changes. The Reviews category can also shift if new reviews come in — positive or negative — changing your recency and sentiment scores. Technical Health can flag new issues if Apple or Google updates their listing requirements.

I have a high ASO Metadata score but I am not ranking for my target keywords. What is happening?

Metadata quality is a necessary but not sufficient condition for ranking. The algorithm also weighs download velocity, conversion rate, and ratings for a given keyword. You can have perfect metadata and still rank below an app with weaker metadata if that app has significantly more downloads or a higher rating. Fix your Conversion and Reviews scores concurrently with Metadata — ranking is a function of all three.

The audit showed competitors I do not recognize. Are they actually competing with me?

The audit identifies competitive listings based on category, primary keyword, and price tier — not brand recognition. A competitor you do not recognize may be outranking you for your primary keyword even though you have never heard of them. Check the Competitive Position section of your report for their ranking data.

Will fixing my audit score guarantee more downloads?

No tool can guarantee downloads. What the audit score measures is how well your listing is set up to convert the traffic the stores send you. A higher score means you are capturing more of the opportunity that already exists. If your category has low search volume or your app is solving a problem with limited demand, a perfect audit score will not manufacture demand that is not there.

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Next Steps: Your Five-Tool Checklist

Run through these in order after reading your audit report:

1. Check your keyword coverage and identify under-used fields with the Keyword Density Checker.
2. Read your recent reviews and surface the complaint patterns with the Review Analyzer.
3. Test new screenshot designs at thumbnail scale with Screenshot Lab.
4. Track your ranking history and competitive position in the Metrics dashboard.
5. Re-run the full ASO Audit after making changes and waiting 72 hours.

Each tool surfaces different data. The audit score is the starting point — the individual tools are where the actual optimization work happens.