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"We need more gold users..."

Sound familiar? Many apps and games expand to international markets to reach a wider audience. This is an excellent growth strategy, but you need to translate not just the app itself, but also its store page — that is, localize your ASO (App Store Optimization). Otherwise, imagine: your game is localized into 10 languages, but when a German user finds it in the store, they'll see the description and screenshots in English. Of course, they'll assume there's no German version.

ASO metadata localization is essential so users can easily find your app in their language. For example, RetouchMe (a professional photo retouching app) saw a significant boost in rankings after localizing their metadata into 10 languages. Following this success, RetouchMe localized into 35 languages.

What Goes into ASO Optimization?

When talking about ASO, keywords usually come to mind first. But keywords aren't the only thing that improves your app's search ranking and affects installs.

Let's look at what page elements are part of ASO optimization:

App name
Subtitle
App description
Keywords
Icon
Screenshots
Video

Let's go through each element and see what needs to be localized.

Text Localization on the Store Page

Name and Subtitle

Usually, there's one English name that's kept across all languages. Sometimes names are transliterated: for example, "Bon Voyage" becomes "Бон Вояж" (Russian) or "틴더" (Korean, sounds like "Tindeo"). Ideally, the name includes universal words known worldwide — for example, "War Robots." Pixonic shared that the game was originally called "Walking War Robots," but it was shortened to the more concise and understandable "War Robots."

Example: Consider how the game name "Blocky Cars" might change depending on the locale. For China and Turkey, the name could be translated, but the original "Blocky Cars" might be kept in parentheses.

For each locale, different keywords are strategically used. For Italy, the keyword "online games" might be used in the name; for the UK — "online shooter"; for Turkey — "tank game"; and for China and France, keywords in English might even be present in the name. All these words are the result of analytical work: it's necessary to find out which keywords would rank at the top for each locale and use them in the name.

Subtitle exists only in the App Store, and it compensates for the short name (in App Store it's only 30 characters, while in Google Play it's 50). You can add keywords that didn't fit in the name to the subtitle.

Description

In Google Play, there's a short description — the first 80 characters of the description, those 1-2 lines you can click to read the full description. We recommend regularly conducting A/B testing of the short description.

Some developers translate only these few lines to attract new users. But if your description contains important information about game modes, terms of use, etc. — you need to translate the entire description.

Remember that App Store and Google Play index different metadata: App Store indexes the name, subtitle, and keywords, while Google Play indexes all text on the app page, including the developer company name.

For Google Play, you'll need to carefully place keywords throughout the description so they fit organically into the text. It's believed that the first 160 characters carry the most weight for indexing, so it's worth using the most relevant keywords at the beginning of the description.

Keywords

While ASO is often called "SEO for mobile apps," you can't judge keyword popularity by its search frequency on the web. Mobile app searches differ from web searches. Use specialized ASO tools to find which keywords users search for in app stores.

Visual Elements

Icon usually stays the same across all locales, as it's part of the brand identity. However, sometimes developers adapt icons for specific markets — for example, changing colors or cultural symbols that may have different meanings in different countries.

Screenshots definitely need to be localized. They're what users see first, and they directly affect conversion. Screenshots with text in the user's native language convert better.

Video (trailer) also benefits from localization, especially if it contains text overlays or voiceovers.

How Often Should You Update ASO?

ASO optimization is an ongoing process. You should:

Monitor rankings for key keywords regularly
Update keywords based on market trends and competitor analysis
Test different variations of names and descriptions (A/B testing)
Respond to user feedback and adjust metadata accordingly

Some developers update ASO monthly, while others do it quarterly. Successful apps in the US rarely change anything, as ASO shows stable results there.

How do you know when something needs to change? Conduct A/B testing on Google Play: this helps understand which direction to move with descriptions, which icon brought more users to the page, etc. Use marketing tools that allow you to see your app's position for a particular search query. They also help check the chances your game has for a desired keyword.

Promising Markets for App Localization and ASO Work

Perhaps your app is currently available in only a few popular languages, and you want to know where to go next. Here's a classic set of languages that we recommend for localization:

Tier 1 (High Priority):

Spanish (Spain, Mexico)
French (France, Canada)
German
Japanese
Korean
Portuguese (Brazil)
Italian
Chinese (Simplified, Traditional)

Tier 2 (Growth Markets):

Russian
Turkish
Arabic
Hindi
Indonesian
Thai
Vietnamese

These are languages we recommend for localizing games. You may want to test these markets before ordering full game localization. Translating the game page — that is, ASO localization — helps test the potential of specific markets for your game. This is the so-called Minimum Viable Localization (localization with minimum viable effort).

Choose several languages your app page isn't localized into yet — for example, Korean, Turkish, and Brazilian Portuguese. Try translating the description, text on screenshots, keywords in the name — and observe how downloads and page visitors from Korea, Turkey, and Brazil increase.

There are countries that don't require full localization: for example, India, Vietnam, Malaysia. Translating only the page is enough — conversion increases, and users don't complain about the lack of a localized game version.

Note that entering the Japanese, Korean, and especially Chinese markets differs significantly from what we're used to in Western countries. Be prepared for the nuances of Eastern markets.

The world has many fast-growing markets, and it's better to take a position early. If you're inspired by the growth opportunities through localization and ASO in other languages, consider starting with ASO localization before full app translation.

Conclusion

ASO localization is a powerful growth tool that can significantly expand your app's audience. Start by localizing your store page metadata (name, subtitle, description, screenshots), test different markets, and then scale successful localizations.

Key takeaways:

✅ Localize store page metadata for better discoverability
✅ Use market-specific keywords in names and descriptions
✅ Translate screenshots and visual content
✅ Test markets with ASO localization before full app localization
✅ Monitor and optimize continuously

Ready to scale your app globally? Automate your App Store localization and save hours of manual work.

Questions? Check out our Documentation or contact us at [email protected].

Quick Growth Hack: ASO Localization in Multiple Languages