Practitioner pattern · Steve Young (Runs App Masters, an ASO/Apple Ads agency and course business; ASO Mobile, the keyword tool he recommends, sponsors his channel)
Pick keywords where the top 3 apps have few reviews and lack the keyword in their title
Used to launch and buy apps that reached #1; no pooled numbers
Workedasomarket-selection
What they did
Start from categories with high revenue per install and 'painkiller' niches (green noise, migraine tracker vs meditation). Search a broad term and look for an app ranking high with few ratings (e.g. #3 with 138 reviews); put it into ASO Mobile to list every keyword it indexes for. Target keywords with search volume ~30+ where few top apps have the keyword in their title and the #2-#3 apps have only ~100+ reviews, ignoring tool difficulty scores. Check Sensor Tower/Meta Ad Library to confirm the outlier isn't driven by ads. Find the keyword first, then build the app.
What happened
Speaker says the apps that reached profitability fastest were the keyword-first ones.
“I always look at the search results for, let's say, migraine tracker, right? What are the apps that are showing up, like the top three apps? How many reviews do they have, and how many people have it in their title?”
“You're like, "What the hell? How is this ranking number three with only 138 reviews?"”
“And the the ones that have gotten to profitability really quick for us is just the ones that were like, we find the keyword first, Joseph, and then build the app.”
Related topics
Get tactics like this every Monday
New tactics from the week's founder interviews, each linked to where it was said.
More from this episode
- Buy an app that ranks #1 but charges $2, then add a $60/year hard paywallRevenue up from $1-2K to $8-10K a month with the same downloads
- Remove the X from the paywall so users must start a trialTrial starts doubled from 6% to 13%; trial-to-paid unchanged; some one-star reviews
- Name your new app after a keyword with ~30 searches that nobody uses in their title#1 in week one, 100 downloads a day, $1,600 first month, ~$20K MRR years later
- Green Noise App: Name the app after the keyword and use the App Store autocomplete phrase as subtitleReached #1 for 'green noise'; still #3 with little upkeep
- Target 24 more versions of the keyword you already rank #1 for, and cut Apple Ads
- Indie App Santa: Buy a profitable app with a 10-year loan and pay it back from the app's profitMoney back in 3-4 months on one purchase; example leaves ~$5K a month after loan payments
- Buy apps that already get organic downloads but earn too little or skip a channelBest buys fit this; one $18K purchase without it flopped
- Try Meta ads on a small organic app, including a hard paywallOnly ~$1 revenue per install; economics didn't work
- Send Meta sign-up, paywall-view and checkout events while still optimizing for purchasesGuest says the ad account got smarter; no numbers
- Show paid Instagram and Facebook users a paywall with no X; let organic users close itReported to perform a lot better; no numbers shared
- Switch from a closable paywall with no trial to a hard paywall with a free trialPerformed a little better; no numbers
- App Masters: Launch a good-enough app, and only finish it if downloads show upSpeaker's standing process; no numbers
- Rank for a niche keyword first, then climb to broader onesOutranked Canva on a keyword
- Build just the viral feature as a TestFlight and let creators film it