aso

The aso library is a Node.js tool designed to assist with App Store Optimization for both iTunes and Google Play. It provides functions to calculate keyword scores, generate keyword suggestions, and assess app visibility.

Important Note on Throttling: The library relies on google-play-scraper and app-store-scraper to gather data. Because many requests are performed under the hood, you may encounter throttling limits if you make too many calls in a short period of time.

To use the aso module, call the main function with a store identifier as the first argument. You can specify either 'itunes' or 'gplay'. You can also pass an optional configuration object as the second argument to override scraper behaviors (e.g., setting a different country).

const gplay = require('aso')('gplay');
const itunes = require('aso')('itunes');

// Example with custom country configuration
const itunesRussia = require('aso')('itunes', { country: 'ru' });

Install the aso package via npm to use its App Store Optimization functions for iTunes and Google Play.

npm install aso

The visibility score report returned by the visibility engine is composed of three main parts:

1. Aggregate Score

• score: A single numeric value representing the total visibility, calculated as the sum of all keyword scores plus the global and category collection scores.

2. Keyword Scores (keywords)

An object where keys are keywords and values are objects containing:

• traffic: The traffic score for that keyword.
• rank: The app's rank for that keyword (1-indexed).
• score: The weighted score for that keyword based on rank and traffic.

3. Collection Scores (collections)

Contains rankings for the app within specific lists:

• global: { rank, score } representing the app's position in the global list.
• category: { rank, score } representing the app's position within its specific category.

When initializing the client, you can pass an options object as the second argument to override the underlying scraper settings (google-play-scraper or app-store-scraper). These options are applied to every method call.

Commonly used keys include:

• country: Target a specific country (e.g., 'ru').
• cache: Enable/disable caching.
• throttle: Control request frequency.

Refer to the respective scraper documentation for the full list of supported options.

const itunesRussia = require('aso')('itunes', { country: 'ru' });

The object returned by getClient() contains several specialized modules for performing App Store Optimization tasks. These modules are built on top of the selected store implementation:

• app: Methods for retrieving app-specific metadata and information.
• scores: Methods for calculating or retrieving keyword scores.
• suggest: Methods for generating keyword suggestions.
• visibility: Methods for analyzing app visibility metrics.

Additionally, the client object includes various constants exported by the library.

The suggest function relies on a strategy option to determine which apps are used to generate keyword suggestions. If no strategy is provided, it defaults to c.CATEGORY.

Valid strategies are determined by the getStrategies(store) internal mapping. When calling suggest(opts), the opts.strategy value must correspond to a valid handler within the strategies registry, otherwise an Error('invalid suggestion strategy') will be thrown.

The scores(keyword) function evaluates a specific keyword to determine how hard it is to rank for (difficulty) and how much traffic it generates (traffic).

Difficulty measures ranking difficulty based on titleMatches, competitors, installs (or reviews for iTunes), rating, and age. A lower score is better.

Traffic estimates volume based on suggest (search suggestions), ranked (category rankings), installs, and length. A higher score is better.

Returns a Promise that resolves to an object containing detailed statistics for both metrics.

const aso = require('aso')('gplay');

aso.scores('panda').then(console.log);

The visibility(appId) function estimates an app's discoverability within the store. It aggregates how well the app ranks for its target keywords, the traffic score of those keywords, and its global/category rankings.

Arguments:

• appId: The Google Play package ID or the iTunes numerical/bundle ID.

Returns a Promise resolving to an object containing keywords (with traffic, rank, and score), collections (global and category ranks), and an overall score.

const aso = require('aso')('gplay');

// Google Play
aso.visibility('com.dxco.pandavszombies').then(console.log);

// iTunes
aso.visibility(284882215).then(console.log);