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Your ASO learning objective
Prioritize a defensible shortlist while keeping imported metrics separate from relevance judgments and missing evidence.
- Step 1Check product and audience relevance
- Step 2Interpret comparable supplied metrics
- Step 3Record approval, rejection or evidence needed
Apply relevance before numerical ranking
Ask whether the term describes a supported job, whether the target audience would recognize it, and whether the listing can prove the promise. A high provider score cannot repair a product mismatch. Record the evidence and your judgment independently so another reviewer can disagree with the judgment without losing the source data.
Use high, medium, low or unknown relevance as a transparent manual assessment. Define what these labels mean for the project. High might mean a direct match to a released core workflow; medium might mean a supported secondary use; unknown means the interpretation or product fit has not been resolved. The labels are not algorithmic ranking predictions.
Keep metric definitions attached to values
An imported value needs a provider, metric name, scale, store, locale and collection date. A popularity index of 40 is not necessarily 40 searches, and a score of 60 from another provider may not be comparable. Preserve the original representation and document what is known about its construction. If the scale is unavailable, mark the comparison as limited.
Consider two fictional candidates: one has relevance high and an unknown demand estimate; the other has relevance low and a supplied popularity score of 80/100. The second should not win simply because its cell contains a larger number. Resolve product fit first, then use comparable metrics to inform prioritization within the relevant set.
Keep rejected and unresolved candidates
Record reasons for exclusions: unsupported feature, wrong locale, ambiguous intent, brand concern, duplicated role or insufficient evidence. A rejection is a decision about the current scope, not a permanent truth. State the condition that would justify revisiting it. Pending candidates should name the evidence needed and an owner, so they do not become an unreviewed list that grows forever.
Worked example: Trail Notes
This fictional hiking-journal app and its review samples are the teaching project. Treat the example as a reasoning exercise you can adapt to your own evidence.
- Original draftApprove “offline navigation” because an imported score is 80, reject “walking diary” because its score is blank.
- Revised proposalReject the unsupported navigation promise. Keep walking diary under review or approve it on documented product relevance, while clearly recording that demand remains unknown.
- Why it changesUnknown demand is not zero demand, and a numerical estimate does not override a mismatch between intent and released functionality.
Your ASO assignment
- Define your relevance labels in the workbook and apply them to your candidates. Link each high-relevance judgment to a product reference.
- For every supplied metric, add its provider, scale and date. Identify any values that should not be compared directly.
- Approve a small shortlist, reject at least two unsuitable candidates with reasons, and give pending candidates a specific research question.
Your handover and assessment criteria
Your work is ready for review when each deliverable below can be understood without a verbal explanation. Include the source or product reference, the decision owner and any unresolved evidence gap. If a reviewer cannot verify a claim, record the missing evidence before treating the proposal as approved.
- Deliverable 1Shortlist with explicit relevance judgments
- Deliverable 2Imported metric definitions and comparability limits
- Deliverable 3Inclusion, exclusion and pending-decision rationale
Check your understanding
A blank demand field appears beside a relevant term. What does the blank mean?
Read the interpretation
It means the value is not supplied or not known in this project. Do not convert it to zero or infer that nobody searches for the term.
Record your progress
Mark this lesson complete after checking your assignment against the handover criteria. Progress stays in this browser, separately from your tool project.
Sources and further reading
Platform references checked 30 September 2026.
App Store keyword research guide · Check final metadata fields