Keyword installs
Paid downloads from operated accounts, in volume, on a search term. Store systems are built to detect install velocity that retention and sessions do not support.
Manufactured signalASO agency review · September 2026
ASO World review: keyword installs by the thousand. Avoid. This one is not close.
ASO World is a Hong Kong-based platform, founded in 2016, that sells keyword installs, package installs, ratings, reviews and keyword ranking as products. This page is different from the other reviews on this site. I am not arguing that a retainer is overpriced. I am telling you that what is for sale here is the thing Apple and Google explicitly prohibit, and that the downside is your app.
Thinking about buying from ASO World? Avoid. Let me explain what you would actually be buying.
Gabriel Machuret · September 2026Most of the reviews on this site argue about economics: whether a retainer at a good agency is worth it compared with hiring one consultant. This page is not that argument. ASO World sells, openly and by the unit, keyword installs, package installs, ratings, reviews and keyword rankings. I want to be plain about what those products are, because the name of the company borrows the vocabulary of a legitimate discipline and the products do not belong to it.
A keyword install is a paid download triggered by searching a specific term, in volume, from accounts or devices operated for that purpose. The idea is to convince the store’s ranking system that lots of real people searched a term and chose your app, so the app rises for that term. Purchased ratings and reviews work the same way: manufactured signals designed to look organic. Apple’s App Store Review Guidelines and Google Play’s Developer Policy both prohibit manipulating placement, rankings and reviews, in language that leaves no room for interpretation. This is not a grey area. It is the black area.
The pitch is that it works, and in the short term it sometimes does. Rankings move. Then one of two things happens. Either the store’s systems, which are built specifically to detect install velocity that does not match retention, sessions or conversion, discount the signal and the ranking falls back, and you have paid for nothing. Or the pattern is flagged, and the consequences range from suppressed visibility to a rejected update to the removal of the app and the developer account. I have watched developers lose years of work this way. The people selling the installs lose nothing.
There is a subtler cost, too. Incentivised installs do not use the app. Your retention curve collapses, your ratings drift as fake reviews sit next to real ones, and the store’s own conversion signals, which genuinely drive ranking, get worse. So even when nothing is enforced, the purchased signal poisons the organic one. You are paying to make your real metrics look weaker.
Real App Store Optimization is slow and unglamorous by comparison. It is a properly rewritten title, subtitle and keyword field. It is one screenshot hypothesis tested against another. It is patience while the stores respond, then the next change. It compounds, it is within the rules, and when it works, it works because real people chose your app. That is what I do, on a fixed scope for a fixed fee, and I will tell you on the first call if your listing is fine and something else is the problem.
There is no fair-play section that rescues this one. If you are considering buying installs because a competitor seems to be doing it, tell me which competitor and I will show you what their ranking is actually built on. If you are considering it because organic growth feels too slow, send me your listing and I will show you what is slowing it down. Either way, keep your developer account.
02 — Signs you are looking at ranking manipulation, not ASO
If you see three, send it to me- Installs, ratings or reviews sold by quantity
- Guaranteed keyword positions within days
- Payment by card on a self-serve platform, no strategy call
- ‘Safe’ or ‘organic-looking’ installs described as a feature
- No mention of your title, subtitle, screenshots or keyword field
- A refund policy tied to ranking, not to your app’s health
03 — What the product page says vs what the store sees
Three things to translate before you signRatings & reviews
Purchased by the unit. Sit beside your real reviews. Explicitly prohibited by both stores, and increasingly detected at scale.
Policy violation, sold retailGuaranteed ranking
Guaranteed until the signal is discounted or the app is flagged. The seller keeps the fee in every scenario. You carry the developer account.
Their guarantee, your account04 — Where a keyword-install budget actually goes
Typical agency economics · illustrative, not their books05 — ASO World vs actual ASO
Same goal: more installs from searchOption A — ASO World
What is sold
Installs, ratings, reviews, rankings
Store policy
Prohibited by Apple and Google
Who is at risk
You. Your app and developer account.
Duration of effect
Until the signal is discounted
Effect on real metrics
Retention and conversion signals weaken
12-month cost
≈ $24,000 at $2k/mo of installs, plus the risk
When it ends
Rankings fall back, or worse
Option B — Gabriel, direct Live
What is sold
A rewritten listing, a tested claim, a handover
Store policy
Within the rules
Who is at risk
Nobody
Duration of effect
Compounds while the listing stays good
Effect on real metrics
Conversion improves, which drives ranking
12-month cost
$9,500, one engagement
When it ends
Your team runs ASO without me
06 — Fair play — the one thing to say
Credit where it is due- The site is transparent about what it sells, which is more than some agencies that do the same thing quietly
- If a competitor seems to be buying installs, it is worth knowing what that looks like, so you can recognise it
- That is all
07 — Should you avoid ASO World?
Honest answer: depends who you areAvoid if
You care about your developer accountYou care about your retention and conversion metricsYou want ranking that lasts longer than the campaignYou would rather not explain a removal to your investorsHire them if
There is no honest version of this columnIf a competitor appears to be doing it, tell me, and I will show you what their ranking is really built onKeep your account07 — Before you sign
Send me
your listing
instead.
If organic growth feels too slow, the cause is almost always visible on the listing itself. I will show you what is slowing it down, what to change, and what that costs as a fixed fee. Within the rules, and with your developer account intact.
08 — Objections
“Everyone in my category is buying installs.” +
Some are, and some of those will not be in your category next year. Tell me which competitor and I will show you what their ranking is actually built on. Usually it is a better first screenshot.
“Can’t it be done safely in small volumes?” +
The stores’ detection is built around velocity that retention does not support, at any volume. ‘Safe’ is a marketing word on a page selling prohibited signals.
“Isn’t this just aggressive marketing?” +
Apple and Google both prohibit manipulating rankings and reviews in plain language. It is not aggressive. It is outside the rules, and the penalty lands on you.
“Is this review biased?” +
I compete for ASO work, yes. This page is not about competition. It is about the difference between optimisation and manipulation, and which one costs you the app.
Tempted by keyword installs? Keep your account. Fix the listing.Send their proposal