Guides
ASO guides for indie developers
Choose your next keywords, make sense of ad spend, and compare tools for an indie budget. Written by the team building Veldo.
Start with keyword research, then use your own data to decide what to test.
See pricing and download Veldo →
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Why your ad spend and revenue numbers never match
Units against proceeds, gross against net, and a 30-day attribution window: how to compare the two dashboards honestly.
Choosing keyword candidates before you have data
Relevance, Apple's 1-5 search popularity, competition, and intent: how to pick terms when nothing has happened yet.
Tier 1, tier 2, and tier 3 countries explained
Which markets each label covers, why tier 1 costs more in Apple Search Ads, and why your own numbers beat the list.
Retention and reviews: the ranking factors you cannot type in
Retention windows, uninstall rates, review recency, and how long to wait before judging a metadata change.
What is app store optimisation?
The 2026 basics: semantic relevance, screenshot captions as ranking real estate, 70 custom product pages, and localisation.
Which Apple Ads keywords actually make money?
The three-signal model and four verdicts: double down, bid opportunity, cannibalizing, money pit.
The best ASO tools for indie developers (2026)
Honest rundown at indie prices, including where others beat us.
ASO tools for Mac
What a Mac tracker buys you over another browser tab.
When your ads buy installs you already had
Cannibalization: the three signals, the pause test, and when paying for your own traffic is still the right call.
What is a good ROAS for Apple Search Ads?
Why there is no single number, and how to judge a keyword on payback period instead of somebody else's benchmark.
Match types, and the campaign structure that uses them
Exact, broad, and Search Match, plus how to stop your discovery and performance campaigns bidding against each other.
Attributing revenue to keywords with RevenueCat
Understand RevenueCat attribution, Veldo's revenue estimates, and how to compare them with keyword spend.
Custom product pages rank for keywords now (iOS 26)
How CPP keywords work, what changed, and how to pick terms that match intent.
Comparisons
Veldo vs Astro
Both track ranks on a Mac. Veldo adds Apple Ads spend, revenue per keyword, and verdicts.
Appfigures alternative for keyword tracking
When keyword caps and pricing push you to look elsewhere.
ASO.dev alternative
Browser ASO + ops suite vs Mac rank + Ads spend + revenue verdicts: when to stay, when to add Veldo.
Free tools
For developers
What is Veldo?
Veldo is a native Mac ASO app for indie iOS developers. It joins organic rank, Apple Ads spend, and optional RevenueCat revenue, then gives every keyword a next move.
- Unlimited keywords · 60+ storefronts
- $8.99/mo or $99/yr, not a cut of your ad spend
- Local-first (your acquisition data stays on your Mac)