Doubling Down on ASO: How We Grew Stardust Casino’s Organic Downloads Two Years in a Row
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Working with us, in their own words, across strategy, execution, and growth.
ASO has become a key driver of steady, high-quality organic traffic for Stardust Casino while also supporting our broader marketing strategy. Optimizing our storefront has allowed us to better connect with users at critical decision-making moments and continuously uncover new growth opportunities. Working with yellowHEAD has been a true partnership. Their team brings strong expertise, clear communication, and proactive guidance, helping us navigate a highly competitive and regulated market while consistently improving performance year over year.
The Challenge
With a long-standing history, Stardust Casino was already driving strong branded search traffic. The brand was well-established in the social casino market by 2020. Our first challenge was to associate the brand with real money gambling in the mobile market as well. Our keyword strategy proved successful in 2024 as we managed to rank high for relevant keywords and achieved a big boost in organic traffic. Our second challenge was to increase visibility and downloads from generic (non-branded) keywords. We succeeded here as well, but this challenge continues as the casino category is a highly competitive and regulated landscape.
The Approach
We analyzed results in detailed reports and assessed the brand status once more moving into 2025, so we could develop an updated ASO strategy to maintain and enhance growth in organic traffic and downloads.
This is how we tackled the challenge:
- Regular Metadata Optimization: Our keyword research focused on a strategic mix of high-performing and opportunity keywords, grouped into core categories to guide our optimization efforts. We regularly updated and refined the app store listing to improve keyword rankings and maximize the app’s visibility. Our strategy focused on real money gambling terms and location-based terms, as the casino operates in New Jersey and Pennsylvania, and we successfully ranked the app in top positions for terms such as “PA casino,” “NJ online casino real money,” and “casino real money PA,” among other key target keywords.
- Regular and Seasonal Creatives Updates: We designed new sets of screenshots and icon variations to keep the storefront relevant and visually appealing. We supported our client with creative updates that reflected the app’s refreshed UI, and implemented an A/B testing plan driven by real performance data. We also introduced seasonal creatives for Christmas and Easter, which helped drive engagement and improve CVR. Additionally, we designed screenshot concepts that reflected both the trustworthy and premium nature of the brand. Our goal was simple – identify the elements that performed best and include them into future iterations and new testing concepts. Starting with clearly defined user personas and performance benchmarks, we hypothesized that refining the concept further would improve CVR. The results proved us right.
- Continuous Keyword Research & Competitor Analysis: To optimize titles, descriptions, and other relevant fields, we regularly conduct keyword research and monitor industry trends. This approach delivered consistent growth in organic performance two years in a row.
Competitor analysis helped us cross-reference our keyword data with industry standards around messaging and branding, guiding decisions on metadata optimization, such as what title formats perform best and how to work in keywords that don’t naturally fit within character limits. Beyond keywords, we know that many factors impact ASO rankings, so we took it a step further by conducting thorough ratings, reviews, and technical audits. Any issues or opportunities we flagged were shared directly with our client, as resolving them would strengthen the app’s core functionality and support our broader strategy.
The Results
US Market – 2025 Yearly Results
+115% YoY Organic Installs GP
+33% YoY Organic Installs iOS
+110% YoY Ranked Keywords GP
+160% YoY Ranked Keywords iOS
7 non-branded keywords conquered 1st position of search results (maximum visibility) GP
10 new keywords conquered top 3 positions in search results iOS
Key Takeaways
With a firm footing in ASO best practices and strategic data-driven decisions, we helped Stardust Casino increase their organic installs and their presence within organic search results in both Google Play Store and the iOS App Store.
In the process, we obtained vital knowledge about the keywords which perform best as well as those which present great growth potential moving forward.
As we closely monitor diverse ranking factors, we continue to optimize our organic strategy to aid the overall success of the Stardust brand.
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