Editorial Features
Editorial features are the app stories, collections, and highlights Apple's own editorial team selects across the App Store, entirely separate from the algorithmic search and browse ranking that ASO work influences.
Where search ranking is driven by metadata relevance, engagement, and quality signals, editorial placement is a human curatorial decision. Apple's editors choose apps for design quality, storytelling, timeliness, or category relevance for a themed collection, not because they matched a keyword algorithm.
This distinction matters because it sets expectations correctly: an app can have excellent ASO and never be editorially featured, and an app with mediocre keyword coverage can still earn a feature on the strength of its design and story. The two systems don't reward the same inputs.
The practical path to editorial consideration is Apple's own nomination channel in App Store Connect, submitted with enough lead time before a launch or major update, rather than any change to the keyword field.
Frequently asked questions
- Does an editorial feature affect my keyword rankings?
- Not directly, but indirectly it can. The install spike from a feature contributes to download velocity, which is a ranking factor, so a feature can produce ranking gains for keywords the app was already eligible for.
Related terms
- Today Tab FeaturingThe Today tab is Apple's editorially curated App Store home surface, distinct from search results and unaffected by keyword metadata or ASO work.
- App Store AlgorithmThe App Store algorithm is Apple's automated system for ranking apps in search results — combining metadata relevance, user engagement signals, and quality indicators to determine which apps appear for each search query.
- Search Tab vs. Browse TabThe App Store's Search tab surfaces apps by keyword query, where ASO metadata directly applies; the Today, Games, and Apps browse tabs surface apps through editorial curation and category browsing, where it doesn't.
Browse the glossary
Put this into practice
Score App Store keywords by popularity and difficulty across 109 storefronts — the numbers behind editorial features.
Start keyword research