How to Make Your App Easier for AI to Find and Recommend

Introduction: The Source of Word of Mouth Has Changed

Instead of asking a friend, “Know any good apps?”, more and more people ask ChatGPT or Gemini, “Recommend an app that can do X.”

When they do, the AI names only a handful of apps. It does not list 10 results the way a store search does. The gap between being recommended and effectively not existing has become bigger than ever.

This article lays out the thinking and the concrete steps for making your app easier for AI to find and recommend, together with real results.

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Summary

• AI decides what to recommend based not on store rankings but on the volume, consistency, and credibility of information on the web
• It is influenced strongly not only by your own site but by how third parties talk about you
• There are four types of action: organize your information, increase mentions, make it readable, and measure
• In practice, a lifestyle app that made AI-focused improvements saw its monthly downloads rise from a combined 34 to 200 (about 5.9x)

StandArrow provides AIO support that maximizes how often your app comes up in AI search. Contact us for a free consultation.

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Results: How Downloads Changed Before and After

This is a comparison of monthly downloads before and after the improvements for a lifestyle app.

Channel	Before	After	Increase	Multiple	Growth rate
ChatGPT	19	157	+138	about 8.3x	+726%
Gemini	15	43	+28	about 2.9x	+187%
Total	34	200	+166	about 5.9x	+488%

Key Takeaways

• ChatGPT grew the most: it accounts for 138 of the 166 additional downloads (about 83%)
• Gemini also grew about 2.9x: the absolute number is smaller than ChatGPT, but it rose steadily from its starting level
• Both grew: the actions did not work on just one AI, which suggests that getting your information in order helps across multiple AIs
• Because this is a change from a still-small base, it is important to confirm reproducibility through continued observation

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1. How Does AI Choose Apps?

• Learned knowledge: the more an app was talked about on the web in the past, the more likely it is to remain in the AI’s knowledge
• Search integration (real-time reference): the AI searches the web when it answers, and summarizes the pages it finds as its basis
• Tendencies in cited sources: official sites, comparison and review articles, media, and Q&A or community posts are the sources most likely to be referenced

In short, what matters is whether good information that AI can reference exists on the web at the moment someone asks the AI.

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2. How ASO Differs from AIO (AI Search Optimization)

Aspect	ASO	AIO
Main battleground	App Store / Google Play	Answers from AI search and AI assistants
What gets evaluated	Keywords, downloads, ratings, reviews	Information across the web, third-party mentions, structured data
Output	Ranking in search results	Recommendations and citations within answers
Path to winning	Keyword optimization	Getting your app talked about clearly and from many angles in terms of “what the app is for”

This is not about abandoning ASO. Think of it as stacking AIO on top of an ASO foundation.

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3. Specific Actions

1. State “whose problem you solve, and how” in a single sentence

• Use the same definition in the store description, on your official site, and in press releases
• Example: “An app that lets people who [do X] solve [Y] by [Z]”
• Prioritize use cases over lists of features
• AI finds vague descriptions hard to summarize, and hard to use for recommendations

2. Make your official site a primary source that AI can easily cite

• State features, pricing, supported OS, target users, and the operating company clearly
• Provide an FAQ page, with headings that use users’ questions word for word
• Organize the heading structure (H1 to H3) and put the conclusion first
• Implement structured data (such as schema.org SoftwareApplication)

3. Increase third-party mentions

• AI tends to weigh what others say more heavily than what you say about yourself
• Aim for placement in comparison and recommendation articles, media coverage, case studies, and expert comments
• Design things so that user voices (social media, blogs, communities) arise naturally
• Keep the app name and category wording consistent wherever you are mentioned

4. Improve the substance of reviews and ratings

• Create paths that lead to more reviews describing what the app was useful for, not just a score
• Reply carefully to low ratings to show that you are working to improve
• The wording in reviews may be picked up by AI as the “reason for the recommendation” as is

5. Create content that answers “best apps for X” type questions

• Examples of expected questions:
  • “What apps can I use when I want to do X?”
  • “What is the difference between X and Y?”
  • “What are the best free options?”
• Write comparison tables, selection guides, and even who the app is and is not right for
• Being honest about your own weaknesses makes you more likely to be treated as a trustworthy source

6. Get the technical side right so AI can “read” your site

• Check that robots.txt is not unintentionally blocking AI crawlers
• Do not make important information depend on JavaScript rendering alone
• Take care of page speed, mobile support, and correct titles and meta information
• Show the update date and keep information current
• Newer specifications (such as llms.txt) have not yet been shown to be effective, so treat them as a lower priority

7. Eliminate inconsistent wording and mismatched information

• Align the app name, operating company name, category, and pricing description everywhere
• Do not leave outdated information (former names, former pricing) in place
• When information conflicts, AI is more likely to give wrong answers or to avoid mentioning you at all

8. Measure “how you are talked about” through regular observation

• Pick 10 to 30 key questions and put them to multiple AIs (ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity, and others) on a regular basis
• What to check:
  • Whether your app is mentioned
  • Where in the answer and in what context it is introduced
  • What is said about competitors
  • Which URLs are cited
• Record results monthly and compare before and after your actions
• Looking at this together with downloads lets you confirm the link from “improved visibility in AI” to “more downloads”

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4. How to Set Priorities

Priority	Action	Reason
High	1. Unified definition, 2. Official site improvements, 7. Consistent wording	Low cost, quick results, and the foundation for everything else
High	8. Regular observation	You cannot improve without understanding where you stand
Medium	5. Question-type content, 6. Technical checks	They become lasting assets
Medium to long term	3. Third-party mentions, 4. Reviews	They take time but tend to be the most effective

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5. Checklist

• We decided on a one-sentence statement of “whose problem we solve” and unified it across all channels
• Our official site clearly states features, pricing, and an FAQ
• We implemented structured data
• We are not blocking AI crawlers
• We are featured in comparison and recommendation articles and in media
• Reviews describe specific uses
• The wording of the app name and company name is consistent
• We observe AI answers to key questions every month

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Conclusion

An app that AI recommends is one that is consistently described in many places on the web as “the one to ask about.”

As the case of a lifestyle app whose monthly downloads rose from 34 to 200, about 5.9x, shows, traffic from AI has room to move significantly just by getting your information in order.

Rather than clever tricks, it is the steady accumulation of the basics that leads to being found in the AI era: communicate clearly what your app is, publish honest and useful information, and give third parties reasons to talk about you.

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For AIO Support, Talk to StandArrow

StandArrow provides AIO support that maximizes how often your app comes up in AI search. Contact us for a free consultation.

Book a free consultation