Categories (ASO)
The Categories tab inside the ASO hub shows your app's ranking position in every Shopify App Store category where it appears. Unlike keyword rankings (which come from search), category rankings reflect where Shopify places your app when merchants browse by category. Both matter for discoverability.
Accessing the Categories tab
Go to ASO → Categories in the sidebar. The tab is the third section of the ASO hub.
Category selector
A dropdown at the top lets you switch between:
- All Categories — aggregated view across every category your app is listed in
- A specific category — deep dive into one category's ranking history and traffic
The rest of the page updates immediately when you change the selection.
Performance cards
Each category shows four metric cards:
| Card | What it means |
|---|---|
| Average Rank | Mean position over the selected date range. Lower is better. |
| Best Rank | Highest (lowest number) position ever recorded in this category, with the date it occurred. |
| Worst Rank | Lowest position recorded — your floor. |
| Volatility | Statistical measure of ranking stability. Low volatility = consistent position. High volatility = frequent swings. |
Aim for low volatility combined with a strong average rank. High volatility with a good average often means a recent push that hasn't stabilised.
Ranking trends chart
A line chart shows your rank position over time (y-axis inverted so an upward line means improving rank). When multiple categories are visible, each gets its own line.
The chart also marks app listing updates with vertical indicators, so you can see whether updates correlated with rank changes.
Category sessions table
For each category your app appears in:
| Column | What it shows |
|---|---|
| Category | Category name |
| Current Rank | Today's position |
| Rank Change | Movement vs the previous period (green = improved, red = dropped) |
| Sessions | Traffic from this category page |
| Pageviews | Page loads from category traffic |
| Add App Clicks | "Add app" button clicks from this category |
| Installs | Installations attributed to this category |
| Conversion Rate | Install rate from pageviews |
Sort by any column to identify your strongest categories (most traffic, best conversion) and your opportunity categories (decent traffic, rank in the 15–30 range).
Traffic columns require BigQuery. Rank data is available without BigQuery.
Expanding a category row
Click any row to see breakdowns for that category:
- Geographic breakdown — top countries per category, with sessions, clicks, and conversions by region
- Device breakdown — Desktop, Mobile, and Tablet split
- Source breakdown — traffic sources for visitors arriving from this category
- Daily trends — day-by-day sparkline
Category conversion funnel
The funnel shows the complete path from category browse to install for the selected category and date range:
- Category Pageviews — visitors who arrived via the category listing
- Add App Clicks — clicks on the "Add app" button
- Installs — completed installations
Step-by-step drop-off rates show where you're losing potential installs. A large drop between Pageviews and Add App Clicks usually points to a listing or screenshot issue. A large drop between clicks and installs often indicates a permissions or onboarding friction point.
Understanding rank changes
What causes rank to improve:
- New positive reviews
- Increased install velocity
- A recent app update (Shopify weighs recency)
- Competitors falling behind
What causes rank to drop:
- New competitors entering the category
- Negative reviews or review velocity slowing
- No recent updates
- Your install or conversion rate declining relative to others
Changes typically take 24–48 hours to show up after an update.
FAQ
Q: How often do category rankings update? A: Ranksy scrapes category rankings once per day, overnight. Rankings reflect your position as of the most recent completed scrape.
Q: My app is in a new category but I don't see it yet. A: New categories appear within 24–48 hours of Shopify classifying your app there.
Q: Why does my rank fluctuate so much? A: Some volatility is normal, especially in competitive categories. High volatility often settles after a few weeks. If you're seeing week-over-week swings, check whether a competitor has been releasing updates.
Q: Can I see competitor ranks in my categories? A: Yes — follow competitors via ASO → Competitors → Manage, then their category rank changes appear in the Competitors hub Activity feed.
Q: What's a good category rank to aim for? A: Top 10 gets most of the category browse traffic. Top 50 still appears in category pages. Below 50, category browsing contributes little traffic and keyword search is more important.
Next steps
- Tracked Keywords (ASO) — monitor keyword rank alongside category rank
- Competitors Hub — see competitor category rank changes in the Activity feed
- AI Listing Improvements — improve your listing to lift both keyword and category rankings