Seasonal ASO

You help the user identify and act on seasonal keyword opportunities and listing optimizations tied to calendar events, holidays, and trending moments.

Key Principle

Seasonal rankings are competitive and time-sensitive. Metadata takes 1–3 days to index. Plan changes 2 weeks before the event; revert 3–5 days after peak.

Seasonal Calendar (iOS — US)

Event

Peak Window

Keywords to target

New Year

Dec 26 – Jan 7

"new year", "resolution", "goals", "habit", "fresh start"

Valentine's Day

Feb 1–14

"valentine", "love", "couples", "romantic", "gift"

Spring / Easter

Mar–Apr

"spring", "easter", "refresh", "clean", "declutter"

Mother's Day

May 1–12

"mom", "mother", "family", "gift for mom"

Summer

Jun–Aug

"summer", "vacation", "travel", "outdoor", "beach"

Back to School

Jul 15 – Sep 10

"school", "study", "student", "homework", "planner"

Halloween

Oct 1–31

"halloween", "scary", "spooky", "costume", "trick"

Black Friday

Nov 20–30

"deal", "sale", "discount", "shopping", "gift"

Christmas

Dec 1–26

"christmas", "gift", "holiday", "santa", "family"

End of Year

Dec 27–31

"year review", "recap", "goals 2026", "new year"

Workflow

Step 1 — Identify Relevant Event

• Check for app-marketing-context.md

• Ask: Which event or season are you targeting?

• Ask: What does your app do? (to assess keyword relevance)

• Determine if the event is a good fit — not every seasonal moment applies

Step 2 — Research Seasonal Keywords

Use Appeeky to find volume on seasonal terms:

GET /v1/keywords/metrics?keywords=christmas+planner,holiday+tracker

GET /v1/keywords/suggestions?term=christmas&country=us

GET /v1/keywords/trending?country=us&days=7

Filter by:

• Volume spike (compare to baseline 30 days prior)

• Difficulty < 60 preferred (seasonal keywords are crowded)

• Relevance to your app's core function

Step 3 — Plan Metadata Changes

Keyword field (100 chars, iOS):

• Swap out low-performing keywords for seasonal terms

• Add 2–4 seasonal keywords while preserving your best evergreen terms

• Remove seasonal terms that are irrelevant to your core use case

Subtitle (30 chars):

• Consider a seasonal hook if it fits: "Your Holiday Planner" or "New Year Goal Tracker"

• Only change if the original subtitle is not keyword-critical

Promotional text (170 chars — no review required):

• Always update for seasonal events — instant, no review

• Use for: seasonal call-to-action, limited-time feature highlights, event tie-ins

Screenshots:

• Add a seasonal frame or theme to the first 2 screenshots

• Use screenshot-optimization skill for creative guidance

Step 4 — Timing Checklist

Timeline (count back from event date):

- [ ] T-14 days: Research keywords, brief creative

- [ ] T-10 days: Write new metadata + promotional text

- [ ] T-7 days: Submit screenshot updates (no review needed)

- [ ] T-5 days: Submit keyword/subtitle update (review time buffer)

- [ ] T-0: Event peak — monitor rankings daily

- [ ] T+3 days: Revert metadata to evergreen version

- [ ] T+5 days: Revert promotional text

Output Format

Seasonal Opportunity Brief

🎄 Seasonal Opportunity: [Event Name]

   Peak window: [dates]

   Lead time needed: [X days]

Keyword Opportunities:

  High priority (volume spike, <60 difficulty):

  - "[keyword]" — vol [N], diff [N]

  - "[keyword]" — vol [N], diff [N]

  Secondary (relevant but competitive):

  - "[keyword]" — vol [N], diff [N]

Metadata Recommendations:

  Keyword field: [current] → [proposed — 100 chars]

  Subtitle: [keep / change to: "..."]

  Promo text: "[seasonal copy — 170 chars]"

Screenshots: [suggest seasonal theme or keep as-is]

Timeline:

  - Submit metadata by: [date]

  - Submit promo text by: [date]

  - Revert by: [date]

Seasonal vs Evergreen Trade-offs

Factor

Seasonal

Evergreen

Volume

Temporarily very high

Stable

Competition

Very high at peak

Moderate

Risk

Rankings drop after peak

Consistent

Reward

Spike in installs

Sustained growth

Rule: Only swap evergreen keywords that are already underperforming. Never sacrifice a high-ranking keyword for seasonal speculation.

Trending Moments (Non-Calendar)

For viral/trending moments (news events, viral content, app store trends):

• Use GET /v1/keywords/trending?country=us&days=3 to spot emerging terms

• Act within 24–48 hours (trending windows are short)

• Only update promotional text (instant, no review)

• Revert after the trend fades (typically 3–7 days)

Related Skills

• keyword-research — Deep keyword analysis for seasonal candidates

• metadata-optimization — Rewrite full metadata with seasonal terms

• screenshot-optimization — Design seasonal screenshot themes

• market-pulse — Spot trending keywords and market movements in real time