seasonal-aso
appeeky/aso-skills
Optimize your App Store listing for seasonal events, holidays, and trending moments to capture time-sensitive search volume.
What is seasonal-aso?
Seasonal ASO helps you identify and capitalize on keyword opportunities tied to calendar events, holidays, and trending moments. Use it when targeting New Year, Valentine's Day, summer, back-to-school, Black Friday, Christmas, or other seasonal peaks. It guides keyword research, metadata timing, and reversion strategy to maximize installs during high-volume windows without sacrificing evergreen rankings.
- Research seasonal keyword volume and difficulty using Appeeky API queries
- Plan metadata swaps (keywords, subtitle, promotional text) for calendar events with 2-week lead time
- Generate seasonal opportunity briefs with keyword priorities, metadata recommendations, and timing checklists
- Update promotional text instantly (no review required) for seasonal hooks and limited-time calls-to-action
- Monitor and revert metadata 3–5 days after peak to restore evergreen performance
- Spot and act on trending moments (non-calendar viral terms) within 24–48 hours
How to install seasonal-aso
npx skills add https://github.com/appeeky/aso-skills --skill seasonal-aso- Access to Appeeky API (for keyword volume and difficulty metrics)
- Current app metadata and keyword field (to identify what to swap)
- Calendar of target seasonal events or trending moments
How to use seasonal-aso
- 1.Identify the seasonal event or trending moment you want to target (e.g., Christmas, New Year, summer vacation)
- 2.Use Appeeky API queries to research seasonal keyword volume, difficulty, and relevance to your app's core function
- 3.Compare seasonal keywords against your current metadata and identify underperforming evergreen terms to swap
- 4.Create a metadata change plan: new keywords (100 chars), optional subtitle, and promotional text (170 chars)
- 5.Follow the timing checklist: submit keyword/subtitle updates 5–7 days before peak, promotional text anytime, revert 3–5 days after
- 6.Monitor rankings daily during the peak window and revert all changes to evergreen versions after the event ends
Use cases
- Prepare a holiday gift-app listing for Christmas by swapping in 'gift', 'holiday', 'family' keywords 2 weeks before Dec 1
- Launch a study-planner app's back-to-school campaign with seasonal keywords and a school-themed screenshot by mid-July
- Capitalize on New Year resolution trends by updating subtitle to 'New Year Goal Tracker' and promotional text by Dec 26
- Respond to a viral trending moment by updating promotional text within 24 hours without waiting for metadata review
- Manage Black Friday discount keywords and revert to evergreen terms after Nov 30 to avoid ranking drops
- App marketers optimizing for seasonal revenue spikes
- Product managers planning holiday or event-tied campaigns
- ASO specialists managing time-sensitive keyword rotations
- Growth teams capitalizing on trending moments and calendar events
seasonal-aso FAQ
Plan 2 weeks before the event. Submit keyword and subtitle updates 5–7 days before peak (metadata takes 1–3 days to index). Promotional text can be updated anytime (no review required). Revert all changes 3–5 days after peak to restore evergreen rankings.
No. Only swap out underperforming evergreen keywords. Never sacrifice a high-ranking keyword for seasonal speculation. Aim to add 2–4 seasonal keywords while preserving your best evergreen terms within the 100-character limit.
Yes. Promotional text (170 characters) requires no review and updates instantly. Use it for seasonal calls-to-action, limited-time feature highlights, and event tie-ins. This is the fastest way to test seasonal messaging.
Skip it. Not every seasonal moment applies to every app. Assess keyword relevance to your app's actual use case. Targeting irrelevant seasonal terms wastes your metadata slots and can hurt rankings if they don't convert.
Act within 24–48 hours. Use the Appeeky trending API to spot emerging terms, update only promotional text (instant, no review), and revert after the trend fades (typically 3–7 days). Trending windows are short, so speed is critical.
Full instructions (SKILL.md)
Source of truth, from appeeky/aso-skills.
name: seasonal-aso description: When the user wants to optimize their App Store listing for seasonal events, holidays, or trending moments — including keyword opportunities, metadata updates, screenshot theming, and timing strategy. Use when the user mentions "seasonal", "holiday", "Christmas", "New Year", "Valentine's Day", "summer", "back to school", "seasonal keywords", "trending now", "limited time", or wants to capitalize on a calendar event. For general keyword research, see keyword-research. For full metadata rewrites, see metadata-optimization. metadata: version: 1.0.0
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-optimizationskill 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=3to 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 candidatesmetadata-optimization— Rewrite full metadata with seasonal termsscreenshot-optimization— Design seasonal screenshot themesmarket-pulse— Spot trending keywords and market movements in real time
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