Table of Contents
- Understanding the basics of ASO cannibalization
- How cannibalization in aso affects your growth
- The relationship between paid and organic traffic
- How cannibalization occurs in the App Store
- Identifying cannibalized downloads and organic downloads
- Measuring incremental downloads in Apple Search
- Strategy to minimise traffic cannibalization
- Frequently Asked Questions
I’ve been managing operations at Kurve for a while now, and if there is one thing that keeps app owners up at night, it is the feeling that they are paying for something they should be getting for free. We see it all the time with our clients in London and across the UK. You’ve got a solid marketing strategy, your paid campaigns are firing, but your total growth isn't quite adding up.
The question usually comes up during a monthly review: "what is cannibalization in aso and why is my organic search volume dropping while my search ads spend goes up?"
In simple terms, cannibalization is what happens when your paid ads take credit for installs that would have happened organically. It is a bit like paying a commission to a salesman for a customer who was already walking through your shop door in Shoreditch with their wallet out.
Understanding the basics of app store optimization
To understand the problem, we first need to look at how app store optimization works. At its core, aso is about making sure your app is visible and appealing to the right people. This involves managing your keywords, screenshots, and descriptions so the store algorithm knows where to place you.
When we talk about store optimization, we are trying to earn our way to the top of the search results. If you’ve done a good job with your app store presence, you should naturally rank high for terms related to your service. However, the apple ecosystem is crowded. This is why many apps supplement their growth with paid placement.
If you want to dive deeper into the basics, our complete app store optimization guide and aso checklist covers the foundations in a lot more detail.
How cannibalization in aso affects your growth
When cannibalization in aso happens, it creates a "halo effect" that is actually a bit of an illusion. Your paid dashboards look amazing because they are reporting a high volume of cannibalized downloads. Meanwhile, your organic downloads seem to be struggling.
As a manager, I have to look past those surface-level numbers. If we are spending thousands on marketing to capture users who were already searching for our brand, we aren't actually growing. We are just shifting the cost. This is a common issue for mobile businesses that have a strong brand presence but a disjointed marketing strategy.
The goal is always to find incremental downloads. These are the users who would not have found your app if it weren’t for that specific ad. Everything else is just noise that makes your CPA (Cost Per Acquisition) look higher than it truly is.
The relationship between ASO and traffic
The interplay between aso and paid traffic is a delicate balance. You want your app store page to be so well-optimized that it converts anyone who lands on it. But you also need to know when to step back with your bidding.
If you are curious about the technical side of tracking these movements, using a dedicated aso tool can help you see where your organic search rankings sit in relation to your competitors.
In my experience, cannibalization often occurs because a team is too focused on "owning the search result." They want to see their app at the very top, regardless of whether it is a paid or organic listing. While that looks great for the ego, it is rarely the most efficient way to run a strategy.
How cannibalization occurs in the App Store
There are two main ways traffic cannibalization shows up in the store.
1. Brand Keyword Overlap
This is the most frequent culprit. You rank number one organically for your own brand name. However, you are also running search ads on that exact name. Because the ad appears above the organic result, the user clicks the ad. Apple gets paid, and you get a "paid install" for a user who was already looking for you.
2. Broad Match Campaigns
Sometimes, apple search ads will place your ad for generic keywords where you already have a top organic spot. If you are a travel app and you rank #2 for "cheap flights," and you also bid on that term, you might find that your paid spend is just eating into your existing organic downloads.
Identifying cannibalized downloads and organic downloads
To get a clear picture, you need to look at "incrementality." This is the only way to know if your app cannibalization is actually a problem.
- Organic Search baseline: Look at your download numbers before you started the paid campaign.
- Search Ads impact: Look at the lift in total downloads after the campaign launched.
- Cannibalized downloads: If your total downloads only went up by 100, but your ads reported 500 installs, then 400 of those were likely cannibalized.
A good aso lead will always be comparing these two data sets. We often suggest running "lift tests" where we turn off paid ads in a specific region say, just for users in Greater Manchester or Birmingham and see if the organic downloads spike to fill the gap. If they do, you’ve confirmed your cannibalization level.
Measuring incremental downloads in apple search
When we manage campaigns, we aren't just looking for volume; we are looking for value. To find incremental downloads, we have to be smart with how we use keywords.
If you are interested in how external factors influence these rankings, you might want to read about backlinks for aso app rankings. While backlinks are more of a web SEO thing, they do impact your overall brand authority, which in turn affects your organic search standing.
Measuring the difference between paid success and true growth is what separates a basic marketing plan from a professional strategy. At Kurve, we prioritize the total "blended" cost of acquisition. If the blended cost is rising even though the ad platform says costs are stable, you are likely dealing with keyword cannibalization.
Strategy to minimise traffic cannibalization
So, how do we fix it? It isn't about stopping your paid efforts entirely. It’s about being more surgical.
- Protect, don't just spend: Only bid on your brand if a competitor is trying to bid on it. If you are the only one in the search result, let your organic listing do the work.
- Negative Keywords: Use negative keywords to ensure your search ads don't show up for terms where you are already the dominant organic choice.
- Focus on Discovery: Shift your budget toward "discovery" keywords terms that potential users search when they don't know your app exists yet. This is where you get the most incremental downloads.
- Refine your Store Optimization: The better your app store optimization is, the less you have to rely on paid placements for your core terms.
By following these steps, you ensure that every pound spent on marketing is actually bringing in a new customer, rather than just recycling an old one. It is about making the app store work for you, not just for apple.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is meant by aso cannibalization?
It refers to the situation where your paid ads in the app store capture users who would have downloaded your app via organic search results anyway. This makes your paid campaigns look more effective than they are while wasting budget.
What is cannibalisation in SEO?
In traditional web SEO, this usually refers to "keyword cannibalization," where multiple pages on your own website compete for the same search term, confusing Google and splitting your ranking power.
How to avoid cannibalization in SEO?
You avoid it by ensuring each page has a unique purpose and targets a specific set of keywords. Use clear internal linking and canonical tags to tell search engines which page is the priority for a specific topic.
How to measure cannibalization in retail?
In retail, this happens when a new product or a new store location steals sales from your existing ones. You measure it by looking at the "net" increase in sales across all locations versus the projected sales of the new branch alone.
Managing a successful app is as much about what you don't spend as what you do. If you can master the balance between your organic and paid efforts, you'll see much healthier margins.
