App Store Keywords Optimization: a Guide for iOS Apps
App Store keywords are specific words or phrases that make a mobile app visible in organic search results for various search terms used by App Store users. Optimizing an iOS app’s visibility on the App Store requires strategic keyword research, evaluation, and implementation.
To increase organic visibility, App Store keyword research and evaluation should be data-driven to factor in popularity, relevance, and competitiveness. App Store keywords are then introduced into an app’s product page metadata through App Store Connect in the app’s name, subtitle, and keyword field.
This process should be strategic to ensure the app is indexed for the right keywords and occupies high positions in organic search results.
Continue reading to learn how to:
– Create an App Store keyword strategy
– Discover App Store keywords to rank organically
– Improve your ranking positions on the App Store
– How to manage & update your app’s product page metadata
– How to monitor and analyze your ranking data.
How do keywords help with ranking higher in the App Store?
App Store keyword optimization is an essential part of ASO for the App Store. Apps with optimized keywords are more likely to be indexed for relevant search results and reach ranking positions high enough to drive meaningful traffic to a product page.
Tap-through rates fall significantly with each position in search results below the first, and achieving higher positions is always a zero-sum game with our competitors. Therefore, a cohesive, data-driven keyword strategy will help us find an unexplored niche or rank high for highly competitive but popular queries, provided our app addresses all the factors the App Store’s search algorithm takes into account.
What is an App Store Keyword strategy?
An App Store keyword strategy is a plan for selecting and implementing keywords in the app’s product page metadata that considers the opportunity presented by each app or game category on the App Store and an individual app’s potential to address all the ranking factors.
Each app category differs in user behavior, search usage, and competitive landscapes. A mobile game with various functions and theme-related keywords to choose from will have a very different strategy from a Social Networking app. A new app will use a different keyword strategy than an established one seeking to recoup previously held positions.
Understanding all the App Store ranking factors is the heart of every viable keyword strategy, so let’s examine them first.
What factors are relevant to ranking keywords in organic search on the App Store?
App Store ranking factors enable the search algorithm to evaluate an app’s quality and relevance to particular search terms. The exact mechanism is undisclosed, but it’s been empirically proven that various parameters and metrics may serve as signals for it, including but probably not limited to the following:
- App’s metadata: app name, subtitle, and the keyword field;
- Quantitative metrics: downloads, download velocity, taps;
- Qualitative metrics: tap-through, conversion, and in-app engagement rates
This broad scope is logical from the user’s perspective, as an app that’s growing in popularity and being actively engaged with after installation is probably the best one to address their needs.
The focus on quality and engagement will be a crucial trend in organic ranking and app store optimization in 2025. For reference, it’s established that even parameters such as app crashes are a ranking factor on Google Play, with an unreliable, unstable app likely to drop in search results.
For best results, assume the same for your App Store keyword strategy and evaluate your app’s potential in the context of these factors:
- Is it a new app that might benefit from the “debut” effect (a short-term boost in organic ranking for new apps)?
- Does it offer unique features or themes that will allow it to seek visibility through less popular and more viable keywords?
- Does it have features that overlap with established competitors, forcing a focus on popular but highly competitive keywords?
Answers to these essential questions will determine whether you need to shift your ASO (to target other, more viable markets) or pay for user acquisition to gain download momentum and trigger organic rankings. They’ll directly impact your keyword research, evaluation, and implementation.
What is the best way to research keywords for the App Store?
Keyword research is the first step in any strategy. The best way to research app keywords for the App Store is to do it in two steps:
- Create an extensive pool of logically and semantically relevant keywords;
- Evaluate your keywords and select the best one for implementation.
The broader the scope of your initial keyword pool, the better. Our goal should be to have around 15-20 high-priority keywords for your first update and preferably a similar number of replacements for future updates.
Start with assembling an expansive list of keywords. Select 15-20 strategic ones and sort them by relevance to your app and their potential to drive traffic. These will be strategically distributed between the app’s name, subtitle, and the keyword field.
The App Store ranking algorithm considers various factors for indexing and ranking apps for each keyword individually. Therefore, it’s good to have a plan B from the get-go, as some of your implemented keywords may need to be replaced in a couple of weeks after the first update.
Also, a new app on the App Store may enjoy a short-term boost in organic visibility. Still, you should also be prepared that it may drop in rankings after some time when the novelty effect wears off and a sufficient download velocity isn’t maintained.
How can you find potential keywords for an iOS app?
Ranking high organically in search results on the App Store is primarily a zero-sum game. Your app’s gain in the rankings will always be connected to others losing visibility. This means that ASO competitive research is an essential part of keyword research for any iOS app.
Potential keywords to rank for on the App Store can be found in multiple sources. For example, Apple Search Ads keyword suggestions or App Store Search autocomplete feature in search. You may even use additional sources, such as Google Trends or Google Ads, for inspiration.
Still, the above methods work best in the prototyping phase. Preparing to make that keyword shortlist requires comprehensive category and competitor research. Without real-life, data-driven keyword research, you won’t go far (or high) on the App Store.
Your goal should be to find keywords related to actual search queries run by users on the App Store. In practice, it means that it’s best to research keywords on two levels:
- Category level: Examine trends and patterns in your app or game’s category and subcategory.
- Competitor level: Focus on more granular competitor evaluation to understand who you’ll be fighting for the top position in search results.
Understand the specifics of your app’s category. What words and phrases are most commonly used in names and subtitles? App Radar can give you additional insights into keywords used in your competitors’ keyword fields to help you understand their strategy fully. You can even monitor how frequently these are changed.
Confront your findings with your strategy’s assumptions, which consider your app’s potential to rank for the keywords you collected and choose the right keywords to implement.
Choosing the right keywords for your product page
The choice of keywords to be implemented should be data-driven and take into consideration three characteristics:
- Popularity: the number of search queries related to a particular keyword
- Relevance: logical and semantic relevance of a keyword to your mobile app
- Difficulty: the strength of competitors visible for a specific keyword
In practice, even if manual research yields some words or phrases that can be used for organic rankings, accessing real-life, accurate keyword metrics is a real challenge. Apple Search Ads may deliver usable, real-life data for ASO on the App Store in the form of the “Search Popularity” metric. Coupled with its keyword suggestion functionality, it’s the only source of semi-relevant keyword data for ASO, as the platform’s scope is on advertising.
The reality for App Store keyword optimization is simple: you’ll need to access a third-party platform such as App Radar to gain access to metrics and insights relevant to improving organic rankings.
How App Radar will make your App Store Keyword strategy possible
Data-driven keyword research and evaluation are crucial. Since metadata updates shouldn’t be more frequent than every four weeks, keyword optimization without accurate metrics will likely be ineffective. Can you afford the time for futile experiments?
App Radar will enable keyword evaluation on multiple levels, focusing on category or competition.
Where do you implement keywords on the App Store?
Following research and evaluation, App Store keywords are implemented in three fields in App Store Connect:
- App name: up to 30 characters, a place for highest-priority keywords
- Subtitle: up to 30 characters, a place for second-priority keywords
- Keyword field: up to 10 keywords, a place for all other keywords
The critical consideration is the proper distribution of keywords between them, depending on priority. Effectively, you can place around 15-20 strategic keywords in these fields.
Remember, unlike on Google Play, the app’s description has no confirmed bearing on rankings. Keep your description informative and to the point for the conversion rate. Keyword optimization on Google Play resembles SEO in this regard.
Each field serves a different purpose, which is connected to its importance for rankings.
- The app name will contain your unique branded keyword(s) and the most important generic ones defining essential functionality, theme, or genre.
- The subtitle will define your app or mobile game’s unique selling points and features.
- The keyword field should be used to extend your reach for theme/functionality-centric keywords.
Optimizing the keyword field is pretty straightforward, as it’s not directly visible to App Store users and is purely an ASO tool. The app name and subtitle also have a direct impact on tap-through and conversion rates, as they’re highly visible in both search results and the app’s product page, along with the icon and screenshots. Striking the right balance between search algorithm needs, ranking goals, and conversion rate goals will be essential during optimization.
Monitoring the impact of your keywords
After implementing App Store keywords in metadata, ranking, and traffic must be monitored. Updates should be every four weeks, enough time to observe a meaningful change in the rankings.
You may not appear immediately in the top ten results, but if you observe some change, you’re on the right track to increase the standing of keywords you did manage to rank for. Being consistently indexed means that the algorithm understands your app right, but you need to address all the other App Store ranking factors to move up in search results.
Look into who you’re up to for each keyword and your chance of moving up. Increasing downloads and download velocity might work (with paid user acquisition). If you get traffic, perhaps increasing the conversion rate with better visual assets (like the icon and screenshots) will help you crank these numbers up.
Delving deeper into historical data may help you understand whether a slowdown or a spike is a fluke or perhaps related to seasonality, as some keywords gain much more prominence during a specific time of the year or an important holiday.
What are the best practices of keyword optimization in the App Store?
Best ASO keyword optimization practices strive to solve its most significant consideration: moving you up higher in search results. Any search results page may seem almost endless, so getting your “free photo app” isn’t as difficult as getting it within two or three swipes away from being seen. Here are some practices that ASO specialists should consider if they want to improve organic search rankings.
Invest in paid user acquisition
High download velocity (the number of downloads generated within a specific period) signifies an app’s increasing popularity and, therefore, worth recommending to other users. Among all the App Store ranking factors, download velocity is the easiest to address by paying for user acquisition.
This is the reality of ASO in 2025: to make an app seen among the countless competitors on any app store, paid user acquisition is necessary to build up a base for the organic ranking algorithm to build on its understanding of our app’s value. New users will generate tap-through and conversion rates, indicating quality. They’ll download and interact with your app, leaving no data on engagement. They’ll leave app reviews and ratings vital for organic growth.
Don’t think of ASO and keyword optimization as a means of growing your app quickly. It’s more likely it will snowball what you acquire through advertising.
Run Apple Search Ads
There is tested empirical evidence that Apple Search Ads may directly impact organic keyword rankings on the App Store. However, their value lies in their ability to drive high-quality traffic, resulting in downloads from engaged users with high lifetime value (LTV).
Apple Search Ads offers four ad placements: on the Today tab (the homepage of the App Store), the Search tab, in search results, and on competitors’ app’s product pages. You’ll increase your visibility on the App Store, given your ASO that necessary trigger.
Manage app reviews
Manage your app reviews from the day your app debuts on the App Store. This means timely replies and careful analysis. Merely engaging with users can lead to better ratings overall, and implementing suggestions will drive the average score even higher. User reviews can be a source of new keywords, hinting at the language used to describe its features.
Monitor seasonality
Seasonality can significantly impact keywords’ search volume and ranking difficulty, as some search queries gain more traction during essential events and festive periods while others lose it. Given short timeframes and the time it takes for metadata updates to impact keywords, fluctuations related to events or holidays are typically addressed with paid user acquisition. However, updating the keyword field might be worth it in certain circumstances.
App Radar’s Keyword Intelligence also enables the analysis of historical data. You’ll be able to identify keywords with significant search volume changes.
Final words
App Store keywords reflect user intent, and choosing the right ones to rank for is essential in optimizing our organic visibility on the App Store. Remember, many factors influence our position in search results. Reaching them will require more effort than simply updating the app’s metadata and hoping for the best.
Keyword Intelligence, Market Intelligence, Competitor Insights.
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