App Store Optimization lives or dies on keywords. Pick the right ones and your app surfaces in front of people actively looking to download something like it. Pick the wrong ones and you're invisible — no matter how good your app actually is.

This guide covers everything you need to know about App Store keyword research: how to find candidates, how to evaluate them, how to structure them in your metadata, and how to iterate over time.

What Is App Store Keyword Research?

App Store keyword research is the process of identifying the words and phrases users type into the App Store search bar when looking for apps like yours. Apple's algorithm uses your app name, subtitle, and keyword field to determine which searches your app appears in.

Unlike Google SEO, you don't control a full page of text. You have:

App name — up to 30 characters, highest ranking weight
Subtitle — up to 30 characters, second-highest weight
Keyword field — up to 100 characters, comma-separated, not visible to users

Every character counts. Wasted characters are wasted ranking opportunities.

Step 1: Seed Your Keyword List

Start broad. Write down every word or phrase someone might use to find your app. Don't filter yet — just generate.

Good sources for seed keywords:

Your app's core function — what does it do? Start there. "invoice app", "invoice maker", "billing app"
Competitors — search for apps in your category and look at their names and subtitles
App Store autocomplete — type your seed words into the App Store search bar and note what autocomplete suggests. These are real searches people make
App Store category browse — look at top apps in your category and read their metadata
User reviews of competitor apps — the language people use to describe what they wanted tells you exactly what they searched for

Aim for 40–60 seed keywords before you start filtering.

Step 2: Evaluate Each Keyword

Not all keywords are worth chasing. You need to balance two factors:

Search volume — how many people actually search for this term? Higher is better, but only if you can compete.

Difficulty — how strong are the existing apps ranking for this term? If the top 10 results are all apps with 100,000+ ratings, ranking there as a new app is nearly impossible.

The sweet spot is medium-volume, lower-difficulty keywords. These are often long-tail terms: "invoice app for freelancers" instead of just "invoice app".

Tools that help evaluate App Store keywords:

AppFollow, Sensor Tower, AppFigures — paid tools with volume and difficulty estimates
App Store search itself — type a keyword and count how many results appear. Fewer results often mean less competition
Autocomplete depth — if a keyword appears early in autocomplete, it has real search volume

Step 3: Identify Long-Tail Opportunities

Long-tail keywords are phrases with three or more words. They have lower individual volume but much better conversion rates — someone searching "invoice app for freelancers on iPhone" is far more qualified than someone searching "invoice".

Examples of long-tail vs. head keywords:

Head keyword	Long-tail alternative
invoice app	invoice app for freelancers
budget tracker	monthly budget tracker no subscription
workout app	home workout app no equipment
habit tracker	daily habit tracker with streaks

Long-tail keywords also tend to have lower competition, making them ideal for new or smaller apps trying to build initial ranking momentum.

Step 4: Structure Keywords Across Your Metadata Fields

Once you have a prioritized list, you need to place keywords strategically across your three metadata fields.

App name (30 characters): Use your most important keyword here. The app name carries the most ranking weight in Apple's algorithm. Don't just use your brand name — pair it with your primary keyword.

Example: "Invofy — Invoice Maker & Billing" instead of just "Invofy"

Subtitle (30 characters): Your second-most important field. Use it for your second-priority keyword cluster — often a different use case or audience than your primary keyword.

Example: "Freelance Invoicing & Estimates"

Keyword field (100 characters): Comma-separated, no spaces after commas (saves characters). Rules to follow:

Don't repeat words that already appear in your app name or subtitle — Apple indexes them from all three fields, so repetition wastes space
Don't include your app name, competitor names, or category names (Apple filters these)
Do include synonyms, related actions, and audience descriptors
Use singular or plural — not both. Apple handles pluralization automatically

Example keyword field: freelancer,self-employed,billing,receipt,estimate,quote,client,payment,tax,vat

That's 76 characters — tight, relevant, no repetition.

Step 5: Prioritize Updates with A/B Testing

Your first set of keywords is a hypothesis, not a final answer. Apple allows you to update your metadata with every app version — use this.

What to track:

Impressions in App Store Connect (shows if a keyword is driving traffic)
Conversion rate per keyword (harder to isolate, but visible in aggregate)
Ranking position (third-party tools help here)

How to iterate:

Every 4–8 weeks, swap out your lowest-performing keywords for new candidates
Test one cluster at a time so you can attribute changes in performance
Keep keywords that are driving impressions even if rankings feel low — they're working

Common Keyword Research Mistakes

Repeating keywords across fields. If "invoice" is in your app name, don't put it in your keyword field. Apple already indexes it.

Targeting head keywords only. "Notes", "Tracker", "Calendar" — these are dominated by apps with millions of reviews. Long-tail is where new apps win.

Ignoring competitor metadata. The metadata of top-ranked apps in your category is public. Read it. It tells you what keywords are winning.

Setting and forgetting. Keyword performance shifts as competitors update their metadata and as user search behavior changes. Treat your keyword field as a living document.

Using spaces in the keyword field. Apple treats "invoice app" as two separate keywords: "invoice" and "app". Save characters by dropping spaces after commas and avoiding multi-word phrases in the keyword field (use them in your name/subtitle instead).

How to Manage Keywords Across Multiple Apps

If you manage more than one app, keyword research becomes a coordination challenge. Each app needs its own optimized keyword set — and they may overlap in category but serve different audiences.

This is where having a dedicated workspace per project saves significant time. LaunchPilot keeps your App Store metadata — including keyword fields — organized per project so you can iterate on each app independently without losing context. When you're ready to update, everything is in one place.

Quick Reference: App Store Keyword Checklist

40–60 seed keywords generated before filtering
Long-tail opportunities identified for lower competition
App name includes primary keyword (within 30 chars)
Subtitle includes secondary keyword cluster (within 30 chars)
Keyword field uses all 100 characters with no spaces after commas
No repeated words across name, subtitle, and keyword field
Keyword set reviewed and updated with every app release

What to Do Next

App Store keyword research doesn't stop at launch. The apps that climb the rankings over time are the ones that treat ASO as an ongoing practice — not a one-time setup.

Start with a solid keyword foundation, track your impressions in App Store Connect, and iterate every release cycle. Over 6–12 months, you'll build ranking momentum that compounds.

For a complete overview of what else goes into a strong App Store presence — screenshots, descriptions, and metadata structure — read our App Store description guide next, or explore how LaunchPilot keeps all of this organized in one workspace.

App Store Keyword Research: How to Find Keywords That Actually Rank