Keyword Popularity
Keyword popularity is a 0–100 score measuring how often users search for a given term in the App Store, derived from Apple Search Ads demand signals.
Apple exposes a popularity signal through its Search Ads platform — the same demand data advertisers use to decide which keywords to bid on. ASOGrade surfaces this signal as a 0–100 score, where higher means more searches per period. The scale is relative: a score of 67 means there is more demand than a term scoring 50, not that exactly 67% of searches include this term.
The practical threshold for considering a keyword worth targeting is roughly 25+. Below that, the raw search volume is small enough that even a top-3 ranking generates minimal organic installs. Above 65, a keyword has real volume — but it also tends to attract competitive apps, pushing difficulty up.
Popularity is storefront-specific. The same keyword in the US store might score 65; in Brazil, it might score 40; in an emerging market, it might be so rarely searched that Apple returns no signal at all. Checking popularity per storefront is essential before deciding which markets to localize for.
Popularity scores are not static. They shift with cultural trends, seasonality, and competitor behavior. A tool that appeared last month may have trained new users to search for it by name, raising the popularity of branded terms. Checking scores before each metadata update, not just once, gives you an accurate read.
Frequently asked questions
- What is a good keyword popularity score?
- Above 25 is generally worth considering. Above 50 is solid demand. Above 65 is high volume — but at that level, expect high difficulty too. Below 25, the raw search count is usually too small to generate meaningful organic installs even at a top-3 ranking.
- Why does the same keyword have different popularity in different countries?
- Search behaviour differs by market. A productivity term that is heavily searched in the US might have minimal demand in a smaller market, or might be searched in the local language rather than English. Popularity scores are calculated per storefront using local Apple Search Ads data.
- Can popularity scores change without any action on my part?
- Yes. Search trends shift constantly. A keyword can rise in popularity because a competitor launched a viral marketing campaign around it, or fall because a cultural moment passed. This is why checking scores before each metadata update matters.
Related terms
- Keyword DifficultyKeyword difficulty is a 0–100 score estimating how hard it is to break into the top-ranking positions for a given App Store keyword, based on the strength of apps currently holding those positions.
- Apple Search AdsApple Search Ads is Apple's paid advertising platform for the App Store, allowing developers to bid on keywords to display their app at the top of search results.
- Long-Tail KeywordsLong-tail keywords are multi-word, specific search phrases that individually have lower search volume than broad terms but collectively cover the majority of App Store searches and often have much lower ranking difficulty.
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Put this into practice
Score App Store keywords by popularity and difficulty across 109 storefronts — the numbers behind keyword popularity.
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