App Store Keyword Research Guides
Practical guides to finding, evaluating, and acting on App Store keyword opportunities — written for indie developers and ASO practitioners who need real answers, not generic advice.
In-depth guides
- How to Find Low-Competition App Store KeywordsA practical step-by-step method for finding App Store keywords with real search demand and low enough difficulty to rank for — without guessing.Read guide
- How to Do App Store Keyword Research: A 4-Phase WorkflowA complete, repeatable workflow for App Store keyword research — from ideation to metadata update — for indie developers and ASO professionals.Read guide
- How to Evaluate App Store Keyword DifficultyWhat keyword difficulty actually measures, how to interpret scores in context, and how to set realistic targets based on your app's current authority.Read guide
- Free vs. Paid App Store Keyword Research ToolsWhat free ASO keyword tools can and can't do, when a paid tool earns its cost, and how to decide what's right for your stage of development.Read guide
- App Store Keyword Research Across Multiple StorefrontsHow to research keywords across 109 App Store storefronts — and why per-storefront scoring reveals opportunities that single-market research misses.Read guide
- How to Read a Competitor's App Store Keyword SetA practical guide to reverse-engineering the keywords a competing app ranks for, interpreting results, and discovering winnable keyword gaps.Read guide
- Apple Search Ads Popularity Score, ExplainedWhat the Apple Search Ads popularity score is, how it's generated, what the 0–100 scale means, and how to use it for organic keyword research.Read guide
- App Store Metadata Fields That Actually Affect Search RankingWhich App Store metadata fields Apple indexes, what weight each carries, and how to spend a limited character budget across title, subtitle and keyword field.Read guide
Essential ASO glossary concepts
Master the underlying metrics and algorithmic factors covered in these guides:
- App Store Optimization (ASO)App Store Optimization is the process of improving an app's visibility in App Store search results and its conversion rate from search impressions to installs.
- Keyword PopularityKeyword 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.
- 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.
- App Store StorefrontAn App Store storefront is one country-specific instance of the App Store, each with its own search demand, ranking results, and keyword difficulty — 109 storefronts exist in total.
- Competing Apps CountThe competing apps count is the number of apps that appear in search results for a given keyword in a specific storefront — a proxy for how saturated that keyword's search results are.
Storefront keyword research
Keyword difficulty varies significantly by country. Explore market guides for the top App Store storefronts:
Ready to research keywords?
Score App Store keywords by popularity and difficulty across 109 storefronts — apply everything in these guides with real data.
Start keyword research