Should a brand-new app with no ratings target high-competition keywords?
No — a new app with little or no rating history is competing against established apps' accumulated quality signals, so targeting keywords with difficulty scores below 40 gives it a realistic path to a visible ranking instead of page 5.
Difficulty reflects how entrenched the apps currently holding top positions are, not just how relevant the term is. A high-popularity, high-difficulty keyword is dominated by apps with years of ratings and retention data a new app hasn't had time to build.
The practical path is targeting accessible difficulty first, building rating count and retention through real usage, then revisiting harder keywords once the app has its own quality signals to compete on. Chasing a big keyword too early usually produces an invisible ranking rather than a fast win.
Go deeper
More quick answers
- Does keyword order matter in the App Store keyword field?No. Apple's search algorithm treats the 100-character keyword field as an unordered set of terms separated by commas, not a ranked or read left-to-right list.Read the answer
- How many keywords should I target in one App Store update?Most apps fit 10-20 distinct keyword terms across title, subtitle, and the 100-character keyword field once you account for character limits — there's no fixed 'right number' beyond what those three fields can physically hold.Read the answer
- Does changing my App Store keywords reset my ranking?No. There's no ranking 'reset' penalty for updating keywords — your app simply stops ranking for terms it no longer targets and becomes eligible to rank for the new ones once Apple re-indexes the update.Read the answer
- Can I use a competitor's app name as a keyword?Apple generally allows a competitor's name in your keyword field (not your title or subtitle), though Apple can and does reject specific cases, and it carries real trademark risk you should weigh before doing it.Read the answer
- Should I include both plural and singular versions of the same keyword?Usually no — Apple's search matches singular and plural forms of common English words to each other, so including both in a 100-character field just wastes characters you could spend on a different term.Read the answer
- Does running Apple Search Ads improve my organic App Store ranking?Indirectly, yes — a 2026 academic study found paid installs produce a real positive spillover to organic installs, estimated around 2.2 organic installs per $100 of ad spend, operating through a ranking mechanism rather than direct favoritism.Read the answer
Check it against your own keywords
Paste your candidate list and read real popularity, difficulty, and competing app count in seconds.
Get started