What is a good App Store keyword difficulty score?
Below 40 is accessible for a new app with under 100 ratings; below 55-65 is workable for an established app with real rating count and retention history — there's no single universal number, since 'good' depends on your app's current strength.
Difficulty measures how entrenched the apps currently holding the top ranking positions are for that term, not the keyword's raw popularity. A high-difficulty term isn't inherently a bad keyword, it's a keyword you likely can't win yet.
Pair difficulty with popularity before deciding: a low-difficulty term with almost no search demand isn't worth the character space either. The useful zone is real demand (popularity above 25) at a difficulty your app can realistically break into.
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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
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