The iOS App Store keyword field: how to use all 100 characters

How Apple uses your text

Apple explains that App Store search considers text relevance (your app name, subtitle, keywords and primary category) along with user behavior (Apple, App Store search). Your description isn't used for search ranking on iOS. In practice:

• Words in the title carry the most weight.
• Words in the subtitle come next.
• Words in the keyword field expand which queries you can match.
• The store can combine words across these fields to match multi-word searches.

That last point is the key to using 100 characters well.

Formatting rules

• Separate with commas, no spaces. Use `habit,routine,planner`, not `habit, routine, planner`. Spaces waste characters.
• Don't repeat words. If "tracker" is in your title, don't add it again. Repeats add no ranking benefit.
• Use single words where you can. "Daily" and "planner" can combine with other indexed words to cover "daily planner" and more.
• Skip your app name, company name and category. These are already associated with your app.
• Avoid competitor brand names and trademarks. Apple's guidelines prohibit misleading metadata, including other apps' names (App Review Guidelines 2.3.7).
• Don't waste characters on plurals by default. Choose the form people search most, and check rankings rather than assuming.

Choosing what goes in

Start with research:

• List candidate terms that describe your app's functions, benefits and use cases.
• Check popularity. Apple Ads exposes a popularity score for search terms, and ASO tools estimate it.
• Check difficulty. How strong is the current top 10 for each term?
• Check your current rank. Keywords where you're already in the top 50 are prime candidates to reinforce.
• Prioritize. Put your one or two most valuable terms in the title and subtitle, and fill the keyword field with the next tier.

Example

App: a habit tracker called "Stride."

• Title: `Stride: Habit Tracker` (habit, tracker)
• Subtitle: `Daily routine planner & goals` (daily, routine, planner, goals)
• Keyword field: `streak,journal,reminder,productivity,self,care,checklist,motivation,mood,todo,schedule,focus`

Together, these cover combinations like "daily habit tracker," "routine planner," "habit streak," "goal journal," and "self care checklist." No word appears twice across the three fields.

Localization adds more keyword space

Apple indexes multiple localizations in some storefronts. For example, the US storefront also indexes certain additional languages' metadata. That gives you extra keyword fields to work with. Check Apple's current localization and storefront documentation before relying on a specific combination, and keep localized text accurate. Don't fill it with unrelated terms.

When and how to update

• Keyword changes ship with an app version, so plan them with releases.
• Change one block at a time. If you swap the subtitle and half the keyword field at once, you won't know what moved rank.
• Wait for data. Give rankings a couple of weeks to settle and compare them with your daily history.
• Keep a log of what changed and when.

ASOSurge's listing studio scores your title, subtitle and keyword field against competitors, flags wasted or repeated characters, and suggests rewrites that fit each limit. Daily rank snapshots then show what each change did.

Common mistakes

• Repeating title words in the keyword field.
• Spaces after commas.
• Filling the field with high-popularity terms you can't rank for.
• Using competitor brand names, which risks rejection.
• Never revisiting the field after launch.

Beyond keywords: turning rank into installs

Ranking gets you seen. Conversion gets you installed. Make sure your icon and first screenshots sell the benefit, test them with Product Page Optimization, and earn ratings honestly with the native review prompt (Apple). If a valuable keyword is close but not top 10, a ramped keyword install campaign can add the search-driven momentum. ASOSurge's App Store keyword install campaigns are quoted before they run. Rates are on the pricing page.