Eight tips for working with keywords in the App Store

The founder of WordData, Evaldo Rossi, shared tips on optimizing search results in the App Store on the blog of the German analytical company Adjust. We offer a short version of his material.

Unlike Google Play, the App Store does not scan the description of the application, so the only way to somehow optimize the application in terms of search results is a 100-character keyword field, the name of the application itself and the names of the IAPs. Ideally, each one needs to be tested (moreover, some of it should be changed over time), but there are a few simple rules that can be called universal.

1. Don’t use spaces, just commas

Since spaces are considered to be separate characters, they should be avoided.

2. No prepositions, articles, bundles and the like (we refuse a, the, of )

As a rule, such words do not carry meaning and may well be omitted. But when it comes to a very specific term, a la strategy of war, then you will have to use both a bunch and spaces, otherwise the search engine will not give your application a similar query.

3. Do not use the names of numbers, feel free to enter numeric values

The fact is that when you write “9”, the App Store automatically searches not only for “9”, but also for nine (most likely, this is also true for the version of the word in other languages).

4. Don’t enter one word twice

In the case of adding keywords, like amazing silver hero and incredible hero battle, hero does not need to be written twice. It is better to put everything through commas: amazing,silver,incredible, hero, battle.

5. Be careful with the plural

In English, it makes no sense to duplicate a keyword in the plural and singular. But this does not apply to other languages, where there may still be a difference in output. Therefore, when working with non-English keywords, Adjust is advised to experiment, to see which words work more effectively – plural or singular.

6. Use short keywords to cover more combinations of phrases

The situation is as follows: the more words, the more phrases your application can “get out” in the search results. Plus, remember, a nine-character word is two words by four.

7. Put the strongest keywords in the app name

Since the application name has more weight for the algorithm, it should contain the most popular keywords. The more relevant the term, the higher the conversion rate (word order matters).

8. If there is space left, enter the numbers

Adding numbers to keywords like top strategy game will help cover more specific search phrases like top 5 strategy game.

Yes, when deleting keywords, do not forget to see if you have lost a good keyword in which this word was involved.