App Store Keyword Research: A Step-by-Step Guide (Free)

The short answer

App Store keyword research means collecting phrases people type into App Store search, then choosing the ones you can realistically rank for. Gather candidates from autocomplete, competitors and reviews, judge each by how often it is searched against how strong the apps above you are, then put the winners in your title, subtitle and keyword field.

What is App Store keyword research?

It is the work of finding the search phrases your customers use and deciding which of them to build your listing around. It matters because search is the main way people discover apps: Apple says 70% of App Store visitors use search to discover apps.

The aim is not the biggest phrase. It is the phrase with real demand that an app like yours can win, because a rank you can't reach brings no installs.

Where do keyword ideas come from?

Autocomplete. Type a word into the App Store search box and read the suggestions. They are mostly phrases people search for, with some app names mixed in.
Competitors. The names and subtitles of the apps that already rank for what you want show the phrases they chose.
Your own reviews. The words customers use to describe your app are the words other customers search with.
Your own description. The pairs of words you repeat there are usually the concepts your app is about.
Neighboring words. Synonyms and the different ways people name the same job.

How do you tell how popular a keyword is?

You estimate it. As far as Apple's documentation shows, App Store Connect reports search as a traffic source but not search volume for each keyword, so tools infer demand instead.

One free method uses autocomplete: the fewer letters you have to type before Apple suggests a phrase, and the higher it sits in the list, the more it is searched. Quick ASO turns that into a score from 5 to 100. It is a relative estimate, good for comparing phrases with each other, not a count of searches.

How do you tell if a keyword is winnable?

Search the phrase and look at the top ten results. Apps with hundreds of thousands of ratings are hard to displace; newer apps with few ratings are not. Quick ASO scores this from 0 to 100 using the rating volume of the top ten, with the highest positions counting most.

Also check that you can honestly claim the phrase. A phrase that describes a different kind of app will bring the wrong people, and App Review expects keywords to describe your app accurately.

Are long phrases worth targeting?

Be careful with long autocomplete suggestions. In a small check Quick ASO ran in November 2026 on 71 autocomplete suggestions for two apps, 4 of the 7 suggestions with five or more words were not suggested again when typed in full, which means people rarely search that exact phrase. They mostly looked like other apps' names. Among the 64 shorter suggestions, only 1 behaved that way.

The sample is small, so read it as a warning sign rather than a rule. It is why Quick ASO ranks long suggestions lower than short ones with the same signals.

How do you choose which keywords to use?

Compare demand with difficulty for each candidate:

Demand	Difficulty	What to do
High	Low	Target now. Put the best one in the title.
High	High	Only if it describes you exactly. Expect a slow climb, and don't build the title around it.
Low	Low	Cheap filler for the keyword field, after the better words.
Low	High	Skip it.

Then place them: one phrase in the title, two or three in the subtitle, and the rest as single words in the keyword field.

A free workflow you can run this week

Write down what your app does in five different ways, as a customer would say it.
Type each into the App Store search box and note the suggestions.
Open the top three competitors and note the words in their names and subtitles.
Read your last 20 reviews and note the words customers use.
Score each candidate for demand and difficulty. Quick ASO scores every phrase in your listing and suggests new ones from autocomplete; looking is free.
Fill the title, subtitle and keyword field from the best candidates, ship the update, and track the ranks.

Frequently asked questions

Does Apple publish search volume for App Store keywords?

As far as Apple's documentation shows, App Store Connect reports App Store search as a traffic source but not search volume for each keyword. Keyword-level search terms are reported for paid search in Apple Ads, so organic demand has to be estimated.

How many keywords should I target?

Start with one phrase in the title, two or three in the subtitle, and single words in the keyword field. A 100-character field holds roughly 10 to 15 words.

Is autocomplete a reliable signal of how popular a phrase is?

It is a useful relative signal, not a count. A phrase that Apple suggests after a few letters and near the top is searched more than one it suggests late and low, which is enough to compare phrases with each other.

How often should I redo keyword research?

Whenever you ship an update, and whenever your rankings stall. The phrases people type change over time, and new apps launch above you.

Can I do App Store keyword research for free?

Yes. Autocomplete, competitors' listings and your own reviews cost nothing. Quick ASO is also free to look at: it lists the keywords in your listing and their ranks.

Sources

What this guide says about Apple comes from these pages, which Apple can change. Statements marked as practice come from ASO testing, not from Apple.

See where your own app stands

Quick ASO lists every phrase your app ranks for, scores each one and tells you what to change. It is free to look. Open the app →