Keyword Optimizer
Optimize app title, subtitle, and keywords for maximum App Store discoverability.
When This Skill Activates
- User is launching a new app
- User wants to improve search rankings
- User asks about ASO (App Store Optimization)
- User is entering new markets/languages
- User wants to analyze keyword opportunities
- User needs safe optimization for existing apps
Reference Files
Before optimizing, load these reference materials:
| File | Purpose |
|---|---|
| keyword-criteria.md | Popularity/Difficulty sweet spots, opportunity scoring |
| advanced-tactics.md | Cross-localization, screenshot indexing, velocity boost |
| existing-app-strategy.md | Safe optimization for apps with existing traffic |
Information Gathering
Before optimizing, ask about:
-
App Identity
- What does the app do in one sentence?
- What category is it in?
- What's the current app name (if exists)?
-
Target Keywords
- What would users search to find this app?
- What problem words would they use?
- Any branded terms to include?
-
Competition
- Main competitors?
- What keywords do they target?
- Where can you realistically compete?
-
Goals
- Brand awareness vs. category traffic?
- Specific markets to prioritize?
Keyword Strategy
Where Keywords Count
| Field | Limit | Weight | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| App Name | 30 chars | Highest | Most valuable real estate |
| Subtitle | 30 chars | High | Visible in search, below name |
| Keywords | 100 chars | Medium | Not visible to users |
| Description | 4000 chars | Low* | *Apple says indexed, debated |
Keyword Types
- Branded - Your app name, company name
- Category - Generic terms (e.g., "todo app", "weather")
- Feature - Specific functionality (e.g., "offline maps")
- Problem - User pain points (e.g., "forget tasks")
- Long-tail - Specific phrases (e.g., "minimalist habit tracker")
Optimization Process
Step 1: Keyword Research
Generate Initial List:
1. Brainstorm 50+ keywords 2. What would YOU search for this app? 3. Check competitor names/subtitles 4. Use autocomplete suggestions 5. Consider misspellings users make
Research Tools:
- App Store Search Autocomplete
- AppFollow, Sensor Tower, AppTweak (paid)
- Google Keyword Planner (related terms)
- Competitor subtitle/keyword analysis
Step 2: Prioritize Keywords
Rate each keyword on:
| Factor | Question |
|---|---|
| Relevance | Does it accurately describe your app? |
| Volume | Do people actually search this? |
| Difficulty | Can you realistically rank? |
| Intent | Will searchers want your app? |
Priority Matrix:
High Volume + Low Difficulty = 🎯 Target First High Volume + High Difficulty = 💪 Long-term Goal Low Volume + Low Difficulty = ✅ Easy Wins Low Volume + High Difficulty = ❌ Skip
Step 3: Allocate Keywords
App Name (30 characters):
[Brand Name] - [Top Keyword Phrase] or [Brand Name]: [Value Proposition] Examples: "Notion - Notes & Docs" "Calm: Sleep & Meditation" "Fantastical - Calendar & Tasks"
Subtitle (30 characters):
[Second Priority Keywords] / [Unique Value] Examples: "Focus Timer & Daily Planner" "Simple Habit Building" "Weather Radar & Forecasts"
Keywords Field (100 characters):
Rules: - Comma-separated, NO spaces after commas - No plurals (Apple handles it) - No duplicates from name/subtitle - No category name (already indexed) - Single words perform better than phrases Example: "timer,pomodoro,focus,concentration,study,productivity,work,session,break,technique"
Character Optimization
Maximize 100 Characters
Bad (wastes characters):
task manager, todo list, productivity app, reminder app, checklist
Good (efficient):
task,todo,productivity,reminder,checklist,planner,organize,gtd,schedule,daily
Savings:
- Remove spaces after commas
- Don't repeat words in different forms
- Skip obvious words (app, free, best)
Word Combinations
Apple combines words from all fields:
Name: "Focus Timer" Subtitle: "Pomodoro Technique" Keywords: "study,productivity,work,session" Searchable combinations: - "focus timer" - "pomodoro timer" - "focus productivity" - "study timer" - "work focus" (and more...)
Cross-Field Deduplication
Apple indexes words from all three fields for the same locale — a word only needs to appear once. If a word appears in Title, don't repeat it in Subtitle or Keywords; if it appears in Subtitle, don't repeat it in Keywords.
Before & After Example
❌ BEFORE (duplicated words waste ~38 characters): Title: "Focus Timer - Stay Productive" Subtitle: "Pomodoro Timer & Focus Sessions" Keywords: "timer,focus,pomodoro,productive,study,work,session,break" ✅ AFTER (zero duplication, 5 new keywords gained): Title: "Focus Timer - Stay Productive" Subtitle: "Pomodoro Technique & Deep Work" Keywords: "study,concentration,interval,tomato,distraction,block,exam,revision,flowstate,desk"
Quick Dedup Check
| Check | Rule |
|---|---|
| Title word in Subtitle or Keywords? | Remove from the lower field |
| Subtitle word in Keywords? | Remove from Keywords |
| Plural/singular variant across fields? | Keep only in highest field |
| Stop words (a, the, and, for)? | Don't include anywhere — auto-indexed |
Common Mistakes
❌ Don't Do This:
- Using spaces after commas in keywords
- Duplicating words across fields
- Including your category name
- Using competitor brand names
- Adding "app" or "application"
- Including "free" (filterable separately)
- Using special characters or emoji
- Repeating singular/plural forms
✅ Do This:
- Research before guessing
- Prioritize relevance over volume
- Update keywords quarterly
- Track ranking changes
- Localize keywords per market
Keyword Template
APP NAME STRATEGY ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ Current: [existing name or blank] Proposed: [Brand] - [Keywords] Characters: [X/30] Primary keywords: [list] SUBTITLE STRATEGY ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ Current: [existing subtitle or blank] Proposed: [keyword-rich subtitle] Characters: [X/30] Secondary keywords: [list] KEYWORDS FIELD (100 chars) ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ Proposed: keyword1,keyword2,keyword3,... Characters: [X/100] EXPECTED COMBINATIONS ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ • [combination 1] • [combination 2] • [combination 3] ...
Localization Strategy
Priority Markets by Revenue
- 🇺🇸 United States (English)
- 🇨🇳 China (Simplified Chinese)
- 🇯🇵 Japan (Japanese)
- 🇬🇧 UK (British English - can differ!)
- 🇩🇪 Germany (German)
- 🇫🇷 France (French)
- 🇰🇷 South Korea (Korean)
- 🇪🇸 Spain (Spanish)
- 🇮🇹 Italy (Italian)
- 🇧🇷 Brazil (Portuguese)
Localization Tips
- Don't just translate—research local search terms
- Some markets search in English even for local apps
- Character limits may be tighter in some languages
- Hire native speakers to verify keywords make sense
- Consider cultural differences in app usage
Tracking & Iteration
What to Track
- Keyword rankings (use ASO tools)
- Impressions (App Store Connect)
- Conversion rate
- Download sources
When to Update
- Weekly: Check ranking changes
- Monthly: Assess underperforming keywords
- Quarterly: Major keyword refresh
- Seasonally: Add seasonal keywords
A/B Testing
App Store Connect allows testing:
- App icons
- Screenshots
- App previews
Use Product Page Optimization to test different approaches.
Quick Reference
Prohibited Terms
- "Free" (use pricing filter instead)
- "#1" or "best" without verification
- Competitor names
- "App" or "application"
- Pricing information
Always Include
- Core functionality words
- Problem/solution words
- Category-relevant terms
- Action verbs users would search
Character Limits
App Name: 30 characters Subtitle: 30 characters Keywords: 100 characters Description: 4000 characters (low SEO value)
Indie Developer Strategy
For building apps that generate $200-2,000/month:
The Sweet Spot Formula
Target keywords where: - Popularity > 20 (enough traffic) - Difficulty < 60 (beatable competition) Ideal: Popularity 25-50, Difficulty < 45
Process
- Find underserved keywords using ASO tools (Astro, AppTweak)
- Build simple, single-feature apps around those keywords
- Double down on winners, abandon losers
- Portfolio effect compounds (30 apps × $500 = $15k/month)
See keyword-criteria.md for detailed scoring and evaluation.
Advanced Tactics Summary
Cross-Localization (Double Keywords)
Add Spanish (Mexico) locale with English keywords for US market. See advanced-tactics.md for all locales.
Screenshot Text Indexing (June 2025)
Apple OCR reads screenshot captions for keyword ranking. Put keywords in top/bottom of screenshots.
Existing App Optimization
Never change what's working. Use phased rollout. See existing-app-strategy.md for safe optimization.
