/app-store

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:

Information Gathering

Before optimizing, ask about:

1. App Identity

   • What does the app do in one sentence?
   • What category is it in?
   • What's the current app name (if exists)?

2. Target Keywords

   • What would users search to find this app?
   • What problem words would they use?
   • Any branded terms to include?

3. Competition

   • Main competitors?
   • What keywords do they target?
   • Where can you realistically compete?

4. Goals

   • Brand awareness vs. category traffic?
   • Specific markets to prioritize?

Keyword Strategy

Where Keywords Count

Keyword Types

1. Branded - Your app name, company name
2. Category - Generic terms (e.g., "todo app", "weather")
3. Feature - Specific functionality (e.g., "offline maps")
4. Problem - User pain points (e.g., "forget tasks")
5. 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:

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

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

1. 🇺🇸 United States (English)
2. 🇨🇳 China (Simplified Chinese)
3. 🇯🇵 Japan (Japanese)
4. 🇬🇧 UK (British English - can differ!)
5. 🇩🇪 Germany (German)
6. 🇫🇷 France (French)
7. 🇰🇷 South Korea (Korean)
8. 🇪🇸 Spain (Spanish)
9. 🇮🇹 Italy (Italian)
10. 🇧🇷 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

1. Find underserved keywords using ASO tools (Astro, AppTweak)
2. Build simple, single-feature apps around those keywords
3. Double down on winners, abandon losers
4. 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.