Sold to

[email protected]
The Perfect Keyword

1
Table of contents

Introduction 3
Anatomy of A keyword 4
Popularity 5
Difficulty 6
Relevance 6
The Characteristics of the Perfect Keyword 7
Where and How to Insert Keywords 8
Keyword Insertion Rules 9
1. Do not repeat keywords. 9
2. Do not split keywords. 9
3. Do not use the following list of words. 10
4. Do not use plural keywords. 11
5. Do not include your company name and category name
among the keywords. 11
6. Order matters. 11
7. Be careful with special characters. 12
How to find the best keywords 12
Checklist 13
1. Brainstorming 13
2. Check competitors' keywords 13
3. Get keyword suggestions 13
4. Filter by relevance 13
5. Filter by difficulty and popularity 14
6. Prioritize 14
7. Repeat for as many stores as possible 14
Keywords Assessment 14
Before Release 17
Monitoring 19
@matteo_spada
2
 Indicators to keep under control 19
Number of impressions 19
Number of downloads 19
Keyword ranking 19
How to improve your Ranking 20
A Second Source of Traffic 20
Conclusions 22

Introduction
This book is a comprehensive guide that will help you understand how
to choose the best keywords for your app. Through my experience
studying App Store Optimization (ASO) and working with dozens of
developers, I have discovered that keyword selection is one of the
most complex topics for someone new to the world of ASO.
Choosing the wrong keyword can lead to major problems, such as loss
of impressions and downloads, negative reviews, and more.

If keywords are the Lego building blocks of App Store

Optimization, this book is the instruction manual on how to
assemble them. I have condensed all the most important knowledge
that I have gained from developing my own ASO tool and helping
dozens of developers improve the positioning of their apps on the App
Store into this text.

The book is divided into chapters to make it easier to consult. Each

chapter covers a specific topic, and my goal at the end of the text is to
provide you with all the necessary information to choose your keywords
with confidence. Additionally, this book is designed to be consulted
multiple times, serving as a reference every time you have a doubt
about optimizing your app.
@matteo_spada
3
Changing your metadata without a strategy is highly counterproductive.
For this reason, in this book, I will guide you step by step, explaining
the safest possible method for making changes.

At the end of the book, my goal is to make you capable of choosing the
best keywords for your app with confidence and also to monitor your
progress and make strategic adjustments based on the performance of
your keywords.

Anatomy of A keyword
If you have already read my previous book, Introduction to App Store
Optimization (available for free on Gumroad), you will already know
what we are talking about.
Each keyword should be evaluated based on its three properties.

Popularity

The first property is called popularity, which can be called by different

names such as traffic in various App Store Optimization tools, but the
correct name used by Apple is Popularity, and I will continue to call it
that in this book.

This property is a value that ranges from 0 to 100 and indicates how
much a keyword is searched on the App Store. Most keywords have
a popularity between 10 and 40, while highly searched keywords
like "Instagram" have a popularity that approaches 100.

Popularity is a value directly provided by Apple and can be analyzed

using App Store Optimization tools like Astro.

@matteo_spada
4
PRO TIP: If you want to consider purchasing an App Store
Optimization tool and want to ensure the quality of the data it offers, the
easiest method is to compare the popularity provided by the tool with
that provided by Apple in Apple Search Ads.

To do this, simply open an account in Apple Search Ads Advanced,

add a campaign group, and analyze some keywords.

Unfortunately, Apple does not provide a value from 0 to 100 but

provides a value on a scale from 0 to 5. In any case, what you need to
do is add some keywords to the tool you are considering. If you find
significant discrepancies, such as Apple Search Ads showing a value
of 5 and the tool you are considering showing a value of 2, you can
abandon that tool and spend your money in a better way.

Difficulty

The difficulty of a keyword, often called competitiveness, is a value that

indicates how complex it is to reach the top 10 positions for that
keyword.

This value is not provided by Apple, and each App Store Optimization
tool calculates it using proprietary algorithms that return a number that
also ranges from 0 to 100.

If you need to calculate the difficulty for a keyword, you may not
necessarily need an App Store Optimization tool. You can probably tell
how difficult it is for your app to rank in the top 10 for a certain keyword
simply by looking at the metadata of the top 10 apps in the ranking.

Do they have many more reviews than you? Do they have a title or
subtitle optimized for that specific keyword you are analyzing?
@matteo_spada
5
At this point, it may seem difficult to make these considerations, but as
you continue reading the book, you will begin to understand how to
recognize some signals.

Relevance

This value can only be assigned by you because it depends on factors

that cannot be analyzed numerically. Let me explain.

Relevance is a value that we can assign to a keyword that represents

how relevant that keyword is to our search.

Suppose we are looking at a calendar app, and our app is paid and
costs around $5. Using Astro, we find the keyword "free calendar,"
which has a popularity of 26 and a difficulty of 54. It seems like a
feasible keyword to scale for our Calendar app, but the problem is that
we are selling a paid app.

Anyone searching for this keyword is looking for a free app, so we

already know that they are not our ideal target audience.

Therefore, despite the "free calendar" keyword seeming like a good

deal, it is not at all and could cause more problems than benefits.

Although several tools also provide a value that can give you an
indication of whether the keyword may be relevant to your app or not, I
personally believe that this value should be left to common sense.
You are the one who knows your app, and only you can
understand whether a keyword is suitable for you or not.

@matteo_spada
6
Usually, when I do a keyword search, I assign each keyword a High,
Medium, or Low relevance value, or if you prefer, use the numbers 1, 2,
3. This way, I can also filter by this value.

The Characteristics of the Perfect Keyword

To summarize, we have seen that a keyword has three properties:
popularity, difficulty, and relevance.

From this, we can deduce that the perfect keywords for our app are
those that have high popularity, low difficulty, and strategic relevance to
our app.

Finding these kinds of keywords is extremely rare and requires hours

of work. Our goal, therefore, is to ensure that we find those that
represent the best possible compromise for our app.

For example, it is possible that your app operates in a highly niche

market, making it difficult to find keywords with high popularity. In this
case, we need to ask ourselves, what is the average popularity of
keywords in my industry? If the average popularity is 30, a keyword
with a popularity of 30 could be considered a high-popularity keyword
for you.

Where and How to Insert Keywords

Now let's understand where to insert the keywords we will find and how
to insert them.

In App Store Connect, there are several fields where we can insert
keywords. Here is a complete list in order of importance:

● Name
@matteo_spada
7
 ● Subtitle
● Keyword field
● In-app event names
● In-app purchase names

However, not all fields are equal. Keywords inserted in the name are
more important than those inserted in the keyword field, and those in
the subtitle are more important than those in the keyword space.

It follows that we must prioritize our keywords by inserting the

most important ones in the name and subtitle and the less
important ones in the keyword field.

Once these first three fields are optimized, we can also work on
creating specific events and in-app purchases.

How to insert your keywords is usually the part where people struggle
the most. The reason is simple: there are several rules to follow, and
it's not always easy to remember them all. That's why you'll find a
handy list below that explains in detail all the key points on how to
position your keywords.

Keyword Insertion Rules

1. Do not repeat keywords.

This is probably the most important rule to follow. As previously seen,
the fields in which we insert keywords have different importance for the
algorithm. Keywords in the name are more important, followed by the
subtitle and then the keyword field.

@matteo_spada
8
Suppose you insert a keyword in both the name and the keyword field.
What will happen is that the keyword contained in the name field
will be ignored, and only the one in the keyword field will be read.
This means you have not only wasted valuable characters but also
lowered the effectiveness of one of your keywords.

2. Do not split keywords.

Suppose you want to insert the keyword Habit Tracker in your subtitle
and also add the word Planner. You might think of doing something like
this: Habit Planner Tracker. However, you have split the Habit Tracker
keyword, which will be given less importance by the algorithm.

The same applies to keywords in different fields. If you have a keyword

like Habit Tracker, do not split it between the title and subtitle, or you
will lower its relevance for the algorithm.

3. In the Keyword field, separate words using a comma

In the keyword field in App Store Connect, simply enter words

separated by a comma without adding spaces. Going to our Habit
Tracker keyword, it should be written in the keyword field as habit,
tracker.

4. Do not use the following list of words.

Not many know this, but there is a list of words that the algorithm
ignores. If you insert these words in the keyword field, they will only
occupy characters unnecessarily. You do not have to memorize them; I
will explain a system to avoid inserting these keywords shortly.

@matteo_spada
9
a, about, above, after, again, against, all, am, an, and, any, app, are,
aren't, as, at, be, because, been, before, being, below, between, both,
but, by, can't, cannot, could, couldn't, did, didn't, do, does, doesn't,
doing, don't, down, during, each, few, for, from, further, had, hadn't,
has, hasn't, have, haven't, having, he, he'd, he'll, he's, her, here, here's,
hers, herself, him, himself, his, how, how's, i, i'd, i'll, i'm, i've, if, in, into,
is, isn't, it, it's, its, itself, let's, me, more, most, mustn't, my, myself, no,
nor, not, of, off, on, once, only, or, other, ought, our, ours, ourselves,
out, over, own, same, shan't, she, she'd, she'll, she's, should, shouldn't,
so, some, such, than, that, that's, the, their, theirs, them, themselves,
then, there, there's, these, they, they'd, they'll, they're, they've, this,
those, through, to, too, under, until, up, very, was, wasn't, we, we'd,
we'll, we're, we've, were, weren't, what, what's, when, when's, where,
where's, which, while, who, who's, whom, why, why's, with, won't,
would, wouldn't, you, you'd, you'll, you're, you've, your, yours, yourself,
yourselves

5. Do not use plural keywords.

Plural keywords should always be avoided because when we insert a

singular keyword, the algorithm automatically indexes our app for the
plural keyword as well. So not only are you wasting characters, but you
also risk running into the repetition issue described in point 1 because
a plural keyword counts as a repetition.

6. Do not include your company name and category

name among the keywords.

Have you ever tried searching for your company name/developer name
in the App Store? If you have, you have probably noticed that you can

@matteo_spada
10
find your app this way. This is because your app is automatically
indexed for your company name. The same goes for the category. In
practice, your app inherits the keywords contained in the chosen
category name, which could be a good reason to insert a secondary
category for your app.

7. Order matters.

This rule is not well known, but the order of the words you use also
has weight for the algorithm. For this reason, in all fields where we
insert keywords, the most important ones should be on the left and the
less important ones on the right. In some cases, different companies
choose to adopt this approach even in the app name, moving the
keywords to the beginning and the app name to the end.

8. Be careful with special characters.

Not many know that the App Store has a bug in the app name field.
The characters that make up an app name are a total of 30, but if we
insert special characters like ":", "&", and "-", these characters
will be counted as doubles. Consequently, if our name is exactly 30
characters, the algorithm will truncate the last word, losing its
importance. If you have used fewer characters, inserting a special
character will not be a problem.

Now that you know the rules for inserting keywords, I suggest
downloading this app from the Mac App Store. It allows you to optimize
your keywords by removing spaces, plurals, and words that the
algorithm does not consider (point 4).

@matteo_spada
11
I'm sure it will make your life much easier. However, please note that it
only works with English words.

How to find the best keywords

Now that we know the characteristics of a keyword, where to add our
keywords, and which rules to follow to avoid mistakes, the next step is
to find the most suitable keywords for our application.

Checklist

1. Brainstorming
The first step is to jot down a list of keywords. Imagine what keyword a
user might use to search for your app. It is important to choose the
most relevant keywords for our project. You don't need to have many
keywords. 10/15 will suffice.

2. Check competitors' keywords

Search the US store for each of the keywords you have found. For
each keyword, write down the name and subtitle of the top 3 apps in
the ranking. This way, you will have many more keywords. To speed up
this work, you can use the free version of Astro using the search
function accessible using the command + u shortcut.

3. Get keyword suggestions

You can use the paid version of Astro or any other App Store
Optimization tool that has this function to receive other suggestions
starting from the basic keywords. The suggestions provided by Astro
@matteo_spada
12
are suggestions directly from Apple Search Ads and therefore allow
you to understand what people are really looking for.

4. Filter by relevance
Now, starting from the list of keywords you have, you need to filter for
the most relevant ones for your app. We have seen what relevance
means in the chapter "Anatomy of a keyword."

5. Filter by difficulty and popularity

Now that you have a list of keywords relevant to your app, select those
with high popularity and low difficulty. This is not always possible, but
you need to find the best compromise.

6. Prioritize
Now that you have your list of keywords, it's time to decide which
keywords to insert in the name, subtitle, and keyword field. With Astro,
you can add a note to assign the keywords to a specific field.

7. Repeat for as many stores as possible

Most developers focus on the US store, completely neglecting
keywords for other stores. This represents an opportunity for those who
want to get more downloads easily. To optimize your keywords for
another store, all you have to do is translate all your keywords using a
service like Deepl and go through the checklist points again, starting
from point number 3.

@matteo_spada
13
Keywords Assessment
Now that we have our keywords, the next step is to assess our
metadata. This chapter will be crucial to understand our situation
and avoid mistakes in the following stages. In fact, ASO is an
incremental process that must be carried out with the utmost attention.

If your app is not yet available on the app store, you can move on to
the next chapter.

Let's start by analyzing the keywords we have already included in our

application.

To do this, we will use the free version of Astro, which allows you to
track up to 50 keywords. Once you have downloaded the app we can
start adding the keywords we currently have in the metadata of our
app.

Many people believe that it is necessary to monitor hundreds of

keywords for each application to achieve good results. The reality is
that often most of the downloads come from the keywords on which we
are already ranked high in the ranking, let's say in the top 10 positions.
If your app is just starting out, it is really difficult to rank first in the
ranking immediately, but I will explain all the tricks on how to improve
your ranking in the chapter "How to improve your ranking.

In the example below, we will work on my app Explorer, which is an

app that allows users to change the default store of their device and
search for keywords on both the iOS and iPadOS stores.

I start the analysis by importing the metadata I already have on App

Store Connect, so all the keywords I have in the Name, Subtitle, and
keyword field.
@matteo_spada
14
My app Explorer is a relatively new app, but once I imported the
metadata into Astro, I already have a basic idea of which keywords not
to touch.

For example, we can see in the Your Rank column that I am ranked
28th for the keyword ASO. The ASO keyword has a popularity of 15,
which is not very high, but since my app is in a very niche market, it's
worth keeping. Then we have the word "store redirect," for which I am
ranked 14th. This is a word with good popularity that is worth focusing
on.

The first thing to do is to analyze the keywords we currently have

in our metadata and mark those not to touch because they
represent a source of traffic for our app.

@matteo_spada
15
The other keywords for which we are not ranked are likely not
generating any downloads unless they are part of a long-tail keyword
(see explanation below). In that case, they should be maintained.

You can use Astro's Note feature to mark the keywords you want to
keep.

Even if you are not ranked for some keywords, if these keywords are
highly relevant to your app, it is still worth keeping them. Sometimes it's
not easy to get the first position for a very popular word, but we can
use the root of the word to rank well on a long-tail keyword.

A long-tail keyword is a keyword composed of several keywords,

even 3 or 4, which usually has less traffic than the main keyword
but still maintains good popularity. Example: Keyword: Habit
Tracker, Long Tail Keyword: Daily Habit Tracker.

Now that we know which keywords to keep, take some time to evaluate
the changes to make to your metadata. Also, consider the possibility of
making incremental changes and always save a backup of your
metadata on your favorite note-taking app. Just copy the name and
subtitle of your app and mark the update date. This way, you can go
back to a previous version if something doesn't go as planned.

Before Release
Our metadata is finally ready. We have chosen the title, subtitle, and all
the keywords seem to be in order and in the right place. Are we ready
to release? No, not yet. We need to work on the code first. Let me
explain why.

@matteo_spada
16
ASO is often thought of only as the choice of keywords, but ASO
concerns every single aspect of our app, from the choice of
keywords to our screenshots to the code. If our app is slow and does
not have a good user experience, negative reviews will come, which
will impact our ranking and therefore our ASO. As you can see,
everything is connected.

To climb the ranking for a specific keyword, we need two things:

Downloads and Reviews, and the more popular the keyword, the
more we will need.

The fuel that will bring our app to climb the ranking is reviews. The
more reviews we have, the better. Every free download for our app, if it
does not turn into a purchase, should at least turn into a positive
review.

To get reviews, there is only one way: Ask, ask, and ask, and the
best time to do it is as soon as possible.

Many users will download your app just out of curiosity and then
uninstall it a few minutes later. If we can't turn them into customers, we
should at least try to get them to leave a review.

The best way to do this is to show them an alert that asks if they like
the app. If the answer is no, invite them to leave feedback via email or
a support page. If the answer is yes, show them an alert to leave a
review using StoreKit.

To summarize, to climb the ranking, in addition to following the advice

on how to use keywords described up to this point in the book, you also
need downloads and reviews. The more reviews you ask for, the better.
Do it often and as soon as possible.

@matteo_spada
17
Monitoring
After a keyword change, it takes about 1 week to see the effects, but
during this time, it is important to carefully monitor the performance of
our keywords and compare the current situation with the one before the
release.

Indicators to keep under control

Number of impressions
If the number of impressions drops, it could be an indicator that
something is not working in our strategy. Let's monitor the situation for
a few days through App Store Connect and, if necessary, restore our
old keywords.

Number of downloads
If the number of impressions increases but the number of downloads
does not, it could mean that the keywords we have chosen for our app
are not relevant enough for us. So, customers find us, but then our app
does not meet their expectations and is not downloaded. In this case,
we need to go back and analyze our list of keywords.

Keyword ranking
You can monitor the ranking of keywords using the free version of
Astro. This part is very important to understand if we are indexing for
new keywords and at the same time if we are gaining positions for old
ones.

@matteo_spada
18
How to improve your Ranking
After modifying your metadata, there are three possible outcomes:

1. If there are errors in your analysis, downloads and impressions may

decrease. In this case, simply restore your old metadata to return
everything to normal and start your analysis from scratch. Remember,
you can release a new version of your app without making changes to
the code.

2. Your impressions and downloads will increase, and in this case,

you're on the right track. The next step is to continue adding keywords
for other stores. I suggest starting with countries that download the
most apps, which you can find on this list. Remember, you don't need
to translate the entire app to benefit from ASO; translating the
metadata is enough.

3. The third scenario is when you don't see any improvement. In this
case, perhaps you were too conservative with the changes. Try
modifying other keywords and make sure there are no errors by
carefully following all the rules in the chapter "Where to insert keywords
and how." If you don't find any errors and believe you've included the
best keywords for your app, try adding metadata to more stores as
described in point two.

It's also possible that you're simply in a highly competitive category and
need external help to climb the rankings. I'll discuss this more in the
next chapter.

A Second Source of Traffic

Despite your efforts up to this point, your app is not ranking for the
selected keywords. This can happen when you're in a competitive
@matteo_spada
19
industry or when companies are investing thousands of dollars in
advertising.

If you don't have a large budget to invest and your competitors are
spending thousands of dollars, it will be difficult to rank high for the best
keywords. However, this doesn't mean it's impossible.

What you need is a second source of traffic, which can be a social

network, YouTube, a blog, or any source that can bring traffic to your
app.

Getting traffic for free is not easy. For example, to do it on Twitter,

you'll need to create content for your target audience and interact with
other users on the social network. Other social networks work more or
less the same way.

If you have a budget to invest, you can use advertising services like
Apple Search Ads, Facebook, TikTok, etc. What's important to
understand is that there's no channel that works well for every app.
For example, a photography app might work well if promoted on
Instagram, while a cooking app could receive thousands of downloads
through a specialized blog.

There's no universal solution; the only way to discover the channel that
works best for you and your app is to experiment.

If you manage to get downloads through a second source of traffic,

you'll also notice an improvement in your ranking. Remember that
ratings are essential for climbing the rankings.

If you want to read more on this topic, I recommend the book Traction
by Gabriel Weinberg and Justin Mares.

@matteo_spada
20
Conclusions
We've come to the end of this book, and I hope I've been able to
explain to you in a simple and clear way how to optimize your metadata
to the best of your ability.

The app market is a hyper-competitive market, but despite this, there

are people every day who achieve financial freedom by working on
their projects.

Initially, it won't be easy, but if you truly believe in what you're doing
and continue to pursue your dreams, I'm sure you'll achieve great
results.

Just like our applications, this book needs continuous updates and
revisions. So, if you find any errors or want to send me feedback, you
can email me at [email protected].

If you want to tell me about your projects and the strategies you're
using to grow your app, we can connect on Twitter!

Matteo.

@matteo_spada
21