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How to use the App Store keyword field
Formatting, word choice and the common mistakes that waste the 100 hidden characters Apple gives you.
Updated · 2 min read
Every App Store version has a keyword field: 100 characters that users never see, set per localization in App Store Connect. Apple uses it, together with your app name and subtitle, to decide which searches your app can appear in. It is the most flexible ranking lever you have, and the easiest to waste.
Formatting rules
- Separate keywords with commas:
habit,routine,streak,goals. - Don’t add spaces after commas. They count as characters and add nothing.
- Single words are usually better than phrases. Apple combines words across the name, subtitle and keyword field, so
daily,planneralso covers “daily planner”. - Capitalization doesn’t matter.
- Don’t repeat words: once is enough, in any field.
What to leave out
| Leave out | Why |
|---|---|
| Words already in your name or subtitle | They are already indexed; repeating them wastes characters. |
| “app”, “iphone”, “ios” | Every result is an app; these rarely change who finds you. |
| Filler words: the, and, for, with, of | Searches match without them. |
| Your category name | Commonly treated as redundant by ASO practitioners. |
| Competitors’ brand names | Trademarked terms can get your update rejected (App Review Guideline 2.3.7). |
| Both singular and plural | Apple often matches simple plurals; check your ranks before spending characters on both. |
Choosing the words
- Start from your keyword research: a list of searches with popularity and difficulty.
- Put the most valuable term in your app name and the next ones in your subtitle. Name and subtitle guide.
- Break the remaining phrases into single words and remove anything already in the name or subtitle.
- Rank the words by value per character: a short word that unlocks several popular phrases beats a long word that unlocks one.
- Fill the field to 95–100 characters.
A worked example
Name: “Habitly: Habit Tracker”. Subtitle: “Daily routine & goal planner”. A wasteful keyword field repeats them:
habit tracker, daily habits, routine app, goal planner, habits
A better one spends every character on new words: streak,reminder,journal,mood,water,focus,self,care,discipline,todo,checklist,widget,morning,sleep.
Each localization has its own field
The keyword field is per language. Some storefronts are widely observed to index more than one localization, which can give you extra fields to work with. See how to localize your keywords, or let the localization planner find the empty ones.
Check, ship, measure
Run the pre-submission checklist, then track your rankings for the new words daily for a few weeks. Keep the words that rank and replace those that don’t in your next update.
Related questions
Is the App Store keyword field visible to users?
No. Only you and Apple see it. Competitors can’t read yours either, though they can infer it from what you rank for.
Does the keyword field count characters or bytes?
App Store Connect counts characters. Whether some languages are measured differently has not been confirmed by Apple.