Ahoy! 👋
We are returning after a week off.
In case you missed previous issues:
5 Screenshot Hacks by Teodora owner of Designerants.
App Featured by Journalists by Grant owner of Pressdeck.
This week we have Wilmer Terrero who is building a ASO.report to give you feedback about how good your keyword research and app store optimization are.
He’s also sharing free advice and his journey building his own apps on X/Twitter.
How To Do Keyword Research, For Real
I crossed 30k downloads on an app where I spent basically 0 on ads.
The lever was not a fancy UI or a viral thread. They were keywords. Boring words that quietly compound.
Keywords are simply the words people type when they want an app like yours. Same idea in SEO, ASO, and Apple Search Ads. The App Store is a marketplace. People arrive with a job to be done. They open search, type a phrase, and Apple decides what to show.
You want to be the answer for the right phrases. And you need to research to do so.
Think of the flow like this:
If the intent and your metadata are aligned, you get shown. If not, you disappear.
So here’s my no bs guide on how to do keyword research:
Step 1: Create A Real Seed List
Do not overthink the start. Use the App Store itself.
Open App Store search.
Type a broad idea tied to your app.
Capture all autocomplete variations.
Example using a plant app:
Autocomplete is based on real user behavior. Each variation is a separate keyword. Long tails often convert better than head terms because the intent is sharper and competition is lower.
I also grab conversational variants. Users type messy phrases.
For one of my apps I found things like “eject water from speaker”, “remove water sound”, “speaker cleaner”, “sound to clean water”. These are not elegant, but they print installs.
Step 2: Teardown Competitors Without Copying
Open the top 10 apps for your seed.
Eliminate:
Apps in unrelated verticals (e.g., food tracker vs food delivery).
Apps that only win with brands (banks, smart home, etc.).
Massive players (unless you’re directly in their lane).
Note the exact words in:
App Name.
Subtitle.
Screenshot captions.
Use tools to extract their keyword strategy.
Tools: Astro, AppFigures, AppFollow, or SplitMetrics.
Input your competitor list.
Pull:
All keywords they rank for.
Keywords they don’t show up in but are relevant.
Trim the fat. Keep what matters.
Remove:
Low volume terms.
High-difficulty generic keywords.
Misaligned keywords.
Keep:
High intent.
Mid/low difficulty.
Directly tied to user needs.
I advise having a final list of 30–50 target keywords.
Step 3: Mine Reviews And Q&A For Actual Language
Real users give you real keywords, and these keywords tend to rank better than the ones that you have in your metadata. Open reviews in your niche and search for verbs.
“scan”, “identify”, “price”, “value”, “clean”, “remove”, “stuck”, “water”, “noise”.
Verbs hint at intent. Nouns hint at category.
Identify patterns:
What users hate.
What keeps them coming back.
Misaligned expectations.
Step 4: Validate Ideas With Real Data
Not every keyword is worth the slot. You want three signals.
Popularity
How often people search the phrase. Most ASO tools give a score. I treat 30 as the first line where it gets interesting, but I will test below 30 if intent is hyper specific.Difficulty
How hard it is to rank. This blends competitor strength, ratings, download velocity. Under 50 is a good hunting ground for a small app. I will go up to 60 if I can be the most relevant app and I have the money to spend on ads.Relevance
Would a user who typed this be happy landing on my app? Be strict. If you cannot fulfill the promise, skip it. Short term installs that churn hurt ranking.
Some keywords may be too competitive or have zero relevance.
You need a ASO tool that helps you quantify if a keyword is worth targeting, using two metrics:
Popularity: How often users search the keyword (scale: 5–100).
Difficulty: How hard it is to rank for that keyword (lower = easier).
🔧 The Scoring System I Use:
Target Popularity: ≥ 30.
Target Difficulty: ≤ 50–60.
📊 Example Walkthrough:
plant identifier: Pop. 57 / Diff. 78 ❌ (too hard).
tree plant identifier: Pop. 39 / Diff. 55 ✅.
flower identifier: Pop. 36 / Diff. 63 ✅.
Step 5: Place Keywords Where They Matter
Order matters. Apple pays most attention to:
App Name.
Subtitle.
Keyword field.
In-app events and ASA relevance also help indirectly.
Guidelines that actually move the needle:
Do not stuff keywords. Write for humans in the title and subtitle. Use the hidden keywords field for coverage.
Step 6: Ship, Then Watch The Right Metrics
Give each metadata update 7 to 14 days. Resist the urge to flip things every two days.
Track:
Keyword movement from not ranked to positions 150 to 50 to 30 to 20 to top 10.
Tap through rate on those terms if you use ASA exact match tests.
Ratings velocity and average rating after the update.
My Strategy
My ASO strategy is built around precision: finding long-tail keywords and dominating them. But just as important as what I target is what I avoid.
I don’t chase broad keywords
Sure, “fitness” or “travel” have high volume. But they’re vague, competitive, and attract the wrong kind of user, with no clear intent. Instead, I go after phrases like “workout tracker” or “travel log” . They're specific, easier to rank for, and attract users who are ready to install.I never keyword-stuff
Bloated titles packed with keywords might feel like a growth hack, but they make your app look spammy. App Store algorithms (and users) don’t reward that. I write for humans first — clean, benefit-driven copy that happens to be optimized. The keyword should support the message, not hijack it.I go all in on long-tails
Most people overlook long-tail keywords because they don’t have flashy search volume. That’s a mistake. Phrases like “crossword games for beginners” or “pill reminder app” are gold. They’re intent-driven and convert well. That’s the zone I play in.I always write for intent
I don’t just plug in keywords. I ask: what is this user actually looking for? Then I write my metadata around that story. If your app’s copy doesn’t match what users expect when they search, they won’t tap. And if they do tap, they won’t convert. Relevance is the difference between showing up in search and getting installed from it.I localize — I don’t translate
I don’t just drop my U.S. keywords into Google Translate and call it localization. “Takeout” in the U.S. becomes “takeaway” in the U.K. “Apartment” becomes “flat.” Every market speaks its own language, literally and culturally. I research how real people search in each region before writing a single line.
Why Long-Tail Keywords Work (and Why I Bet On Them)
Low competition – Broad terms are owned by big players. I don’t waste time fighting uphill. Long-tails are wide open.
High intent – People searching “sleep tracker with smart alarm” already know what they want. They’re ready to download.
High conversion – Because the keyword matches the user’s need exactly, the install rate goes up.
ASO flywheel – Higher conversion improves rankings, which brings more traffic — even on broader terms over time.
Conclusion
Keyword research is not a one time work. It is a weekly habit that compounds.
Start with the App Store’s own hints. Validate with simple scores. Place keywords where they matter. Align screenshots to what customers are looking for. Iterate slowly.
That is how I got to 20k downloads without ads.
Want to learn more?
Wilmer is building a ASO.report to give you feedback about how good your keyword research and app store optimization are.
He’s also sharing free advice and his journey building his own apps on X.