LocalASOASO glossary
App Store search
App Store search is the feature that returns apps when someone types a query into the App Store. Apple states that results are based on text relevance and user behavior.
Updated
What Apple documents
| Topic | Apple's statement |
|---|---|
| Searchable fields | App name, subtitle, keywords and company name |
| Categories | The primary and optional secondary category are indexed |
| Text relevance | Matches for title, subtitle, keywords and primary category |
| User behavior | Downloads, ratings and reviews, and more |
| Results display | The rating and up to three screenshots or previews |
| Tags | May include app tags generated by large language models from your metadata |
| Languages | Users can search with localized keywords where the localization is shown |
| Updates | Changes may take up to 24 hours to appear |
Related pages: app name, subtitle, keyword field, primary category, user behavior signals, App Store tags.
What Apple does not publish
- The weight of each field against the others.
- How plurals, word forms and word combinations are matched.
- How strongly each behavior signal counts.
- Search counts for organic queries. Apple Ads offers a coarse search popularity from 1 to 5.
Any exact claim about these is unverified.
Example
A hypothetical person types "habit tracker" in Germany. Apple checks the metadata of apps with a German localization (and fallback), applies relevance and behavior, and shows a list with ratings and screenshots. Your keyword ranking is your position in that list.
What you can do
Make your metadata relevant and honest, cover your target terms once each, and make the page convert. Measure with rank tracking and learn differences by country in the ranking by country guide.
Next step
Start with the keyword research guide.
Another reason to write clear text is the App Store tags Apple may derive.
Sources
- Apple: developer.apple.com/app-store/search (checked November 1, 2026)
- Apple: developer.apple.com/help/app-store-connect/create-an-app-record/view-and-edit-app-information (checked November 1, 2026)
- Apple: developer.apple.com/help/app-store-connect/manage-app-information/localize-app-information (checked November 1, 2026)
Do this for every country, in minutes