Use Apple Ads Search Popularity for Keyword Research

Apple says the indicator is designed to help advertisers learn which keywords in search results campaigns might be most important for promoting their app. That is an advertising purpose. Apple states that an Apple Ads account must be linked to an App Store Connect account. For ASO, it tells you which words people search relatively often, which is the demand half of keyword research.

1. Collect candidates. Use the sources in the keyword research guide: your reviews, competitors, search suggestions.
2. Record popularity for each. Write the Apple Ads number next to the keyword, per country if you work in several.
3. Add difficulty. Popularity says demand, not whether your app can rank. Pull a difficulty estimate for each keyword; see keyword difficulty.
4. Add your rank. Note where you rank now for each candidate.
5. Rank the list with a simple heuristic. Multiply popularity by the share of difficulty that is left: popularity x (100 - difficulty) / 100. The formula is a rule of thumb for sorting, not an Apple or LocalASO formula.
6. Break ties by intent. Two keywords at the same score are different: choose the one closer to what your app does.
7. Take the top few to the metadata. Put them in the title, subtitle or keyword field, and keep a note to recheck.

A hypothetical habit tracker, Streakly, has four candidates. The popularity numbers and difficulty values here are illustrative.

The most popular keyword ends up last, because it is also the hardest. "Streak counter" is first: moderate demand and a realistic chance. The lesson is the ordering logic. It does not claim these exact numbers for any real keyword.

• Five steps. A 5 can be one keyword with far more searches than another 5. Apple does not publish the spacing.
• Not volume. It is relative, not a count of searches. Third-party volume numbers are estimates built another way; LocalASO's volume and difficulty are 0 to 100 estimates derived from the rating counts of ranking apps, not Apple search counts.
• Advertising context. The number comes from a tool built for campaigns, not for organic ranking.
• Per country. Popularity differs by storefront; check each country you target, as the ranking by country guide explains.
• No promise of rank. A popular keyword placed in the keyword field does not guarantee a position.

Use Apple Ads for demand, ranking checks for where you stand, and difficulty for how crowded the top 10 is. LocalASO combines rank, a 0 to 100 volume estimate and difficulty in one board for 52 storefronts, which is useful when you do not run campaigns; see the keyword research docs. The two sources can disagree. When they do, trust neither alone and test the keyword in a small metadata change.

Put the shortlist into the field with the keyword field guide, and read search volume and difficulty for how estimates are made.