Multi-Word Phrases in the App Store Keyword Field

Apple's product page guidance says keywords are separated by commas with no spaces, and that you can use spaces to separate words within keyword phrases, with the example Property,House,Real Estate (Apple: product page). Each keyword must be longer than two characters, and the field accepts up to 100 bytes. That example shows the format. It does not say that Real Estate as a phrase matches better than Real,Estate as two words, or the reverse.

• Whether words from the keyword field combine with words from the name or subtitle to match a phrase.
• Whether the order of words in a phrase matters.
• Whether habit tracker and habit,tracker are treated the same.

If a blog gives a firm answer, it is describing observation. Use the test below.

A space and a comma cost the same, one byte each, so the style does not change the size. What changes is how many different words you reuse. If both morning routine and morning planner matter, the split style morning,routine,planner covers both with 23 bytes, while two phrases need 31 (morning routine,morning planner).

Pick one phrase that matters, for example morning routine, in one country.

1. Arm A: phrase. Put morning routine in the keyword field. Neither word appears in name or subtitle. Record rank for the full phrase after the update goes live, and for a control keyword.
2. Arm B: split words. Replace it with morning,routine, change nothing else, and record again after the same interval.
3. Arm C: words in different fields. Put morning in the subtitle and routine in the keyword field. Record again.

Apple says updated app information may take up to 24 hours to appear (Apple: app information), and ranking may take longer; see how long keyword changes take. Change one arm per release cycle, and let each settle before the next.

Reading it: if A, B and C produce the same rank, you can use the cheapest arrangement. If A beats B, keep phrases for that term. If C matches A, you can spread words across fields and save bytes.

• Phrases people really type as a unit (real estate, self care).
• Phrases where the second word changes the meaning.
• High-value phrases where you tested and the phrase won.

Everything else can go in as single words that you share across several phrases, as in long-tail keywords.

Some languages do not separate words with spaces, so the question changes. Check phrases per language; see translating or transcreating keywords.

Track the three arms on the board by adding the phrase and its parts as separate keywords and comparing their rank history. See the keyword research docs, and count the bytes with the keyword field checker. The general rules are in what to put in the keyword field.