LocalASOGuide
How to Prioritize App Store Keywords by Volume and Difficulty
Prioritize keywords by scoring each on relevance, estimated volume, difficulty and your current rank, adding the scores and sorting. The highest scores go in the name, the next in the subtitle and the rest in the keyword field. A keyword that is not relevant never makes the list, whatever its volume.
Updated
The four criteria
Score each from 0 to 3.
| Criterion | 0 | 3 |
|---|---|---|
| Relevance | Describes something else | Exactly what the app does |
| Volume (estimate) | Almost nobody searches it | Clearly searched |
| Difficulty (estimate) | Top 10 full of giants | Top 10 you can enter |
| Current rank | Not in the top 200 | In the top 20 |
Volume and difficulty are estimates in any tool. In LocalASO volume is a rank-weighted mean of log rating counts over the top 10 results, scaled to 0-100, and difficulty combines the median and mean log rating counts with the share of top-10 apps that have at least 50,000 ratings. They are not Apple search counts.
Apple describes why you need both: popular terms may drive a lot of traffic but are highly competitive, and less common terms drive lower traffic with less competition (Apple: product page). A keyword with high volume and extreme difficulty scores badly on purpose.
Worked example (hypothetical)
Six candidates for the hypothetical habit tracker Streakly, scored 0 to 3 on each criterion:
| Keyword | Relevance | Volume | Difficulty | Rank | Total | Place |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| habit tracker | 3 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 7 | Name (brand anchor) |
| streak checklist | 3 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 10 | Subtitle |
| adhd routine | 3 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 7 | Keyword field |
| daily goals | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 6 | Keyword field |
| sleep tracker | 0 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 4 | Drop (wrong audience) |
| morning planner | 3 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 8 | Subtitle or field |
Difficulty is scored so that an easier top 10 gets the higher number. The highest total, streak checklist, is also a Push candidate: a rank within reach and a mixed top 10. sleep tracker has volume but fails relevance, so it drops.
Assign a place
Use the totals, but let the fields set the limits: the name and the subtitle hold 30 characters each, and the keyword field holds 100 bytes. Put the best total where users read it, usually the name or subtitle, and fill the field in descending order so cuts come from the end. See what to put in the keyword field and name keyword strategy.
Adjust for what you know
- Head terms: a high-volume, hard phrase may deserve a name slot for brand reasons even with a low score. Keep these to one or two.
- Seasonality: phrases that peak in a season deserve a note, not a delete.
- Countries: scores differ by storefront; run the table once per country you target.
Revisit
Rescore after each release and after the first month of rank data. The rank column is the one that moves. See spotting dead keywords and quick win keywords.
In LocalASO
The board gives rank, volume, difficulty and a verdict (Swap, Dead, Hard, Push or Maybe) per keyword and country, so most of this table fills itself. See the keyword research docs and volume and difficulty explained.
Questions
- Should I go for the highest volume keywords first?
- Not by default. Apple notes popular terms drive traffic but are highly competitive. A mid-volume phrase with a weak top 10 usually gives a new app a better chance.
Sources
- Apple: developer.apple.com/app-store/product-page (checked November 1, 2026)
- Apple: developer.apple.com/help/app-store-connect/reference/app-information/app-information#name (checked November 1, 2026)
- Apple: developer.apple.com/help/app-store-connect/reference/app-information/app-information#subtitle (checked November 1, 2026)
- Apple: developer.apple.com/help/app-store-connect/reference/platform-version-information#keywords (checked November 1, 2026)
Do this for every country, in minutes