What to Put in the App Store Keywords Field

Apple states an app is searchable by its name, subtitle, keywords and company name, and that the primary and optional secondary category are indexed too (Apple: App Store search). So any word already in those places does not need a second slot. Apple's advice is not to repeat words from the name, subtitle or category in the keyword field.

Run each candidate word through these questions in order.

1. Is it relevant? Irrelevant terms are prohibited and improper keyword use is a common rejection reason (Apple: product page).
2. Is it already in the name, subtitle or category? If yes, drop it from the field.
3. Is it a name that is not yours? Names of other apps or companies are not allowed in the keyword list. See competitor names in keywords.
4. Is it filler? Apple names plurals of words you already included in singular form, category names, the word "app", duplicate words and special characters as waste.

Words that pass all four go in, strongest first, because you may need to cut from the end.

Non-Latin text takes more bytes per character, so a Japanese list holds fewer characters. See the 100-byte answer and spaces after commas.

A hypothetical habit tracker named Streakly: Habit Tracker with the subtitle Daily Routine & Goals. A first draft of the field:

habit,tracker,habits,daily,routine,goals,streak,checklist,reminder,reminders,app

That is 80 bytes, and most of it repeats the name and subtitle or duplicates a singular form. After the filter:

streak,checklist,reminder,self care,planner,journal,morning

That is 59 bytes. It has seven distinct terms that name and subtitle do not already cover, and 41 bytes left for more.

Count bytes after every edit. If the list is over 100 bytes, cut from the end, which is why you put the strongest words first. If it is under, use the spare bytes for the next word on your candidate list, not for a variant of a word you already have. Each language you add has its own keyword field, so a word that is already in the name of one language may still be free to use in another. Apple counts the field in bytes, and non-Latin characters use more bytes, so a list that fits in English may not fit in Japanese; see localizing your listing for the per-language workflow.

Apple does not publish how much weight each field carries, whether word order matters, or whether search combines words from different fields into phrases. Do not trust a claim about these without a test. The repeat-word guide and the singular or plural guide describe tests you can run.

Paste the field into the keyword field checker or use the packer to fill spare bytes. For the full field reference, read the keyword field guide and the keyword field glossary entry.

The Optimize screen covers name, subtitle and keyword field for each language, so you can place the keywords from your board. See Optimize.