How to Localize for Dutch in the App Store

Apple's keyword reference allows 100 bytes, not 100 characters. Counted as UTF-8, the example below contains 62 one-byte characters (separators excluded). Every letter costs one byte, so the field holds up to 100 characters, commas included. The words below are a hypothetical keyword list for a habit tracker called Streakly; they are illustrations, not validated search terms, and each has at least three characters.

Joined with commas and no spaces after them, the field is:

gewoontes,routine,doelen,herinnering,motivatie,dagplanner,discipline

That is 68 characters and 68 bytes: 62 bytes of keywords plus 6 commas, leaving 32 of the 100 bytes free. The byte counts assume UTF-8; confirm the final count in App Store Connect before you save.

Belgium's row has English (U.K.) as the default and Dutch and French as additional languages. Suriname lists English (U.K.) as the default with Dutch as the additional language. The Netherlands is the only storefront where Dutch is the default and the only additional language is English (U.K.).

What that means for you: one Dutch listing reaches three storefronts, while Belgium adds a French decision of its own. See the Netherlands and Belgium pages for the two with LocalASO coverage.

Apple's table reads these rows as follows: Dutch is the default in 1 and an additional language in 2. None of the default storefronts lists it alone.

Dutch needs few accents, so a Dutch keyword field is cheap in bytes. The example below uses 7 keywords and every character is one byte. That leaves room for more keywords than the same field would hold in German or French.

Leaving room is not an instruction to fill it. Apple tells you not to repeat words from your name, subtitle or category; see how to use every byte of the keyword field without wasting any of it.

LocalASO checks keywords in 52 App Store storefronts, each in the storefront's local language, so you can compare your Dutch candidates with the English ones in one place. Keywords, ranks and listings stay in a database on your Mac. LocalASO is a one-time $29 purchase and the app needs a license key to run; the setup is in the localization docs and the price is on the pricing page. To test the field you just built, use the keyword field checker, or browse every language page. Neighboring languages: German, French, English (U.K.).