For translators and localization agencies: App Store keyword localization

You translate or localize apps for developers, and clients ask whether you can also handle the App Store listing. You read the target language natively and want rank data behind your choices.

• Literal translation does not rank. The documented example is that Germans type "sprachen lernen" and not a literal translation of "language learning".
• No search data in your normal tools. Translation tools show no App Store rank.
• Character and byte limits. The name is limited to 30 characters, and the keyword field accepts up to 100 bytes, which non-Latin text uses faster.
• Scope creep. Clients want listings for many storefronts; Apple supports many languages and countries.

1. The client gives you the app link. Add the app and the client's rivals in the target country.
2. In localization, choose the target storefronts. LocalASO adapts each keyword to the local phrase and checks it in that country's store. Switzerland uses German and Belgium Dutch, so confirm the storefront-language mapping with the client.
3. In Optimize, generate the name, subtitle and keyword field. LocalASO finds around 45 candidate phrases for each language and shows reach and difficulty of the current and proposed listing, with a reason for each change.
4. Review as a native speaker: reject phrases that are wrong, odd or off-brand. The word diff shows each change.
5. Export to file (JSON and Markdown per language) and send it to the client, or ask for an App Store Connect key and upload as a draft. The client submits.
6. Re-check ranks in the target store after release and report them as evidence, not as a promise.

The localization guide, the App Store localizations tool and the locale codes tool help scope an engagement. Users can search with localized keywords in all countries where the localization is shown.

• No translation memory or CAT features.
• One Mac per license. Each translator or workstation needs its own.
• No client portal. You deliver exports.
• The AI is your own and its output needs a native check.
• Estimates, not Apple search counts.

Keyword localization is a research task plus a review task. Quote it per language and per storefront, include one re-check after release, and say clearly that rank evidence shows what happened, not what will happen. Because estimates are built from rating counts, avoid promising traffic numbers. A short written deliverable with the old text, the proposed text, the reason and the rank before and after is enough for most clients.

Try it on one client language and compare the proposal with your own. Download LocalASO or see pricing. Related: solo indie developers and small studios who may become your clients.