App Store keyword research without guessing: a 45-minute process that’s repeatable

Most people keyword research fails on iOS for one reason: people treat it like a magical “find the biggest keywords” task.

But the App Store doesn’t give you clean search volume like web SEO. So if your process depends on exact numbers, you’ll end up either guessing… or paying tools to guess for you.

Instead, treat keyword research like a repeatable weekly routine that produces *good enough* keyword decisions, consistently. You don’t need certainty. You need a system that keeps you moving.

Here’s the 45-minute process.

Minute 0–5: pick one “job”, not 20 features

Start with a single sentence:

“People use my app to ______.”

Not “manage money.” More like:

• “track expenses while traveling”
• “scan receipts for reimbursements”
• “learn Spanish commuting”

This matters because the App Store is full of apps that look identical on paper. The only way you find keywords that actually convert is to anchor on intent, not features.

Write down 5–8 “intent phrases” in plain language. Don’t worry about “keywords” yet.

Minute 5–15: steal the vocabulary from real winners

Open the App Store and search 2–3 of your intent phrases. Now do something that feels too simple to be useful:

Pick the top 5–10 apps that show up repeatedly and write down:

• their app name
• their subtitle
• their “who is this for” angle (from the first screenshots / first lines)

You’re not copying. You’re collecting *the market’s vocabulary*.

On iOS, your name + subtitle + keyword field are key places where search terms matter, and Apple literally gives you a dedicated keyword field with a tight character limit—so every word you pick has to earn its spot.

What you’re hunting for in this step is patterns:

• Which words keep repeating across multiple competitors?
• Which words signal a category (scanner, budget, tracker, planner)?
• Which words signal a use-case (receipt, invoice, travel, ADHD, fasting)?

If a word appears across many winners, it’s probably a “real” term users understand.

Minute 15–25: expand your list with Apple’s own hints

Now you turn vocabulary into a keyword list.

Do two quick expansions:

1) App Store search suggestions

Type your base terms in the App Store search bar and write down the autocomplete suggestions. Those suggestions are basically Apple telling you “people search these phrasing patterns.”

2) Apple Ads popularity score (optional but powerful)

Even if you’re not planning to run ads, you can use Apple’s own keyword interface to get a rough “how popular is this” signal. Apple shows Search Popularity on a 1–5 scale.

Important: that score is not a perfect measure of organic difficulty or exact volume. But it’s one of the few signals that comes straight from Apple, and it stops you from wasting time on terms nobody searches.

By the end of this block, you should have ~40–80 candidate terms/phrases.

Minute 25–35: filter using a simple rule that prevents useless keywords

Here’s the filter I use because it keeps you honest:

Every keyword must pass at least one of these tests:

1. *High intent*: if someone searches it, they’re clearly looking for your solution

2. *Clear differentiation*: it separates you from generic competitors

3. *Realistic to rank*: you can plausibly reach top results in your niche

That’s it.

This is where you delete the “vanity words” that feel nice but don't help:

• generic single words that describe half the store (“best”, “free”, “pro”)
• terms that don’t match your app’s core job
• terms so broad that you’ll never rank (unless you already have huge traction)

Don’t overthink it. Just be strict.

If you’re stuck between two keywords, pick the one that would bring a user who actually *keeps* the app, not just installs it.

Minute 35–43: turn keywords into metadata that fits Apple’s rules

Now you build your final keyword set and place them correctly.

Apple’s keyword field has a 100-character limit and expects keywords separated by commas (with no spaces between comma-separated terms), and Apple explicitly tells you not to repeat words that are already in your app name, subtitle, or category.

So your goal is efficiency:

• Put your most important, highest intent phrase in your name/subtitle *if it fits naturally*
• Use the keyword field for everything else you want indexed
• Don’t waste characters repeating words you already used elsewhere

One practical way to do this without getting technical:

1. Pick 3 “core” words (your category + your strongest intent)

2. Pick 6–10 “support” words (use-cases, adjacent intent, niche terms)

3. Pack the keyword field tightly, leaving out duplicates

You’re not trying to cover the entire universe. You’re choosing a focused set you can actually defend.

Minute 43–45: decide what you’ll track next week

Keyword research becomes “guessing” when you do it once and then disappear.

So end with one tiny commitment:

Pick 10–20 keywords you care about and check them weekly (same day each week). If something moves, you learn. If nothing moves for 2–3 weeks, you change one thing (subtitle/keyword set) and repeat.

This is also where competitor monitoring becomes unfairly useful. The real advantage isn’t “finding perfect keywords.” It’s noticing when competitors change their positioning, subtitles, screenshots, or messaging—and reacting faster than they do.

That’s part of what we’re building with Sentinel-ASO: make this kind of tracking a normal routine instead of a chaotic spreadsheet habit.

The mindset shift that makes this work

You’re not trying to win the App Store in one metadata update.

You’re building a small loop:

collect vocabulary → pick a focused set → ship → observe → adjust.

Do this consistently and you’ll beat teams who “do ASO” only when installs drop.

If you want to follow along as Sentinel-ASO launches: the first 200 paying customers get 70% off their first payment (monthly or yearly). Sign up here.