Free tools → ASO keyword research tool
Free ASO keyword research tool
Enter a seed keyword and a country to see which keywords the top-ranking App Store apps put in their names, how many of them use each one, and how crowded the top 10 is. Live Apple data, free, no sign-up.
Competition for your seed
Analyzing the live App Store top 200…
Enter a seed keyword to see the terms the top-ranking apps compete on.
Data comes from Apple's public iTunes Search API: the same catalog and relevance engine behind App Store search, without Apple Ads placements or personalization. Name keywords are drawn from the top 50 results and description phrases from the top 30. Terms are listed only when at least two different developers use them, which filters out most brand names.
How to read it
What the results tell you
Almost 65% of App Store downloads happen directly after a search (Apple Ads, 2022 data). This tool shows where the competition for those searches is, so you can pick keywords you can actually win.
Names are the strongest signal
The app name carries the most ranking weight of any field, so the words top apps put in their 30 characters show what they bet on. A term used by many of the top 50 is proven demand. On iOS the description isn't indexed for App Store search, so treat description phrases as ideas to test, not proof.
The competition signal
We take the median rating count of the top 10 for your seed: under 1,000 is low, 1,000–20,000 moderate, over 20,000 high. It's a heuristic from public data, not Apple's difficulty score. If most of the top 10 also use the seed in their names, you'll need it in yours to compete.
What it doesn't show
Search volume. Apple doesn't publish it; the closest public signal is the 5–100 search popularity score in Apple Ads. Pair this tool's list with popularity, and with relevance: a keyword only pays off if the people searching it keep your app. Our keyword research guide covers both.
Workflow
From seed keyword to keyword field
How we'd use this tool on a real app, start to finish.
- Start with 20–30 seeds. Describe what your app does in the words a user would type, then run each seed here in your main storefront.
- Explore sideways. Click Explore on the terms that describe your app to run them as new seeds. Two or three hops usually surface the long-tail phrases smaller apps can win.
- Shortlist by relevance and competition. Keep terms that describe your app and aren't dominated by apps with tens of thousands of ratings. Check each one's search popularity in Apple Ads.
- Check where you stand. Use Rank to open the keyword rank checker and see your current position for each shortlisted term.
- Place them by weight. Put your strongest term in the name, the next in the subtitle, and pack the rest into the 100-character keyword field with the keyword field optimizer. Never repeat a word across fields.
- Re-check in four weeks. iOS ranks settle about four weeks after a new version. Re-run your seeds, see what moved, and swap out terms that didn't.
FAQ
ASO keyword research, answered
How do I do ASO keyword research for free?
Start with 20 to 30 seed terms that describe what your app does. Run each seed through this tool to see which keywords the top-ranking apps put in their names and how crowded the top 10 is, then expand the list with App Store autocomplete on your phone and competitor listings. Apple Ads shows a search popularity score for keywords you add to a campaign. Shortlist terms that are relevant, used by several top apps, and not dominated by apps with huge rating counts.
Does this tool show App Store search volume?
No. Apple doesn't publish search volume. The closest public signal is the search popularity score (a 5 to 100 scale) that Apple Ads shows for keywords. This tool shows the other side of the market: which terms the top-ranking apps compete on, and how established those apps are.
How does the tool estimate keyword competition?
It looks at the top 10 apps for your seed keyword in the chosen storefront and takes the median number of ratings. Under 1,000 is labeled low competition, 1,000 to 20,000 moderate, and over 20,000 high. It also counts how many of the top 10 use your seed in their app name. It's a heuristic built from public data, not Apple's own difficulty score.
Why do some brand names appear in the results?
The tool only lists terms used by at least two different developers, which filters out most brand names. A brand can still appear when it's also a common word or when two developers use it. Skip those: Apple doesn't allow other companies' names in your keyword field.
Does this keyword tool work for Google Play?
No. It's App Store only, because Google doesn't offer a public search API for Google Play results. The description phrases it finds are still useful for Google Play, where the full description is indexed for search.
Is anything I type stored or sent to your servers?
No. The page has no backend. Your browser queries Apple's public iTunes Search API directly and analyzes the results locally, so we never see, log or store your keywords.
Want the full keyword plan?
A list of keywords is the start. Winning them takes the right placement across your name, subtitle and keyword field, in every market, iterated on real ranking data. That's our keyword optimization service. Book a free 30-minute call and we'll show you which terms are within reach for your app.
Book a 30-min call