How to Find App Store Keywords: A Method from Competitors to a Scored Shortlist
How to find app store keywords for Google Play and the App Store: start from competitors, expand with store autocomplete, filter, and score. Honest about what the data can prove.
**To find app store keywords**, start with the apps that already rank for the job your app does, not with a blank search box. Competitor phrases tell you the language a category uses. Store autocomplete tells you what people type. A scoring pass tells you which of those phrases are worth writing into a listing.
This guide gives a repeatable method for Google Play and the App Store. It is a process for finding candidates and judging them, not a source of exact search volume.
Key takeaways
- Start with competitor titles, subtitles, and repeated description phrases, not with a single seed word.
- Expand each root with store autocomplete. Autocomplete shows what people type, not how often.
- Filter out one-word noise and phrases that do not match what your app does.
- Score the shortlist and keep the confidence label next to each score.
- Pick a few Focus phrases for the title and subtitle, then use the rest for supporting copy and locales.
Step 1: Collect the competitor set
Your competitors are the apps a searcher would compare you with, not only the largest brands. Pull similar apps, niche search results for your core job, and any URLs you already know. Five to twenty well-chosen competitors give a clearer signal than a hundred loosely related ones.
NewASO mines these competitors for 2 to 4 word phrases that repeat across several titles, subtitles, and descriptions. A phrase that appears in only one listing is less useful than one that a whole group uses, because the group shows the category's shared vocabulary.
Step 2: Turn roots into candidates with autocomplete
Take each root and run it through Google Play and App Store autocomplete. Add a–z suffixes to the strongest roots when you need more coverage. The results give you real phrasings: the words people type when they are looking for something like your app.
| Source | What it tells you | What it does not tell you |
|---|---|---|
| Competitor listings | The language the category uses | Whether searchers use the same words |
| Store autocomplete | Phrasings people type in store search | Exact monthly search volume |
| Store results | Who competes for the phrase now | How many people searched for it |
| Your own reviews | How users describe the app in their own words | Whether those words rank |
Step 3: Filter with a quality gate
Most raw lists contain noise. Remove one-word terms that are too broad to own, phrases that describe a different product, and brand names you do not control. Keep the 2 to 3 word phrases that describe a real problem your app solves. A quality gate does this consistently across the whole list instead of one row at a time.
Step 4: Score the shortlist
Scoring turns a long list into a priority order. KW Scoring rates each phrase on volume index, competition, difficulty, relevance, and opportunity, each from 0 to 100, with a confidence label. The scores are heuristic. They help you compare phrases; they do not measure demand directly.
- Sort by relevance first. Drop phrases that do not match the product.
- Check competition and difficulty for the rest.
- Read the confidence label before you trust a score.
- Assign each phrase a recommendation: Focus, Primary, Secondary, Maybe, or Skip.
Step 5: Place the phrases in the right fields
Focus phrases belong in the title and the first line of the subtitle or short description. Primary and Secondary phrases fit the subtitle, description, keyword field on iOS, or the description on Play. Maybe phrases can wait for a test. Skip phrases stay out. Keep each field readable, because a field stuffed with keywords is a poor experience for the person reading it.
Where this method stops
- Autocomplete is a signal of phrasing, not a count of searches.
- Competition data reflects what is visible now, not what will be visible next month.
- Scores are heuristics with confidence labels, not paid volume data.
- A keyword can rank and still fail to convert if the listing does not match the search.
Where NewASO fits
NewASO runs the method in one local project. It collects the competitor roots, expands them with Google Play and App Store autocomplete, scores the list, and sends the shortlist into Listing Studio for validation. It does not show exact search volume, and it does not promise a rank. For the full keyword workflow, read app keyword research. For the competitor step, read competitor keyword research.
Frequently asked questions
What is the fastest way to find app store keywords?
Start with five to ten direct competitors, pull the phrases that repeat across their listings, then expand them with store autocomplete. That gives you a usable first list in an hour or two.
Do app store keyword tools show exact search volume?
Store search volume is not published as exact numbers. Any tool that shows a precise monthly count without a method is estimating. Look for labelled estimates and an explanation of the inputs.
How many keywords should I keep?
Keep a focused shortlist. A few Focus phrases for the title and subtitle, and a manageable set of Primary and Secondary phrases for the other fields. A long list is only useful if you can score and place it.