What to take away
- A 100-character budget is a maximum, not a reason to include irrelevant words.
- Draft the name and subtitle before allocating the private keyword field.
- Validate the final localized field in App Store Connect before submission.
Understand what the field is for
The keyword field gives Apple additional relevant language for matching your app to searches. It is not a public description and is not exposed by a competitor’s public listing. If a research tool proposes competitor keywords, treat them as inferred ideas rather than a copy of that private field.
Apple identifies text relevance and user behavior among the factors involved in search. Filling the field does not buy a position, and there is no public formula that lets you calculate the download impact of one added word. Work from product fit and observable results, not a promise of instant indexing or a guaranteed rank.
Use the character budget deliberately
Write the name and subtitle first, then remove their duplicate words from the keyword candidates. Separate entries with commas and omit spaces immediately after those separators. Apple allows spaces within keyword phrases, so the blanket rule that no spaces are ever allowed is incorrect.
Keep the draft comfortably within the limit and validate the final text in App Store Connect, especially for localized scripts and punctuation. A local character counter can catch obvious mistakes, but the submission interface is the final authority on what it accepts.
| Draft | Decision |
|---|---|
| books,journal,goals,library | 27 characters including commas; use only if these features exist |
| books, journal, goals | Remove unnecessary spaces after commas |
| PageNest,reading,books | Remove words already used in name or subtitle |
| A competing app’s brand | Do not submit competing app names |
Remove waste before adding more terms
Apple advises against duplicate words, unnecessary plural forms, category names, and generic filler such as app. Start by cleaning those cases rather than compressing an ever larger list. Also remove claims about features the current release does not offer.
Do not remove a necessary word from a phrase solely because it looks inefficient. Language and intent still matter, especially across localizations. The point is to represent useful search intentions accurately; it is not to maximize the number of disconnected tokens or assume every possible combination will rank.
- Check relevance against the released app, not the roadmap.
- Check name, subtitle, and category for repeated terms.
- Remove competing app names and unauthorized protected terms.
- Keep an archive of the previous field and the reasoning for each replacement.
Review changes as an experiment, not a ranking trick
Save the old field, draft, locale, release time, and target queries together. Watch for availability or processing issues before interpreting a missing observation as a failed keyword choice. Public search sampling cannot tell you with certainty that a private keyword was indexed at a particular moment.
Compare a consistent query cohort over a defined window and review your own acquisition metrics separately. A metadata update is not a randomized experiment: changes in ads, seasonality, competitors, and the app itself may coincide. If the result is ambiguous, retain that uncertainty rather than rewriting the field every day.
Maintain a separate draft per supported localization. Translating the English list word for word can waste the budget on unnatural language and miss how people actually search in that market.
Frequently asked questions
Do commas count toward the 100-character keyword limit?
Yes. The limit applies to the total field, including commas and spaces. Remove unnecessary spaces after comma separators and validate the submitted text in App Store Connect.
Can I see a competitor’s App Store keyword field?
Not through its public listing. Public metadata and search results can suggest candidate terms, but they do not reveal the private keyword field.
Should I repeat my app title in the keyword field?
Apple advises against repeating words already in the app name, subtitle, or category. Use that limited space for other accurate, relevant terms instead.
Sources & methodology
Platform guidance was reviewed for this article on September 8, 2026. Examples are educational, not performance benchmarks. Apple’s documentation can change; check the linked source before submitting a listing.
Back My Side uses public Apple data. Sampled positions are not official on-device ranks, and relative scores are not search-volume counts. Read our editorial and data policy.