How to choose app keywords

You can not start any keywords collection or keyword research if you have no idea on how to classify, find and validate your keywords. You also need to remember that algorithms of Google Play and App Store work differently for app ranking at search. So, the more theoretical information you get before doing the keyword research, the better.

Just a little recap: keyword is one word or a phrase that relates to one or more search requests users do at Google Play or App Store. There is a direct connection: you will not get impressions from the search if you are not indexed by the related keywords.

To get you a complete Idea of difference and similarity between keywords and search terms:

What types of keywords are?

The thing is, keywords can be long and short (from 1 word to 6-7 as usual), with one most important word or without it (we call it a Core). We classify app keywords for mobile Markets the same way as SEO experts do it for websites. If you have ever had some experience in website promotion with organics, the next piece will be easier for understanding.

What is the core of the keyword?

The core word is the most meaningful one. This word defines the purpose of the keyword and the intentions of the search requests connected to it.

For example, I have one of those popular apps about trading and options on Forex.

I took some time to create a list of keywords (we explain below how to collect it) and I think which of these keywords will work:

What is the main piece in each phrase on the list? At first glance, the main word for all these phrases is "money". But this word does not show all the intentions of the users. In fact, it may be billions of intentions: trading, personal budget, loans, payment systems, etc.

What if "app" is a core one? Wrong shot again! Your clients are already searching on Google Play, so there may be no reason to use "app" in all your keywords. The list will be like this:

That is a mess, isn't it?

We suggest you use verb, noun+noun, verb+noun and noun+adjective groups as cores. And so your list will be divided into:

So, with cores highlighted in these phrases you can do 2 things: group the keywords (organize them) and define the main pieces of the keywords you certainly want to be TOP 3.

Keywords are short and long, but you can not understand how to split the main and additional parts of the keyword? Depending on the structure, you can divide them into core and core+tail groups. The shorter is the phrase you use, the bigger is the frequency and difficulty of the keyword. The rule is simple, the fewer words you use after or before the core, the more competitors will fight with you for TOP of Google Play or App Store search.

What is the keyword volume? That's the number of search requests related to the keyword monthly. There is a close connection between the length of the keyword and the volume of unique searchers by them. The shorter the keyword is, the more times it will be used in search. it will be shown in impressions.

At first glance, it seems that high search volume is exactly what you need to aim/target in your promotion. Yes, it is right. Let's solve the case: we need to decide what is better: 1 keyword "money" with, let us say, 2 mil searchers monthly and "earn money app" "make money online", "make money app free" with 50,000 monthly searches each.

2 mln to 0,05 mln in a rather impressive number of visitors. But how many of them will be ready to download exactly your app after the related search request? 150,000 searches give more conversions – downloads and fine in-app activity that the audience you get from the all 2,000,000. It happens so that naturally less people are ready to download a certain app. But the more specific and to the matter the keyword is, the higher is the possibility that users will download the app, rate and review it, buy something or click the ads you place there.

Keyword difficulty is the competitiveness of the apps for the first place (or top place) on Market search results. There is a straight correlation between volume and difficulty. The higher the volume, the harder is strain between the apps in the search list. In other words, it is a condensed state of the word popularity and efforts devs and ASO experts make to be #1 in search for it.

When you know what to choose, you are ready to create your app keyword cloud after some research.

There are 3 primary sources you have to use for your app keywords cloud.

● Start with thinking about where the app needs to be in 3-4 months time from now. Brainstorm all the possible keywords that will be relevant. Write all your suggestions into one document. Keep them organized. It makes sense to divide the list of phrases by brand (the Android or iOS keywords that relate to the app name, brand), purpose (if you have a mobile game app using "play", "game", "fun"), product functions (run, jump, fight, shoot) groups.

● Continue with analysing your competitors. You should analyse somebody's app, find the most relevant keywords you have not written into your keyword list. Write these keywords down to add to your cloud.

● Use suggestions from Play Store and App Store search fields. Put in each keyword to maximize the diversity of your keyword could. For example, for "clash" you can add suggestions "clash of clans", "clash royale", "clash of clans 2". Try each keyword to find all suggestions for your app.

So finally, you have a keyword cloud to work with. But how can you understand that your keywords are the most relevant?

1. Manual check: take keywords and search for them at Google Play and Play Store. Do you see your competitors in 1-20 positions for this search? If yes, the keywords are picked correctly.

2. Use the User Acquisition report at your console. There is all statistics about users that come to your app collected. It also contains all the information about search requests your app was found and downloaded by. If the app was downloaded by this keyword phrase for more than 20 conversions, it will be shown in the report.

Each search request will be shown with the statistics of clicks on icon, number of installs and conversion rate. The higher is the conversion rate for the keyword, the bigger is the relevance of it for your app. The high conversion rate by the keyword shows that the user has found what he was looking for at your app page. So, you need to focus on this and all related keywords and plan their promotion by keyword installs.

If the conversion is low, the installs by the keyword are accidental. That means you should not start promotion by them.