Review miningA data-led ASO strategy
Automate keyword tracking: find with daily data the words you rank 11-30 for on the App Store, and turn a gap of a few places into an advantage.
WORKS ACROSS EVERY APP STORE CATEGORY
The shape of search in this category
In the technology category people do not search for what you do; they search for the problem they want solved. Metadata's job is to match the two.
What sets searching in technology apart is that people usually type the problem rather than the product type. "Free up space on my phone" rather than "file compression"; "who is on my wifi" rather than "network scanner".
That means your metadata has to be written in the language that describes the problem, not the one that describes the product. And that language is not produced in a marketing meeting; it sits in users' own sentences.
The second distinguishing feature: the category is very crowded on generic phrases and surprisingly empty on problem phrases. Everyone targets the same three words, and nobody targets the sentence people actually type.
The third is fast decay. Technology terms move; a phrase popular two years ago may be nothing but stale metadata today. Reading density alongside popularity matters especially here.
The four numbers worth measuring here
Category competition is not measured by the number of apps. A category can hold thousands and most of them never appear in the first 200 for anything. What has to be measured is how many apps actually show up for the phrases you are aiming at.
- DensityHow many apps appear in the first 200 for a phrase. High density does not mean the phrase is valuable - it is often the accumulation of stale metadata. It is always read alongside popularity.
- Title shareHow many of the top 20 carry the phrase in their app name. High means a title fight is under way and entering from the subtitle will be slow. Low means the phrase is coming from the keyword field - a cheaper door.
- Strength thresholdThe median rating count of the top 10. Far above yours and the phrase is not taken with metadata; the work has moved to the product. That single number prevents months spent for nothing.
- Band spreadWhich rank bands the apps cluster in. An empty 11-30 means entering it is cheap and whoever gets in stays a while; a full one means every place is traded with somebody.
Five ways into a crowded category
The measurement is done and the category came out crowded. That does not mean stay out; it means change how you go in.
First, niche phrases. Three-word phrases are searched less but their relevance is very high and competition is low. Alone they bring little traffic; gathered in clusters they produce a real total.
Second, country selection. A phrase's density varies widely by country. One crowded in a large market can be nearly empty in a smaller one - the same metadata, a different result.
Third, rival reviews. In crowded categories everyone feeds from the same pool. Users' own words are not in that pool and nobody looks there.
Fourth, empty country fields. The first move in a storefront where you get downloads but the keyword field was never filled is usually the highest-return move there is, because it builds relevance from nothing.
Fifth, waiting. If the strength threshold is far above you there is little distance to take with metadata; what ASO should say is that the work has moved to the product - and it should say it.
- Gather niche phrases in clusters; little apart, a lot together.
- Country selection is a strategy on its own.
- Rival reviews are the most valuable source in a crowded category.
- An empty country field: the highest-return first move.
- If the strength threshold is out of reach, ASO stops and says so.
How the weekly loop runs here
Whatever the category, the loop is the same and takes about two and a half hours a week.
Monday you look at the measurement: what did the tracked phrases and the rivals do? The control group's total movement is that week's market movement.
Tuesday the band comes out: the 11-30 phrases ordered by popularity, the ones above the strength threshold set aside. One of the top three is chosen.
Wednesday one move is made: one field in one release. Changing two fields at once makes it impossible to tell which one carried.
Thursday and Friday you wait: the index takes a few days to settle, longer in some countries. The following Monday you compare - subtract the control group's movement and write what is left down to the move.
The real output of that loop is not the ranks won, it is the record accumulating. Three months in you know which kind of move works for your app - and that is in no general guide, because it belongs to your app.
Frequently asked
- There are thousands of apps in my category. Is it hopeless?
- No. App count is not the measure of competition; most never appear in the first 200 for anything. What matters is how many actually show up for the phrases you are aiming at.
- Which phrase should I start with?
- One you already rank 11-30 for, whose popularity could be measured, and whose strength threshold is reachable. The most popular phrase where all three hold is this week's work.
- How long until I see a result?
- The first measurable one usually lands in the second month: one move, the index settling, and a week's comparison. Meaningful learning takes three months.
- How many countries should I start in?
- One. Run the loop for a month where you get the most downloads, then add the second. Starting in ten at once ends with measurement in none of them.
Measuring App Store search is essential, and anything but easy
You are forced to write metadata without knowing which keyword you rank where on.
Dozens of country stores mean separate ranks, separate competitors and separate keyword lists.
Users now pick an app from the first screen of the search results, not from the second page.
A metadata setup that complies with App Store rules is the basic condition for holding on to search visibility.
RUNS STRAIGHT OFF APPLE'S OWN SOURCES
App Store search rank
App Store listing and ratings
Apple review feed
Apple Search Ads popularity
App Store Connect
Google PlayWhere a rank is won
The keywords you rank 11-30 for are your cheapest growth
Reaching the first page does not take winning a rank from nothing. A keyword in this band is already a few places away - and the first page is where nearly every download happens. rankcusp sifts that band out and puts what costs you least effort at the top.
The words in competitor reviews appear in no keyword tool
Users search for your app in their own words, not in your marketing language. Those words are written down in your rivals' reviews, and no tool looks there. rankcusp does: it sweeps the reviews, pulls out the phrases that look like searches, and hands you the ones that can rank.
Half of your 100-character keyword field goes to waste
Repeating a word already in the title, leaving a space after a comma, leaving country fields empty. Each burns characters quietly. rankcusp shows every one and tells you how many characters you get back.
Whether the change you made worked is clear the next day
You changed the title, you rewrote the keyword field - then what? rankcusp records your rank every day. You see, in hindsight, which move carried which keyword how many places. No guesswork, a record.
Resources
rankcusp Publications
Read our writing and our analyses, and learn in depth how App Store search works.
Technology
Everything you need to know about the App Store keyword field
Technology
The invisible cost of unused keywords
Technology
Does filling the keyword field lower your rank?
App Store rule changes, algorithm updates, ASO analyses... miss none of them!