My App Store keyword growth hack (less is more)

[0:00]I'm often asked how to properly set up keywords in the App Store listing. And I assumed this was just like common knowledge, but I was wrong. I keep seeing the same mistakes over and over, and just by fixing this one thing, you can push your app into the top 10, sometimes overnight. In this video, I'm going to go through the simple strategy I use to optimize App Store metadata, to rank better for keywords, get more downloads and even more revenue. I'll cover how to optimize the title and keyword, how keywords play a crucial role in the description, and the best way I've found to structure the keywords field. Plus, there's actually a secret area within the App Store listing that you can add your keyword, and most people don't even realize this exists. This strategy has worked well for me time and time again for my app portfolio. With this app generating $12,700 in sales from a keyword that ranks number six. This one over $9,000 in sales from a keyword ranking number four. And this one yet to be monetized has generated over 17,000 downloads from a keyword that I've got ranking number two. There's no clickbait, no 30 minute vlog about my dev career, just a simple straightforward strategy. I will show you how to use to get your apps ranking better. Let's go. This is my fish identifier app. It's an AI wrapper that uses chat GPT vision to identify fish species. And it's pretty simple with a single use case. It's built on an AI wrapper boiler plate that I open sourced last year. You can check it out in the description below. This app generates $12,700 in sales and continues to grow with no update since almost a year ago. It's an ideal app that generates a passive income with no work required. I just set and forget. And it's obvious from the title what keyword I'm actually targeting here, fish identifier, which ranks number six in the US App Store. That drives over 1,000 downloads to the app every month for free. The secret to its success is a hyper focused and simple optimization strategy. The biggest mistake you may be making is trying to target just too many keywords. It can confuse the App Store algorithm and worse, it can hurt your ranking. Focus on a single keyword and make sure it's popular enough with low competition. I add the keyword first to the keywords field. So it goes, fish identifier, fish scanner, and then a list of individual keywords like scan AI, recognition, shark, identify, marine, fishing, and fish. I don't actually want to rank for any of these other keywords. These other keywords are not very good anyway. They have low popularity and even if I do rank for them, just won't get any downloads. Instead, I'm using the keywords field to highlight my primary keyword fish, identifier, and then use the rest of the field to provide further context for the App Store algorithm. Think of it like describing to the algorithm what your app is about. And I ensure I never repeat the same word twice. In summary, less is more. One main keyword and the rest is simply context. You'll also notice fish identify is listed first in the title as well. It's the first text that you see. Why? Putting it first in the title helps with search recommendation in the App Store. I've talked about this in other videos, but it's important to give you a quick refresh course. This is the keyword most people use to find the app when they're typing in fish identify into the search field. And with any luck, mine will appear in the recommendation list. There it is. Notice all the other recommendations follow the exact same format. Keyword first, app title second. Check out my video describing this in detail. I'll put a link in the description below. In summary, start with your primary keyword, it helps with search suggestions. The subtitle field is interesting. It's easy to think of this as a nice place to put your keyword again. But don't. The App Store can give you less weight to your keyword when added to both the title and subtitle, but not always. There's this interesting quirk, something weird that happens with the App Store algorithm. Sometimes it will see the subtitle first, other times it'll see the title first, and depending on what it sees first will depend on how you rank for your keyword. It's kind of weird, I know. So it's not actually detecting keyword stuffing. It's just prioritizing the first position at seas. So you kind of get a 50-50 chance whether it's going to impact the ranking of your keyword. Just avoid putting the keyword in the subtitle at all. Instead, use the subtitle field to provide further context to the algorithm and be mindful that you're communicating to the user as well. In this case, my fish identifier app, I put species recognition and finder. You'll also notice that these words also appear in the keywords list and the description list. In summary, avoid keyword repetition here, use this space to add extra context. I use chat GPT to create the description for all of my apps. The prompt I use, create an App Store description for my app Fish identifier AI scanner, focusing on the benefits and include the title Fish identifier AI scanner. And then list the features of your app and chat GPT will create the entire description and highlight the benefits for you. Be sure to remove formatting and emojis. The description field should have a nice good balance of readability with your primary keyword sprinkled throughout. In this case, my primary keyword is used four times, and there's a bonus field that I hinted at. Come closer. No, no, no, no, a little bit closer. Even closer. This is a secret that not many people know of, but I think it might actually impact the rankings. You see the what's new field? I always put the full name of my app in the field along with the primary keyword. And nobody's doing this, and I don't know why. It's a great place to add more context to the App Store algorithm and hopefully give your app a bit of a boost in the rankings. This version of fish identify AI scanned includes bug fixes and usability updates. Not sure if this actually has an impact on the ranking at all, but it doesn't hurt, right? Have you done this too? Let me know in the comments. I would love to know what impact this actually has on your app. Now check out my other app, body measurement tracker. It has generated over $9,000 in revenue and ranks number four in the US App Store. The title is the keyword, and this is not something that I recommend these days, but this is one of my first Swift UI apps. So, kind of just give me a break. If I was to do it again, the name would be something like body measurement tracker, BMT, or something similar. Just adding extra characters to the end will ensure it appears better in search results. But if it's not broken, don't fix it, right? The subtitle is track your progress, and the keyword field is body measurement tracker, fitness tracker, weight loss tracking, muscle gain tracking. Primary keyword goes first with additional keywords only used to provide App Store algorithm with additional context. With body measurement tracker appearing six times in the description field. Now check out my app OB Wheel for Pregnancy. It's done over 17,000 downloads and is yet to be monetized. This app ranks number two for the keyword OB wheel. And the subtitle is due date, trimester calculator. The keywords field is OB wheel, due date countdown, due date, obstetrician. You'll notice that the primary keyword once again is the first word in the title and the keyword field. I bet you've noticed that pattern already. With additional keywords once again providing additional context with OB wheel appearing seven times in the app description itself. So to summarize, the strategy that I've used that works well for ranking keywords on the App Store within the top 10 is to focus on a single keyword only. Don't overdo it. Keyword goes first in the title and the descriptions filled. The rest of the keywords field provides additional context to the App Store algorithm and make sure you're avoid adding your keyword to the subtitle. Then sprinkle your keyword into the description field around about four to seven references seems to do the trick. And add your title with the keyword to the what's new field in every update. I hope that helps. Let me know if there's something I haven't covered or if you need any help with App Store keywords.