What the keywords field is for

In App Store Connect, the keywords field is a comma-separated list of search terms Apple can use for discovery. Shoppers never see it on the product page. That makes it different from title, subtitle, promotional text, and description — fields that must read like marketing copy. Keywords are indexing fuel.

  • Hard limit: 100 characters total (commas count; spaces after commas usually waste budget).
  • Not shown on the storefront UI — so do not write sentences or brand slogans here.
  • Should complement title and subtitle, not repeat them (Apple typically ignores duplicates of terms already in those fields).
  • Locale-specific: each App Store localization gets its own keywords string.

Think of keywords as a packed index card for one locale — not a translation of your English card. Terms that win in the US often lose or need different morphology in Germany, Japan, or Brazil.

Rules that matter before you write a single term

Apple's metadata guidelines and long-standing ASO practice constrain what belongs in the field. Breaking them wastes characters or risks rejection; ignoring them wastes ranking opportunity.

  1. Do not repeat words already in your localized title or subtitle — use the 100 characters for net-new coverage.
  2. No competitor names, trademark abuse, or irrelevant spam terms.
  3. Prefer comma-separated tokens without spaces after commas (app,photo,editor) to maximize the budget.
  4. Avoid plurals and singulars of the same stem when Apple's matching already covers both in that language — test, do not assume English rules apply everywhere.
  5. Skip category words Apple already associates from your primary category when they crowd out higher-intent phrases.

When you localize, re-apply these rules in the target language. A German compound may replace three English tokens. A Japanese keyword set may need fewer commas and different segmentation. The 100-character ceiling is shared; the optimal packing is not.

Research keywords per locale (not via translate)

Literal translation of your English keywords list is the most common failure mode. Searchers in other markets use different stems, brand-category habits, and problem phrasing. Build each locale from demand, then map to your product truth.

  • Start from what users call the job-to-be-done in that language (not from your English feature names alone).
  • Check App Store Suggest / autocomplete in that storefront language and country.
  • Mine localized competitor titles and subtitles for vocabulary — then pick terms you can honestly rank for.
  • Align feature terms with your localized UI and screenshot captions so metadata and creatives reinforce each other.
  • Drop English leftovers unless that English term is genuinely searched in that market (common for tech categories).

Keep a per-locale keyword sheet next to your subtitle and screenshot caption sheet. When App Store Localizer helps you ship listing assets at https://asolocalization.com, treat keywords as part of the same locale checklist — not a forgotten English paste at the end.

Packing 100 characters without stuffing

You will always have more candidate terms than fit. Ranking is not "more commas = more traffic." Pack for coverage of distinct intents, then stop.

  1. List primary intents already covered by title/subtitle — exclude those tokens from keywords.
  2. Add the next-best synonyms and secondary use cases (e.g. audience or format variants).
  3. Prefer shorter high-intent tokens over long low-intent phrases when character math is tight.
  4. Join with commas only; remove spaces after commas unless a multi-word phrase requires an internal space.
  5. Count characters after localization — expansion and script width change what fits.
  6. Read the final string aloud as tokens: every term should be something a real user might type.

Example mindset (illustrative English packing, rewrite per locale): if title/subtitle already own "photo editor," keywords might cover "collage,filters,crop,retouch,batch" rather than repeating "photo" and "editor." In another language those five tokens become different stems — rebuild, do not translate the comma string.

How keywords interact with title, subtitle, and creatives

ASO works as a system. Keywords help discovery; title and subtitle help both discovery and conversion; screenshots and preview video close the tap. Localizing only one layer leaves gaps.

  • Title: brand + clearest primary phrase for that storefront.
  • Subtitle: supporting benefit or secondary phrase shoppers will actually read.
  • Keywords: index-only terms that did not earn a visible slot.
  • Screenshots / captions: prove the promise in the same vocabulary you ranked for.
  • What's New / description: reinforce benefits — do not try to replace the keywords field.

When you refresh a locale, update keywords whenever you change title or subtitle. Otherwise you silently reintroduce duplicates or leave coverage holes where the old subtitle used to carry a term.

Workflow: ship keywords with the rest of the listing

Treat keywords localization as a checklist item on every metadata release — first launch, major update, or seasonal creative refresh.

  1. Freeze English (or source-locale) title, subtitle, and keyword candidates.
  2. For each target locale: research terms, draft title/subtitle first, then fill keywords with net-new tokens only.
  3. Run a character count and duplicate check against that locale's title/subtitle.
  4. Glossary-align feature names with UI strings and screenshot captions.
  5. Paste into App Store Connect per localization and save with the rest of the metadata.
  6. After go-live, watch impressions and query suggestions; iterate the weakest locales first.

Do not "save keywords for later" while you localize screenshots. The 100-character field is fast to do well once research exists — and expensive to leave as English forever.

Common mistakes to avoid

  • Pasting the English keywords string into every localization.
  • Machine-translating the comma list without checking search behavior.
  • Repeating title/subtitle words and burning half the budget.
  • Putting spaces after every comma (hello, world, waste).
  • Stuffing irrelevant high-volume terms that bounce users who install.
  • Never revisiting keywords after a subtitle change.
  • Using competitor names or trademarked terms you do not own.

Any one of these turns a precise indexing field into noise. The fix is process: research per locale, pack against visible metadata, count to 100, ship with the listing.

Localize the keywords field like you mean it

One hundred characters is not much — which is exactly why localization quality matters. A careful per-locale pack beats a translated dump every time. Pair strong localized titles and subtitles with a keywords field that only adds what those fields cannot hold.

When you run screenshot and metadata localization in one pass at https://asolocalization.com, keep the App Store Connect keywords field on the same locale checklist. Native keywords plus native creatives beat an English keyword string hiding behind a translated storefront.