Common mistakes in keyword selection for the App Store

In the process of mobile game or mobile application development, in addition to paying attention to the quality of the product, we must also pay attention to other important details, such as keywords. For an application, keywords can sometimes even play a role in life and death. Don’t underestimate these 100 bytes. Many people make mistakes here. Here are some common mistakes when setting keywords.

1. Not using all 100 bytes

Since there are 100 characters, there is no reason not to make full use of them, so we should fill them with some highly relevant keywords as much as possible.

2. The keyword contains the name of the company app or the company name

In most markets, the app name and company name are considered keywords and can be combined with your iTunes-associated keywords to form multiple phrases or words that you can rank for. On the other hand, if your app is in the Games/Puzzles category, it will appear in search results for “Games” or “Puzzles”, but not for “Games” and “Puzzles” combined, so only very popular apps should consider using categories as keywords.

3. Using incorrect format

One of the most common mistakes is spaces between keywords or between multiple keywords. Let’s say Rovio has a game called Angry Birds: Clay Castle, and the new staff comes up with the following new keywords:

I can't help but want to tell newcomers that even if you don't bother to say such good keywords, at least it is a waste of space. Many times these spaces or key words don't make much sense. We can rearrange these keywords or key words:

The original 78 characters can be compressed into 47 characters. Of course, the best keywords are everywhere, but they may not be the most commonly used keywords for people searching for Angry Birds games, but at least they won't take up too much character space.

4. Using keywords that bring little to no traffic

This is not easy to measure, but some keywords do drive a lot more traffic than others. For example, you can easily get your app to rank well with the obscure keyword "constitutionality", but few people will search for those uncommon keywords, so developers must make sure that the keywords they choose can bring a certain amount of traffic.

5. The app uses keywords that have little chance of ranking

Sometimes, being ambitious is not a good thing. Look at the following keyword example:

The above keywords can bring a lot of traffic and are also keywords that users search frequently, but there is also more intense competition among apps using these keywords. Even very experienced developers use these keywords very cautiously, let alone novices. Even apps with a decent number of downloads have a hard time competing with “big name” apps that have millions of downloads. Developers need to strike a good balance between gaining downloads and achieving good rankings, so they should be more cautious in keyword selection.

6. Use long words as keywords

Obviously, users are less likely to search for apps using long words. In addition, long words also take up more space. In terms of traffic, the 10-character keyword you listed as the first may not bring as much traffic as a 4-5-character keyword.

7. Keywords contain both singular and plural forms

We’ve heard this many times, but it only makes sense if your singular keyword and plural keyword bring about the same amount of traffic. In most cases, users have commonality in wording, and your app will be ranked in the singular or plural form.