How to choose keywords as an indie developer

The best keyword isn't the most popular one. It's a word people search for, that fits your app, and where you can actually rank.

Three questions for every keyword

• Does it describe your app? Someone searching for it should want exactly what you built.
• Do people search for it? Popularity shows how often a word is searched in the App Store, from 5 to 100.
• Can you rank for it? Difficulty shows how strong the apps on the first places are.

Start small, then grow

A new app rarely ranks for the big words. Start with specific phrases where the top apps are weaker, like “habit tracker for adhd” instead of “habit”. Downloads from those searches help your app, and the bigger words come within reach.

Look at the apps that rank

Search the keyword in the App Store yourself. If the first apps all do something different from yours, the word is wrong for you, even if it's popular.

Check again every week

Rankings move every day. Keep the words that bring you up, replace the ones that don't, and try new ones with your next update.

In Fermium100 every keyword shows its popularity, difficulty and your chance at a glance, and we check your rankings every day.