Keyword field vs title: what actually moves an App Store listing
tl;dr
I tracked 47 keywords on two live apps (US and Australia, Oct 27, 2026), tagged by where each word lives. All 8 title keywords ranked. 4 of 8 subtitle keywords did. Only 3 of 12 keyword-field keywords showed up at all. The new keyword fields are written; on Nov 21 I re-run the same check and update this page.
You get 100 characters in the keyword field.
You read three threads on how to fill it.
They all disagree.
And nobody shows you their actual numbers.
I wanted to know one thing.
When an app ranks for a word, which box is doing the work? The title, the subtitle or the hidden keyword field?
So I tracked it on two of my live apps.
Now, for the good news.
You can run this exact test yourself, with Apple's own public search data and a spreadsheet.
This guide is part one: the before picture. The after comes on Nov 21, and I'll update this page with it. Wins and flops.
1. The setup
1.1 Two live apps, four boxes
The two apps:
- YenPocket: a yen converter that also scans Japanese price tags.
- 100 Bites: first foods for babies starting solids.
Here's what their listings said on Oct 27, 2026, in the US store:
| YenPocket | 100 Bites | |
|---|---|---|
| Title | YenPocket: Japan Yen to USD | 100 Bites: Baby First Foods |
| Subtitle | Currency Converter & Scanner | Starting Solids & BLW Tracker |
| Keyword field | tax, free, duty, trip, shopping, rate, exchange, jpy, dollar, calculator, calc, camera, price, tag, travel, offline | weaning, led, allergen, peanut, egg, puree, recipes, meals, feeding, solid, starts, taste, diet, guide, infant, eat |
The keyword field is the one nobody sees. Only Apple reads it.
That's why it's the one I trust least.
1.2 How I measured
I picked 47 keywords across both apps and checked them in two stores, the US and Australia, on Oct 27, 2026.
The rank comes from Apple's public search API: search a word, take the top 200 apps, note where mine sits.
It's free and I can re-run it the exact same way later.
One honest catch: it's close to what the App Store shows, but not identical. No personalisation, no iPhone vs iPad split.
Then the important part.
I tagged every keyword with where it lives: title, subtitle, keyword field, or only on a blog page (not in the listing at all).
Those tags are fixed. I don't get to move a keyword into a nicer bucket after the results come in.
Bottom line.
Sort your keywords by box before you change anything.
If you sort them afterwards, you'll fool yourself.
2. What ranked
Here's the short version, both apps together:
| Where the words live | Keywords | Showed up in the top 200 |
|---|---|---|
| Title | 8 | 8 |
| Subtitle | 8 | 4 |
| Keyword field (live now) | 12 | 3 |
| Only on a blog page | 11 | 1 |
("Showed up" means in the top 200 in the US or Australia. The 8 other keyword-field words were planned for the next update, not live, so I've left them out of that row.)
2.1 The title
Every title keyword ranked somewhere.
| Keyword | US | Australia |
|---|---|---|
| yenpocket | #1 | #1 |
| japan yen | #1 | #1 |
| yen to usd | #12 | #7 |
| yen | #30 | #19 |
| 100 bites | #1 | #1 |
| first foods | not found | #38 |
| baby first foods | not found | #63 |
| baby foods | not found | #107 |
Brand names at #1 are no surprise. Nobody else is called YenPocket.
The useful ones are the generic words. "yen to usd" at #12 in the US.
And in Australia it's #7, even though the Australian title says "Yen to AUD".
100 Bites is weaker. Its title words rank in Australia and nowhere in the US top 200. Baby food is a crowded corner of the store.
2.2 The subtitle
Half of the subtitle keywords showed up. None of them high.
"starting solids": #67 in the US, #107 in Australia.
"japan currency converter": #82 in Australia, nowhere in the US.
"yen converter": #117 in Australia.
"blw": #174 in the US.
"currency converter", "currency scanner", "baby food tracker" and "solids tracker": not in the top 200 anywhere.
2.3 The keyword field
12 keywords used words that were already sitting in the keyword field.
3 showed up. All three were YenPocket:
- "japan tax free": #68 in the US, #40 in Australia
- "yen calculator": #32 in Australia
- "jpy": #107 in Australia
100 Bites: 0 out of 4.
"weaning", "baby led weaning", "allergen tracker", "baby allergen". Nothing in the top 200, in either store.
2.4 Blog only
11 keywords lived only on a blog page, not in the listing at all.
1 showed up: "japan trip cost calculator", #120 in the US and #74 in Australia.
So a blog post is not ASO. It might bring people from Google, but the App Store doesn't care.
Bottom line.
On my two apps, the title did almost all the work.
The keyword field barely registered. The subtitle helped a little.
3. Two things that surprised me
3.1 The best keyword-field phrase was a mix
"japan tax free" did best of the keyword-field group.
But look where the words come from. "Japan" is in the title. "tax" and "free" are in the keyword field.
Nobody wrote that phrase anywhere. The App Store put it together from two boxes.
One example isn't proof. But it changed how I write the field.
Bottom line.
Think in single words, not phrases.
A word in the keyword field can team up with a word in your title.
3.2 Different tools, very different numbers
On Oct 24, my rank tracker app had 100 Bites at #14 in the US for "first foods".
Three days later, Apple's search API couldn't find it in the top 194 US results for the same words.
An Oct 8 reading had "baby first foods" at #7. On Oct 27 the API had it outside the US top 178.
Some of that is time. Some of it is that each tool measures differently.
(In my first guide I quoted the tracker app's numbers. They're real, they're just a different ruler.)
Bottom line.
Pick one way of measuring and stick to it.
Comparing a number from one tool with a number from another tells you nothing.
4. What I changed
4.1 A rename I said no to
One suggestion I got was to rename YenPocket to "YenPocket: Yen Converter".
Sounds fine. Except it drops the word "Japan" from the title.
And "japan yen" is one of only two phrases where I'm #1 in both stores (the other is my own app name).
So the title stayed.
Bottom line.
Before you swap a word out of your title, check what it's already ranking for.
Tools suggest. Your own numbers decide.
4.2 New keyword fields
I rewrote both fields. Three fixes from my earlier drafts:
- Separate words, not mashed-up ones. My draft had "taxfree", "pricetag" and "babyfood". Nobody types those. Now it's "tax,free" and "price,tag".
- No repeats. "blw" and "solids" were already in the 100 Bites subtitle. They came out of the field.
- Keep the title alone. Title and subtitle change in the next version, not this one.
The new fields:
YenPocket: tax,free,refund,duty,shopping,price,tag,exchange,rate,jpy,dollar,calculator,travel,budget,offline
100 Bites: weaning,led,allergen,finger,puree,infant,nutrition,meal,plan,feeding,peanut,egg,recipes,offline
"refund" is new for YenPocket because Japan's tax-free shopping turned into a refund at the airport on Nov 1, 2026.
4.3 One box per version
When I posted my plan on X, someone who knows ASO far better than me replied with one tip:
Ship the keyword field first. Change the title and subtitle in the next version.
If you change all four boxes at once and a rank moves, you have no idea which change did it.
Bottom line.
One box per version. Snapshot before, compare after.
Boring. Works.
5. What happens next
On Nov 21, 2026 I re-run the exact same script, on the same 47 keywords, in the same two stores.
Then I compare bucket by bucket and update this guide. The thread goes on X too, flops included.
What I'm watching: do the keyword-field words finally move, now that the field has better words in it?
If they don't, the title gets my full attention in the next version.
5.1 Run it on your own app
- Pick 20 to 50 keywords people might type to find your app.
- Tag each one: title, subtitle, keyword field, or nowhere.
- Record your rank for each in the stores you care about. Apple's search API is free.
- Change one box. Ship it.
- Wait about four weeks. Re-check the same way.
- Write down what moved and what didn't. Post it. Somebody will learn from your flop.
5.2 What I used
- Apple's own page on App Store search: what Apple says it looks at.
- App Store Connect help: version information: the character limits for the keyword field and promo text.
- My ASO x SEO crossref template (free, on GitHub): puts App Store keywords next to Google search data so you can pick which words go in the listing and which go on your website.
- A rank tracker app, for a second opinion. Just don't mix its numbers with the API's.
Final thoughts
Right now, my honest answer to "keyword field vs title" is: title, by a mile.
That might change on Nov 21. If it does, I'll say so here.
Either way, you'll see the real numbers, not a thread full of opinions.
If you're heading to Japan, YenPocket is the app all of this was tested on. And if you've got a baby starting solids, 100 Bites is the other one.
Have a question?
DM me on X: @kaynesheenan. I read everything.