If you could utilize the feature of brand keywords and generic keywords, you can level up your ASO strategy and increase your app visibility. in UK.
Did you know that the most searched for in the App Store is brand keywords?
This means that most people know exactly which app they want to download. Therefore, instead of simply searching for social media apps, they prefer to use keywords such as "Facebook", "Instagram", etc. As a result, many ASO services have to fight for the remaining fiercely competitive keyword searches which we call generic keywords.
Keywords optimization is exactly the most important part of ASO strategy. How do you identify the difference between brand keywords and generic keywords? If you could utilize the feature of these two categories of keywords, you can level up your ASO strategy and gain more exposure for your app in the app market, and then to increase your organic app installs and conversion rates.
Brand keywords: include the app name, company name, product lines, or trademarked terms (e.g., "Spotify", "Instagram stories" or "ACME Fitness Coach"). They indicate intent to find a specific product or brand.
Generic keywords: describe a feature, function, problem, or category (e.g., "music player", "photo editor", "workout planner"). They indicate discovery intent.
When optimizing your app's metadata, it's important to analyze the segment of generic keywords and brand keywords. Generic keywords are those that are not recognized as belonging to a particular brand.
To know how often users search for brands and generic keywords on the app store. We separated brands from non-brands. Keyword-driven daily searches are estimated based on Apple's search popularity score and our aggregated app data. We found that while brands account for only 24% of all keywords (as in 2019), brand keywords currently drive 49% of all traffic to the App Store, up 14% since 2019.
Interestingly, generic keyword searches still account for more than half of App Store traffic, although we tend to think that users are mainly looking for brands in the store. It indicates us that generic keywords are still of great importance for ASO.
It's true that brand searches are often much higher than generic keywords. In the image below, we show how the distribution of brands versus generic keywords can change across different levels of search volume. As we look at a larger number of keywords, the proportion of brand keywords increases significantly. This explains how 24% of keywords ultimately drove 49% of App Store traffic – keywords that represent a high concentration of high-volume search terms on the App Store.
Of the more than 75 keywords in all App Stores, more than 97% are brands. For keywords with less than 25 searches, the percentage drops to 18%. If we look at the distribution of generics and brands across the entire volume range, we also noticed that all keywords with search volume above 90 were brand.
Our analysis considered 3 times the generic keywords of the brand. In the case of App Store traffic, while high-traffic keywords are primarily brands, there are also many low-traffic keywords that, after a strategic combination, account for a significant portion of App Store traffic.
That said, if you can take advantage of generic keywords in your ASO strategy, you'll also be able to get traffic to help your app get more downloads.
If your app already has strong brand recognition, most search volume will come from branded queries. Users typing your brand name (e.g., “Spotify”) are high-intent — they already know you and are far more likely to install or convert.
Branded keywords are also a defensive play. Claiming and optimizing for your brand terms in metadata (and in paid search when relevant) prevents competitors from stealing traffic or bidding on your name. Treat brand coverage as a basic hygiene and defense strategy.
If your app is new or not widely known, prioritize generic, descriptive keywords to be discoverable by people who don’t yet know your brand — e.g., “best language learning app” or “outdoor activity tracker.” These queries are how new users find apps.
Generic keywords (especially long-tail variants) are typically less competitive and let you capture niche demand. Even established brands should keep investing in relevant generic keywords to reach untapped audiences and expand acquisition beyond existing brand searches.
Expert Tips: Map keywords to objectives — use brand terms to protect and convert known audiences; use generic and long-tail terms to discover and scale new audiences.
You can optimize your app's metadata with keywords in a variety of ways. Use the tools we provide to discover common keywords used by your competitors, then identify valuable keywords that are right for your app.
In the app store, we recommend that you use brand keywords in your title, and among the remaining 30 character keywords, choose generic keywords that are not duplicated, because repeated keywords will not help improve the visibility of these keywords in the app.
If you are interested in a comprehensive ASO strategy, including keywords research, competitor analysis, keywords monitoring, guaranteed review sevices, app ratings and so on. Why not consult our expert team for free to increase the visibility of your app?
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What if your app is in pre-release, or has gone live, but doesn't have a strong brand impression yet? Here are a few ways you can use ASO to help you build your brand during the initial stages of your app:
Start by optimizing the three most important ASO creative assets;
Build your icon;
Conduct competitor analysis;
Ensure brand consistency.
Start by optimizing the three most important ASO creative assets. They are icons, titles, and subtitles. Since icons and titles are visible on most user touchpoints, both natural and unnatural, optimizing them is the most impactful ASO initiative from a conversion optimization perspective.
Build your icon. For many brands, the icon of the app store is the logo and symbol of the brand. Engage your potential audience with graphics and strong visuals.
Conduct competitor analysis. Understand the fierce competition of the app market and valuable keywords in the market can help you find the most useful generic keywords with the greatest growth opportunities.
Ensure brand consistency. Determine the keywords you want as a brand, use more generic keywords to accurately describe the complementary brand keywords, and ultimately strengthen the brand.
If your app already has a strong brand, then most of your downloads are most likely driven by your brand keywords. However, this should not prevent you from continuing to target these brand keywords in metadata.
Because your new users or users who are not yet loyal to your brand, they will search through generic keywords.
For example, if you have a highly developed brand clothing app, your target market members may search through generic keywords such as "clothing app", "boutique women's clothing", etc. If your competitors have a large number of generic keywords in their metadata and you don't, you'll miss out on converting more store visitors than you do today.
Not all apps can have brand keywords, but with an effective ASO strategy, generic keywords can also make your app better ranked and downloaded in the app store. Developers who want to create brand keywords can also use ASO services to help brand building. Apps that already have strong brands can't ignore the important role of generic keywords in maintaining rankings and attracting new users.
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