Keyword Popularity

Understanding Keyword Popularity

Keyword popularity is a score from 1 to 100 that estimates how frequently users search for a specific term in the App Store. A popularity of 5 means almost nobody searches for that term (roughly 1 search per day). A popularity of 50 represents approximately 200 daily searches. A popularity of 100 corresponds to around 32,000 daily searches — territory reserved for the most searched terms in the store.

Popularity is one of the three core metrics in keyword research, alongside keyword difficulty and the opportunity score. It answers the fundamental question: "Is anyone actually searching for this?"

How Popularity Maps to Search Volume

The 1–100 popularity scale is not linear — it follows a logarithmic distribution, meaning each step at the higher end represents a much larger increase in actual searches than steps at the lower end.

Why Popularity Alone Is Insufficient

A common mistake is targeting the highest-popularity keywords available. Popularity without context is misleading because it ignores competition. A keyword with popularity 80 sounds great — but if it has difficulty 85, ranking for it is nearly impossible for most apps.

This is why the opportunity score exists: it combines popularity and difficulty into a single metric that identifies keywords where traffic potential justifies the competitive challenge. The opportunity formula uses a log-normalized version of search volume (derived from popularity) combined with a squared difficulty penalty — so high difficulty reduces opportunity exponentially.

How Popularity Affects Keyword Classification

RespectASO uses popularity thresholds directly in its keyword classification system:

• Sweet Spot: Requires popularity ≥ 40. These keywords have enough search volume to drive meaningful downloads.
• Hidden Gem: Requires popularity between 25 and 39. Lower traffic than Sweet Spots, but the extremely low competition makes them worthwhile.
• Low Volume: Triggered when popularity < 15. At roughly 5 searches or fewer per day, these keywords are rarely worth the metadata space unless they're uniquely relevant to your app.

Popularity Varies by Country

The same keyword concept has different popularity scores across countries. An English keyword might score popularity 60 in the United States but only 30 in the United Kingdom — not because British users don't search for it, but because the UK has a smaller market. Conversely, a localized term in Japanese might show popularity 45 in Japan while the English equivalent only scores 10 there.

The Country Opportunity Finder uses popularity as one of its core inputs, ranking markets where a keyword's popularity-to-difficulty ratio is most favorable.

Practical Guidelines for Popularity

• Keywords below popularity 15 rarely justify metadata space. With fewer than 5 daily searches, even ranking #1 produces negligible downloads.
• Keywords between 25–50 are often the most productive for indie developers. They have real search volume but frequently have manageable difficulty.
• Keywords above 70 drive significant traffic but almost always come with high difficulty. These are best targeted by established apps or through long-tail variants.
• Don't chase popularity 100 keywords. At ~32,000 daily searches, these are dominated by the biggest apps in the store. Unless your app is already in the top 50 for your category, the effort is better spent on lower-popularity, lower-difficulty terms.

How RespectASO Measures Popularity

RespectASO scores popularity on the 1–100 scale for every keyword across all 30 supported markets. Search up to 20 keywords at once to compare popularity scores, then cross-reference with difficulty to identify the keywords where traffic volume meets achievable competition. The classification system automatically flags keywords with popularity < 15 as "Low Volume," preventing you from wasting metadata space on terms that won't generate meaningful downloads.