Recommended: iTunes App Keyword Tool, AppStoreRankings.net

Posted by on Feb 10, 2013 in Reviews | No Comments

This is a post for the app developers who read my blog. If you have an app on iTunes you probably wonder if you are getting all you can out of the keywords you chose when you set up your app. Did you choose words that people actually search for? Did you forget any? What keywords do your competitors use? This is exactly the kind of info that you get from App Store Rankings. I have been using the service for a couple weeks and am really impressed with the insight they gave into my Ghost-O-Meter app. Here are some of the things that really impressed me about App Store Rankings:

appstorerankings1. Keyword Optimizer
When I create my keywords I never know if I am getting the most out of it. I forget things like whether or not I should put commas between words. Should I include variations of the main words? Did you know that you can save characters by eliminating spaces? in addition to these tips they also do a surprisingly good job of recommending keywords that you might not have thought of.

2. App Rankings
Thanks to App Rankings I learned for the first time that Ghost-O-Meter was in the top 100 apps in the entertainment category of the iTunes store. You would think that was something I would know already, but it was a complete surprise to me. You can see a graph of your app over time and track how your app is performing in the different categories, by platform, and by country. Very good info.

3. Keyword Research
It is so helpful to see what keywords people are finding your app through. Seeing the keywords of your competitor is also very handy. They also give you tips about keywords to avoid because people don’t actually search for those terms. Much like SEO, optimizing your app starts with good keyword research.

This all ends up as a service that seems too good to be true. From what I can tell, the data they mine is all publicly accessible, but the insight they are able to pull from the numbers is impressive and beyond handy. As far as I can tell App Rankings is the only place where you can get this kind if info.

Now for the bad news. This data comes at a price. After your free month trial you will have to pay for the priveledge of accessing their tools. Depending on the revenue you earn from your app, this may or may not be a no-brainer.