App Store Keyword Research: Free Methods That Actually Work

You don't need expensive tools to find great keywords for your app. While paid ASO platforms offer convenience, every keyword insight they provide can be discovered using free methods — if you know where to look.

After years of optimizing apps for the App Store and Google Play, we've distilled our process into 7 reliable methods that cost absolutely nothing. These are the same techniques we used before building BoostYourApp, and they still work remarkably well.

Method 1: App Store Autocomplete Mining

The App Store and Google Play search bars are goldmines of keyword data. When you type a query, the autocomplete suggestions reveal what real users are actually searching for — ranked by popularity.

Method 2: Competitor Title Analysis

Your competitors have already done keyword research for you. Their app titles and subtitles are carefully optimized, and analyzing them reveals which keywords they consider most valuable.

1. Find the top 10 apps in your category and open each listing
2. Extract every keyword from their titles and subtitles into a list
3. Note which keywords appear in multiple competitor titles — these are high-value targets

Read our competitor analysis guide for a detailed walkthrough of this process.

Method 3: Review Mining

App reviews are an underrated keyword source. Users describe apps in their own words — words that often differ from what developers use. These natural phrases are exactly what other users type into the search bar.

1. Read 50+ reviews of competitor apps in your category
2. Highlight the words and phrases users use to describe features they love or need
3. These natural user phrases are your strongest keyword candidates — they match real search intent

Method 4: Google Trends Validation

Google Trends won't show you App Store search volume directly, but it's an excellent free tool for validating keyword demand and comparing relative interest between terms.

1. Enter your candidate keywords in Google Trends and check their search interest over time
2. Compare relative interest across competing terms to pick the strongest keywords
3. Check for seasonal patterns — some keywords spike during specific months, which affects your optimization timing

Method 5: Apple Search Ads Discovery Campaigns

This is the closest you can get to real App Store search data without a paid ASO tool. By running a low-budget Search Match campaign at just $5/day, Apple will show your app for searches it considers relevant — and tell you exactly what those searches were.

1. Create a Search Match campaign in Apple Search Ads with a low daily budget ($5–10/day is enough)
2. Let Apple automatically match your app to user searches for at least 7 days
3. Export the search terms report — this reveals exact queries users typed that triggered your ad

Method 6: Related App Suggestions

The "You Might Also Like" section on every app listing is curated by the store's algorithm based on keyword and behavioral similarity. These related apps are a window into how the store categorizes your niche.

1. Browse the related apps shown on listings in your category and note recurring keyword themes
2. Check what keywords these related apps target in their titles and subtitles — they often reveal adjacent keyword opportunities you haven't considered

Method 7: App Store Connect Analytics

If you already have an app live on the App Store, Apple gives you free keyword data in App Store Connect. This is first-party data straight from Apple — more accurate than any third-party tool.

1. Check the Sources tab to see which search terms are actually driving downloads to your app
2. Review impressions by keyword to understand your visibility across different search terms
3. Identify keywords with high impressions but low conversion — these are optimization opportunities where better screenshots or descriptions could boost downloads

Putting It All Together

No single method gives you the full picture. The real power comes from combining all seven methods into a systematic keyword research workflow.

1. Start with autocomplete mining to generate a broad list of keyword candidates
2. Validate demand using Google Trends to filter out low-interest terms
3. Refine your list with competitor title analysis to focus on proven, high-value keywords
4. Prioritize final selections using Search Ads data to see which keywords drive real taps and downloads

Read our complete keyword optimization guide to learn how to implement these keywords effectively in your app listing.

Conclusion

Free keyword research methods are more than enough for most indie developers and small teams. You don't need to spend hundreds of dollars on tools to find the right keywords — you need to spend time applying these methods consistently.

That said, as your app grows and you're tracking dozens of keywords across multiple markets, paid tools like BoostYourApp can save you hours of manual work each week. The best time to upgrade is when the time you spend on manual research exceeds the cost of a tool.