Australia is the most counterintuitive localization target in the App Store: it's English-speaking, but your US keyword field is not doing what you think it is.
Australian App Store users search in English, but they search in Australian English — with different terminology, different spelling conventions, and different category-specific phrasing than US English. An app optimized exclusively for US keywords is effectively running an untargeted keyword field in the Australian market. And Australia is a top-10 App Store market by revenue, with lower competition than the US and UK.
The practical result: localizing for Australia means keyword research, not translation. And it produces some of the largest ranking gains of any market — the data from a single productivity app showed +148 position gains after Australian-specific keyword research was applied.
How Australian App Store Search Works
The Australian App Store is a separate locale in App Store Connect. It has its own keyword field, independent of the US one. If you've only filled in "English (US)" metadata, that metadata also surfaces in Australia by default — but it's not the same as having Australian-optimized keywords.
A few things drive the divergence in search behavior:
Spelling differences are indexed separately. "Organisation" versus "organization," "colour" versus "color," "travelling" versus "traveling" — Apple's search indexing treats these as distinct terms, and Australian users type the British-influenced Australian spelling. A US keyword field using American spellings misses these searches.
Category terminology differs. In the health and fitness space, Australian users commonly search "wellbeing" where US users search "wellness." "Superannuation" is a common finance search in Australia with no US equivalent. "Footy" appears in sports apps where US apps might optimize for "football" (different meaning entirely). "Chemist" over "pharmacy." These aren't minor variations — they're the terms Australian users actually type.
Australian English idioms. Beyond spelling and vocabulary, the way Australians phrase product searches reflects local usage patterns. Research tools surfacing Australian App Store data will reveal these patterns; guessing from US conventions will miss them.
US metadata is the fallback, not the optimal path. Apple uses US English metadata in Australian search when no Australian-specific localization exists. It's better than nothing, but it's demonstrably underperforming compared to AU-optimized keywords — as the +148 position gain after localization makes concrete.
The Competitive Landscape
Australia has less App Store competition than the US or UK for most indie app categories. The reasons compound each other:
First, fewer developers run Australian-specific keyword research. Most assume "English is English" and don't create a separate AU localization. Second, the ones who do localize often just copy their US keyword field into the AU slot — which adds nothing over the default. Third, Australian-native developers face the same time constraints as any indie developer and often don't have the bandwidth for per-market optimization.
The result is a market where the apps currently ranking well for Australian searches are often doing so accidentally — by having some of the right terms in a US keyword field — rather than through deliberate Australian keyword strategy. That's a gap you can step into.
For productivity, health, finance, and lifestyle apps specifically, the Australian App Store shows unusually low competition for well-researched AU keywords relative to the revenue per download.
What to Localize and How
Title (30 characters): Same strategic approach as any other localization. Lead with the highest-value Australian search term for your category. If the US and AU terms are identical, your title is already covered — but the subtitle and keyword field are where the divergence matters most.
Subtitle (30 characters): Your second-priority Australian term, or a modifier. Australian English-specific phrases that reflect local phrasing can make meaningful differences here.
Keyword field (100 characters): This is where the work happens. Replace US-specific spellings with AU equivalents. Include Australian-specific category terms that don't exist in the US field. Remove terms that are US-specific idioms with no Australian equivalent. Fill to 100 characters with AU-researched terms.
Description: Affects conversion, not ranking. Australian users respond well to direct, unpretentious copy — Australian English tends to avoid the aspirational startup voice common in US app descriptions. A description that reads as if written for Australians (not just spell-checked into Australian spelling) converts better.
Screenshots: Screenshot overlay text in Australian English reinforces the "this was built for me" signal. Minor, but meaningful at the margin for conversion.
Australian-Specific Keyword Research Tips
Set your research tool to Australia specifically. AppTweak, ASOdesk, and AppFollow all support per-country keyword research. Set the country to Australia before pulling keyword data — the AU data differs from US data in ways that matter.
Check spelling variants explicitly. For any term where AU and US spelling diverges, check both in the research tool and see which has higher search volume in Australia. The result sometimes surprises — "organisation" may have more searches than "organization" in AU by a significant margin.
Pull competitor AU metadata. Search your primary keyword in the App Store with your region set to Australia. Look at what the top 3 apps have in their titles and subtitles for the Australian store. Those are the validated Australian search terms in your category.
Look for AU-specific terms your US field can't cover. Terms like "superannuation," "AFL," "HECS," "Medicare," "Centrelink," "rego" (vehicle registration), or "arvo" (afternoon) don't exist in US keyword strategy. If any of them are relevant to your app category, they represent searches with essentially zero competition from US-optimized apps.
After You Submit
Apple re-indexes Australian metadata within 1–2 weeks after submission. Ranking movement in Australia after localization typically appears within 2–4 weeks — similar to France, and slightly faster than Germany.
The +148 position gain referenced in this post came from tracking keyword positions in AppFollow after submission, over a 6-week window. The gains were concentrated in category-specific search terms where the US keyword field had completely missed the Australian equivalent.
Track Australian rankings separately. Use a rank tracker that supports per-country position tracking (Astro, AppFollow, ASOdesk) so you can see Australian keyword movement independent of US performance.
The Time Investment
Australian keyword research takes 2–3 hours for a full metadata set — the shortest of any localization because there's no translation work, only research and keyword substitution. The script is the same; the vocabulary and spelling are what need AU-specific attention.
LocalizeRank includes Australia in every plan. Keyword research from AU App Store data, competitor gap analysis, and ready-to-paste metadata. Starting at $49 for 5 markets.
Australia is the highest-ROI localization in English — you get a full market optimization for the research time of keyword swapping rather than full translation. Most developers skip it because they assume English is covered. It isn't.
Australia Localization Service
Want it done for you? The Australia App Store Localization Service page shows what's included and the full ranking data.