There are two types of searches that bring users to your app: searches for your app by name, and searches for what your app does.
"Fantastical" is a branded search. "Calendar app" is a generic search. Both matter — but they work through completely different mechanisms, require different strategies, and serve different stages of your app's growth.
Understanding the difference is foundational to keyword strategy. Most indie developers optimize for neither correctly.
What branded keywords are
A branded keyword is any search that includes your app's name, your developer name, or a name closely associated with your brand.
Examples:
- "Fantastical" — the app name directly
- "Flexibits" — the developer name
- "Fantastical calendar" — app name plus category
- "streaks habit" — app name plus a descriptor
Users who search branded keywords already know your app exists. They're looking for it specifically — to download it for the first time, to find it after seeing it mentioned somewhere, or to re-find it on a new device.
Apple indexes your app name and developer name automatically. You don't need to put your own app name in your keyword field — doing so wastes characters. Your branded searches are already covered from the moment you publish.
What generic keywords are
A generic keyword describes a category, function, or user need without naming a specific app.
Examples:
- "habit tracker"
- "pomodoro timer"
- "budget app for couples"
- "meditation for anxiety"
- "to-do list with reminders"
Users searching generic keywords don't necessarily know your app exists. They have a problem or need and are searching for a solution. If your app appears in the top results for their search, that's organic discovery — users who wouldn't have found you any other way.
Generic keyword ranking is the primary goal of App Store Optimization. It's what determines your organic reach beyond your existing audience.
How they interact
The relationship between branded and generic keywords follows a consistent pattern across apps:
Early stage: Almost all your searches are branded. People who heard about you from a friend, saw you on Reddit, or found your Product Hunt launch search for your name. Your generic keyword rankings are low because you have few ratings and no ranking history.
Growth stage: As ratings accumulate and the algorithm builds a model of your app's relevance to specific searches, your generic keyword rankings improve. Users start finding you through category searches, not just your name.
Established stage: A healthy ratio is roughly 60–70% generic searches driving discovery, with 30–40% branded. Apps stuck at 90%+ branded traffic are invisible to new users who don't already know them — they depend entirely on word of mouth or marketing to grow.
If your App Store Connect analytics show almost all impressions coming from your app name, your generic ranking is weak. That's a keyword strategy problem, not a product problem.
Should you target competitor branded keywords?
This is a common question with a complicated answer.
You can technically include a competitor's name in your keyword field. Apple doesn't prevent it at the metadata level, and some apps do it. But:
Apple may filter it. Apple's algorithm suppresses keywords it considers irrelevant to an app's actual function. A habit tracker that stuffs "Fantastical" in its keyword field is unlikely to rank for "Fantastical" — the behavioral data doesn't support the relevance.
It's against App Store Review Guidelines. Guideline 4.1 prohibits using third-party trademarks in ways that are misleading. Using a competitor's brand name in your keyword field to appear in their branded searches could be flagged during review.
The conversion rate is poor. Users searching for "Fantastical" want Fantastical. If your app appears instead, they'll scroll past. The download signal from your appearance in that search is weak, which tells Apple you're not a relevant result — and your ranking drops further.
Better use of those characters: spend them on generic keywords where users don't have a strong existing preference. A new user searching "calendar app" is acquirable. A user searching "Fantastical" is not.
How to build a generic keyword strategy
Step 1: Identify your keyword tiers
Generic keywords have a competition hierarchy. At the top are single-word category terms: "productivity," "meditation," "finance." These are searched millions of times and dominated by apps with hundreds of thousands of ratings. Indie apps can't rank here.
Below that are 2–3 word category phrases: "habit tracker app," "meditation for sleep," "budget tracker couples." These have meaningful volume and moderate competition — the top results often have 1,000–5,000 ratings. Achievable for established indie apps.
Below that are long-tail specifics: "habit tracker no subscription," "pomodoro timer with music," "budget app shared with spouse." Lower volume but very low competition. New apps can rank here quickly.
The correct strategy: start at the long-tail tier where you can actually appear, accumulate downloads and ratings through those rankings, then use that base to move up to the mid-tier phrases over 6–12 months.
Step 2: Research what your specific users search
The generic terms you think are relevant and the terms your users actually type are often different. A journaling app developer might assume "journal" is the key term — but "daily diary," "gratitude journal app," or "mood tracker" might have less competition and equivalent or higher intent.
Use AppTweak, ASOdesk, or AppFollow to pull keyword volume and difficulty for your category. Build a list of 30–50 candidate keywords, then filter down to the ones where the top 10 results have achievable competitor rating counts.
Step 3: Place keywords with strategic intent
- Title: your single most important generic keyword, as early as possible
- Subtitle: your second most important keyword
- Keyword field: everything else — 100 characters, no spaces after commas, no words already in title or subtitle
Check for duplicate words before submitting. Every duplicate wastes characters that could be a unique indexed term. The free keyword field checker finds duplicates instantly.
Step 4: Monitor and iterate
Set up per-keyword rank tracking (Astro, AppFollow, ASOdesk) before making changes. After submission, wait 4–6 weeks before evaluating. Keywords that still haven't moved after 6 weeks need to be replaced with lower-competition alternatives.
The international dimension
Generic keyword strategy is market-specific. What users search in Japan, Germany, or France for your app category is completely different from what they search in the US.
"Habit tracker" in the US. "Gewohnheits-Tracker" or "Gewohnheiten App" in Germany. "Suivi des habitudes" in France. "習慣管理" in Japan. These aren't translations of each other — they're the different terms users in each market actually type.
Each locale in App Store Connect has its own keyword field. Leaving German or French keyword fields blank means zero generic search visibility in those markets. Every non-English market with a blank keyword field is a market where your generic keyword strategy doesn't exist at all.
Most indie apps have strong English generic keyword strategies (or at least try to) and zero generic keyword strategy in every other language. That's where the largest untapped organic opportunity usually sits.
Branded keyword recap
- Your app name is automatically indexed — don't waste keyword field characters on it
- Your developer name is automatically indexed — same
- Don't target competitor brand names — low conversion, policy risk, likely filtered by Apple
- Monitor branded vs. generic ratio in App Store Connect analytics — heavy branded skew signals weak generic ranking
- Generic ranking grows with ratings and keyword relevance history — it takes time and the right metadata