Sometime in early August Apple added extra field in the app description – ‘Keywords’. It is designed so applications could be located in search by keywords specified by a developer. Once a developer adds keywords to the field ‘keywords’, words contained in the ‘description’ field becomes excluded from the search index. Only keywords, app name and developer name can be searched. And you can not change ‘keywords’ and ‘application name’ until the next update.

The smart move for those who had keyword-rich descriptions was not to add ‘keywords’ at all. The ‘description’ would continue being indexed and show up in searches thus driving additional sales.

Today, 3rd of Sept, one month later, we see that Apple removed ‘description’ from search for ALL apps, either having ‘keywords’ or not. It was expected and was only a matter of time. Should you notice other AppStore behavior do let us know in comments. Our take it will soon be confirmed by the official news. Add the keywords to the app asap! Keywords in the description don’t work any more.

P.S. If you are still not aware – don’t add competitor app names as the keywords. Apple will not let those in, you will spend 15-25 days waiting for approval only to discover this.

Tags: appstore marketing, iphone app marketing
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