How to translate App Store keywords

How keyword indexing works per locale

Every localization of your app carries its own hidden, 100-character keyword field. Apple’s search matches a user’s query against the keyword fields of the localizations active on that storefront — plus your app name and subtitle in those locales. Your English keywords are invisible to a search typed in Japanese, Polish or Arabic.

This means keyword localization isn’t a nice-to-have layered on a ranking you already have. In non-English storefronts, it is the ranking. And because far fewer developers bother, competition on localized keywords is a fraction of what you fight through in English.

Why literal translation loses

The dictionary translation of a keyword is often not what local users type. Three patterns to watch:

• Loanwords beat translations. Japanese users search フィットネス (the katakana loanword “fitness”) alongside native terms; Dutch and Nordic users often keep English tech vocabulary. The right keyword set mixes both.
• Regional variants diverge. Spanish (Spain) and Spanish (Mexico) are separate fields for a reason: “coche” vs “carro”, “ordenador” vs “computadora”. Same language family, different search terms.
• Script and diacritics matter. Turkish dotted/dotless i, Czech and Romanian users typing with or without accents, Greeks searching in romanized “Greeklish” — the index treats these as different strings.

A translation prompt that knows these patterns — which is what StoreTranslate gives the model, per language — produces keyword fields that read like local ASO work rather than a dictionary pass.

Making 100 characters count

• Separate single words with commas and no spaces — Apple combines them into phrases automatically.
• Skip words already in your localized app name or subtitle; they’re indexed with higher weight there.
• Skip plurals when you have the singular, and skip your competitors’ brand names — low value, review risk.
• In Chinese, Japanese and Thai, omit separators where users type continuous strings; Apple segments these scripts itself.
• Re-check length after localization: 100 characters holds ~12 English words but far more meaning in CJK languages — use the surplus for extra terms.

The cross-locale indexing bonus

Several storefronts index additional localizations beyond their primary one — the classic example being the U.S. storefront also reading your Spanish (Mexico) keywords. ASO teams use these as bonus keyword space for their most important storefronts. It’s another reason to fill in every locale, even ones whose markets you haven’t targeted: their keyword fields may be working for you elsewhere.

Filling all 50 is exactly the grunt work StoreTranslate automates — one job translates your keyword field (and description, promo text and release notes if you like) into every App Store language and uploads them through the App Store Connect API. Start with the full localization guide or browse per-language notes.