# Increasing the Number of Keywords in App Store Optimization by Localization

- Link: https://phiture.com/asostack/increasing-the-number-of-keywords-in-app-store-optimization-by-localization-daa02ffd8946/
- Published: 2016-06-28T09:39:07+01:00
- Author: Moritz Daan

#### **How to increase target 200 characters or more in App Store Optimization**

_NB: Phiture is hiring for a key role to lead our evergrowing ASO team. You’ll be
responsible for leading and overseeing the success of our App Store Optimization
service team and help Phiture to lead the way in mobile growth. Read more about 
the role [here](https://phiture.com/careers/)_

![Increasing the Number of Keywords in App Store Optimization by Localization ](
https://phiture.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/Increasing-the-Number-of-Keywords-
in-App-Store-Optimization-by-Localization-min.jpeg)

![app store region](https://phiture.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/app-store-region-
min.png)

When it comes to App Store Optimization (ASO), the Apple App Store is mostly a black
box. One of the most important assets to play with to increase discoverability is
the **100-character keyword field**. You can fit some 8–12 keywords in there, which
can be a real challenge. This article shows you how localization can help you solve
that issue partially.

We all know the basic tricks for the keyword field by now. Don’t add spaces, avoid
plurals (although not always true), etc. But there is a much better trick that you
can pull, and it has everything to do with localization. And you can use it, whether
you’re planning on offering localization for your App or even your App Store description.

Many apps try to grow in the US first before rolling out in new markets, optimizing
only their default (English) App Store presence. And that’s a fair thought since
you’d think that you could only influence that market with “English (U.S.)” App 
Store keywords.

But is that the case? We wanted to know what the effect was on keyword indexation
when adding other languages. What would the difference be between Spanish from Mexico
and Spanish from Spain? How would someone in the US App Store with a Spanish iOS
device language, find apps in the store? Etc.

We’ve tested it and here are the results per app store region (latest update: 30th
October 2019):

**United States: **English (U.S.), Spanish (Mexico)

**United Kingdom: **English (U.K.)

**Algeria:** Arabic, French, English (U.K.)

**Australia, New Zealand: **English (Australia), English (U.K.)

**Austria: **German, English (U.K.)

**Bahrain: **Arabic, English (U.K.)

**Belgium: **English (U.K.), French, Dutch

**Brazil: **Portuguese (Brazil), English (U.K.)

**Canada: **English (Canada), French (Canada)

**China: **Chinese (Simplified), English (U.K.)

**Croatia: **Croatian, English (UK)

**Cyprus: **English (U.K.), Greek, Turkish

**Czech Republic: **Czech, English (UK)

**Denmark: **English (U.K.), Danish

**Egypt:** Arabic, French, English (U.K.)

**Finland: **English (U.K.), Finnish

**France: **French, English (U.K.)

**Germany: **German, English (U.K.)

**Greece: **Greek, English (U.K.)

**Hong Kong: **Chinese (Traditional), English (U.K.)

**Hungary: **Hungarian, English (UK)

**India: **Hindi, English (UK)

**Indonesia: **Indonesian, English (U.K.)

**Israel: **Hebrew, English (U.K.)

**Italy: **Italian, English (U.K.)

**Japan: **Japanese, English (United States)

**Korea: **Korean, English (U.K.)

**Kuwait: **Arabic, English (U.K.)

**Lebanon:** Arabic, French, English (U.K.)

**Luxembourg: **French, German, English (U.K.)

**Macao: **Chinese (Traditional), English (U.K.)

**Malaysia: **Malay, English (U.K.)

**Mauritania:** Arabic, English (U.K.)

**Netherlands: **Dutch, English (U.K.)

**Norway: **Norwegian, English (U.K.)

**Oman:** Arabic, English (U.K.)

**Poland: **Polish, English (UK)

**Portugal: **Portuguese (Portugal), English (U.K.)

**Qatar:** Arabic, English (U.K.)

**Romania: **Romanian**, **English (UK)

**Russia: **Russian, English (U.K.), Ukrainian

**Saudi Arabia:** Arabic, English (U.K.)

**Singapore: **Chinese (Simplified), English (U.K.)

**Slovakia:** Slovak, English (UK)

**Spain: **Spanish (Spain), English (U.K.), Catalan

**Suriname: **Dutch, English (U.K.)

**Sweden: **Swedish, English (U.K.)

**Switzerland: **German, French, Italian, English (U.K.)

**Taiwan: **Chinese (Traditional), English (U.K.)

**Thailand: **Thai, English (U.K.)

**Tunisia:** Arabic, French, English (U.K.)

**Turkey: **Turkish, French, English (U.K.)

**Ukraine: **Russian, English (U.K.), Ukrainian

**United Arab Emirates: **Arabic, English (U.K.)

**Vietnam: **Vietnamese, English (U.K.)

**Yemen:** Arabic, English (U.K.)

**_Spanish-speaking LATAM_**

**Argentina, Bolivia, Belize, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador,
El Salvador, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Uruguay, Venezuela:**

Spanish (Mexico), English (U.K.)

**_Rest of World:_**

**Albania, Angola, Anguilla, Antigua and Barbuda, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bahamas, 
Barbados, Belarus, Benin, Bermuda, Bhutan, Botswana, Brunei Darussalam, Bulgaria,
Burkina Faso, Cambodia, Cape Verde, Cayman Islands, Chad, Congo, Dominica, Estonia,
Fiji, Gambia, Ghana, Grenada, Guinea-Bissau, Guyana, Iceland, Ireland, Jamaica, 
Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kenya, Jamaica, Kyrgyzstan, Laos, Latvia, Liberia, Lithuania,
Macedonia, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Malta, Mauritius, Micronesia, Moldova, Mongolia,
Montserrat, Mozambique, Namibia, Nepal, Niger, Nigeria, Pakistan, Palau, Papua New
Guinea, Philippines, Papua New Guinea, Saint Lucia, São Tomé and Príncipe, Senegal,
Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Slovakia, Slovenia, Solomon Islands, South Africa, Sri
Lanka, St. Kitts and Nevis, St. Vincent and The Grenadines, Swaziland, Tajikistan,
Tanzania, Trinidad and Tobago, Turkmenistan, Turks and Caicos, Uganda, Uzbekistan,
Virgin Islands, Zimbabwe**

### **Key take-aways**

To summarize, from our research it appears that:

1.In the **United States,** you will rank for Spanish (Mexico) and English (United
States)

 * Keywords cannot be combined from different locales. Meaning that if you have “
   food” in your Spanish (MX) keywords and “delivery” in your English (U.S.) keywords,
   you won’t rank for “food delivery”
 * If your app isn’t localized for the Spanish speaking LATAM market, use this to
   your benefit for storing extra keywords.

 2.  In the **rest of the world** (except Canada, New Zealand and Japan), you rank 
    for keywords next to the applicable localizations also for English (United Kingdom)
 3. _Previously you would rank for English (Australia), but since December 2018 the
    App Store algorithm has changed and it doesn’t index English (Australia) anymore—_**
    _UPDATE December 2019: per Vadim Lysenko from our ASO slack community, the Australian
    keywords have started to getting indexed again._**

Finally, the above cheatsheet does not only apply to your keywords field, but also
to your title and subtitle.