Introducing The App Store Keyword Research Tool

We've been hard at work and are happy to announce the launch of a new tool that will help App Developers research potential keywords and figure out the competition for those keywords at once glance. The Keyword Research Tool is like iPhone search, albeit with a lot more information at one glance.

For any given keyword you research, you get the top 25 results that are currently ranking for it. In addition, we pull a bunch of data from the competitors to let you determine how competitive the keyword is, and how active your competitors are.

Let's talk about all the data you will see:

• Keyword Traffic: This metric lets you understand what kind of traffic you can expect to see if you rank highly for this keyword. The rating scale is from 1-10, with keywords in the 7-10 range being the most competitive and popular keywords such as "facebook" or "games".

• iPhone and iPad Difficulty: This is a measure of how hard it would be for an App to get on the first page of results. The higher the score, the more difficult it would be for an App to rank highly.

• Number of iPad and iPhone Apps for this keyword: The most popular keywords have a lot of people vying for ranking on them. A really high number, along with a high difficulty score might mean that it is pointless to compete on this keyword.

• Competitor's names, icon, rating and pricing: This allows you to easily glance at the top list to see what competitors are there. Notice if they're mostly free or paid, as you often want to stand out from the competition. Take a look at their name too, because if their name includes the keywords and yours doesn't they are more likely to rank higher for them.

• Rating: Are the Apps you're possibly against rated highly or lowly? Being that 5 star App among low rated Apps will get you more clicks.

• Release Date: Older Apps are more entrenched in the App Store, but often might be outdated or less relevant.

• Last Update: Is the developer keeping up with updates? If you notice a lot of apps that aren't updated recently, that keyword or phrase might be ripe for the taking, as recently updated Apps typically show up higher in the rankings.

• In-App Purchases: Are developers making money with this App? Or is this App a side project? Keep in mind that some Apps may be free, without in-App purchases but might make some money off ad networks

• Total Reviews: How popular is this App? Reviews are a great way to judge the popularity of an App, as most App developers use Appirater or other similar pop-up prompts to ask for reviews.

• Current Reviews: If an App added a lot of new features or did something well, it is likely to have more reviews for the current version. A lack of recent reviews may mean that it isn't very popular among users.

• Category Rankings: What's the best ranking for this App? We show you the Category (Ie, Games, Travel, Lifestyle) and the ranking within that category. An empty field means the App is not in any charts. Compare your App's rankings with the potential competitors to estimate where you would rank.

You can click on any App's name to go to their iTunes page in case you want to look at the App in even more detail.

Make sure to sign up for Sensor Tower to try out the Keyword Research Tool.

Coming soon: App Downloads estimate and App Keywords!

UPDATE: The Keyword Research Tool has been updated! Check out the newest version and the tutorial video on how to use it. Need help brainstorming new keywords? Read our app keyword brainstorming tutorial for more ideas.