How to Use ASOhack's Keyword Density Checker (Step-by-Step Guide)

If your app isn't ranking for the keywords you're targeting, the problem is almost always in the metadata. Either the keywords are missing, repeated unnecessarily, buried in the wrong fields, or over-stuffed to the point of hurting conversion. The ASOhack Keyword Density Checker surfaces all of these issues in one pass.

This guide walks through every step — from pasting your metadata to making the changes that move rankings.

What Does Keyword Density Mean for Apps?

In web SEO, keyword density is a percentage: how often a keyword appears relative to total word count. App Store Optimisation uses the same concept, but the rules are different because the platforms are different.

iOS App Store indexes four fields for search ranking:

• App name (30 characters)
• Subtitle (30 characters)
• Keyword field (100 characters, hidden from users)
• In-app purchase names

The long description on iOS is not indexed for search. Apple does not crawl it for keywords. If you're stuffing your description with keywords hoping to rank, it's wasted effort that hurts your conversion rate.

Google Play indexes everything:

• Title (30 characters)
• Short description (80 characters)
• Long description (4,000 characters)

This means density matters much more on Android. A keyword that appears once in your title, once in your short description, and two or three times naturally across your long description signals relevance to Google's algorithm. Over-repetition (the same keyword more than 5 times in the description) triggers a spam filter.

The Keyword Density Checker handles both platforms and flags violations specific to each.

How to Run Your First Check

Step 1: Open the tool

Go to asohack.com/tools/keyword-density. No account required for a basic check.

Step 2: Select your platform

Choose iOS or Android. This changes which fields appear and which rules the tool applies.

Step 3: Paste your metadata

For iOS, paste:

• App name
• Subtitle
• Keyword field (the 100-character hidden field from App Store Connect)

For Android, paste:

• Title
• Short description
• Long description

Paste the text exactly as it appears in your developer console. Do not clean it up before running the check — you want to see what's actually live.

Step 4: Click Analyse

The report generates in under two seconds.

How to Read the Density Report

The report has three sections.

Keyword Frequency Table

Every word or phrase that appears in your metadata is listed with:

• Count — how many times it appears across all fields
• Density % — frequency relative to total metadata word count
• Fields — which specific fields the keyword appears in

High-frequency terms at the top are your de facto primary keywords. If the wrong words are at the top (generic words like "app", "free", "best"), that's a targeting problem.

Character Usage by Field

A bar for each field showing characters used vs. the platform limit:

Any field below 80% of its limit is flagged in amber. Fields at 100% are shown in green. The iOS keyword field especially should be at or near 100 characters — unused characters are wasted ranking opportunities.

Keyword Gap Analysis

The tool compares your current keywords against the top 10 ranking apps in your detected category (if you're logged in and have connected your app). It surfaces terms those apps use that your metadata doesn't include.

This section is the fastest source of actionable changes. If eight of your top ten competitors include "offline" in their metadata and you don't, that's a keyword worth testing.

What Changes to Make

Worked example: FitLog — Workout Tracker

Here's a real check run on a fitness tracking app. The current metadata was:

App name: FitLog — Workout Tracker
Subtitle: Gym Log & Fitness Journal
Keyword field: training,exercise,bodybuilding,lifting,sets,reps,muscle,strength,cardio,HIIT

The density report showed:

• "workout" appeared 0 times in the keyword field despite being in the app name
• The keyword field was 87 characters — 13 unused
• "gym" appeared in the subtitle but not the keyword field (Apple counts subtitle keywords, so this was fine — but it was eating subtitle space)
• "weight" (as in weight training) was missing entirely — a high-volume term in this category

The changes made:

Before keyword field (87 chars):
training,exercise,bodybuilding,lifting,sets,reps,muscle,strength,cardio,HIIT

After keyword field (99 chars):
training,exercise,bodybuilding,lifting,sets,reps,muscle,strength,cardio,HIIT,weight,routine

Two keywords added by using the 13 spare characters. The subtitle was updated to remove "gym" (already covered by the subtitle's search indexing) and replace it with "Progress Tracker" — a distinct phrase not covered elsewhere.

Within three weeks, the app moved from unranked to position 18 for "weight training tracker" and position 12 for "workout routine tracker".

This is the kind of change the density checker is designed to surface. Not a full metadata rewrite — targeted additions using unused space.

Common Mistakes the Tool Finds

1. Keyword repetition across iOS fields

Apple indexes each unique keyword once, regardless of how many fields it appears in. If "fitness" is in your app name, your subtitle, and your keyword field, you've wasted two keyword field characters and a subtitle word. The tool flags exact-match repetition across fields.

2. iOS keyword field under 90 characters

Every unused character is a keyword you're not targeting. The tool flags any keyword field below 90 characters as a missed opportunity. The average developer leaves 23 characters unused.

3. Android description over-density

Google Play penalises keyword stuffing. The tool flags any keyword that appears more than 5 times in a 4,000-character description. "Workout" appearing 12 times in a fitness app's description is not going to help — it will likely trigger a spam filter.

4. Generic words dominating the frequency table

If "app", "your", "best", or "free" are in your top five by frequency, your description copy needs work. These words don't contribute to ranking and reduce density for your actual target keywords.

5. Title keywords missing from keyword field (iOS)

Your app name keywords are already indexed. Adding them to your 100-character keyword field wastes space. The tool flags this and recalculates how many characters you'd recover by removing them.

6. Short description not using full 80 characters (Android)

The Android short description is prime ranking real estate. It's the first text users see in search results. Developers routinely under-use it. Anything below 70 characters is flagged.

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Frequently Asked Questions

Does keyword density in the iOS description affect rankings?

No. Apple does not index the long description for search. Density there only matters for human readers and conversion. Focus density optimisation on your app name, subtitle, and keyword field.

How often should I re-run the density check?

After every metadata update, and at minimum once a month. App store search trends shift, competitor metadata changes, and new search terms emerge. Run a fresh check before submitting any update to App Store Connect or Google Play Console.

Can I check both iOS and Android metadata in one session?

Yes — run the tool twice, once with each platform selected. The character limits, indexed fields, and density rules differ enough that a single combined view would be misleading. Two separate reports are faster to act on.

My Android description keyword density looks high — is that always bad?

Density alone isn't the signal. Context matters. A 4,000-character description for a fitness app that uses "workout" eight times reads naturally if it's varied across headings, bullet points, and body copy. The tool flags repetition above 5 occurrences as a warning — you decide whether the usage is natural or mechanical.

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For a broader analysis of your full listing — including screenshots, ratings, and competitive position — run the free ASO Audit. To find new keywords to test, the Keyword Explorer shows search volume estimates and difficulty scores by category.

If you're new to ASO and want the full picture before diving into individual tools, start with App Store Keyword Research and the ASO Guide for Beginners.