Where ASO keywords actually go: App Store vs Google Play
This is the question that trips up almost everyone running ASO on both stores at once: where do I put my keywords? The honest answer is that there is no single answer, because Apple and Google built two different systems. Apple gives you a private keyword field and ignores your description. Google throws away the idea of a keyword field entirely and reads everything you write. Knowing which text each store actually indexes is the difference between copy that ranks and copy that just sits there.
Screenshots get most of the attention because they're the visible half of a store listing. The listing text is the other half — and it's the half that decides whether anyone finds you through search in the first place. Here's exactly where each field goes.
Apple: three indexed fields, and a lot of text it ignores
Apple's search algorithm reads a small, specific set of fields. Everything you type into your listing falls into one of two buckets: indexed for search, or purely for conversion once someone's already on the page.
- App name — 30 characters. The highest-weighted field. Terms here carry the most ranking power, so your name should include your single most important keyword, not just your brand.
- Subtitle — 30 characters. Indexed, and nearly as strong as the name. This is your second keyword slot, sitting right under the name on the product page.
- Keyword field — 100 characters. A hidden field in App Store Connect that users never see. You fill it with comma-separated terms (no spaces, singular forms — Apple matches plurals automatically). This is where every keyword that didn't fit the name or subtitle goes.
And the fields Apple does not index for search:
- Description — up to 4,000 characters. Read by humans, not by Apple's ranking algorithm. Stuffing keywords here does nothing for your rank on the App Store. Write it to convert, not to rank.
- Promotional text — 170 characters. Also not indexed. It sits above the description, is editable any time without an app update, and exists purely to announce news or nudge conversion.
So on Apple you have exactly 160 indexed characters — 30 + 30 + 100 — to carry your entire keyword strategy. Everything past that is conversion copy.
Google Play: no keyword field, and it reads everything
Google Play works the opposite way. There is no hidden keyword field to fill in. Google runs full-text search over your visible listing and uses natural-language processing to figure out what you rank for. That means the words in your description are keywords — including how often they appear.
- Title — 30 characters. Same length as Apple's name, and the highest-weighted field on Play too. Lead with your strongest term.
- Short description — 80 characters. Indexed, and shown at the top of the listing. High ranking weight for its size, and the first line most users read.
- Full description — up to 4,000 characters. This is the big difference: on Google Play the long description is indexed. Keyword frequency and context both matter here. A common rule of thumb is roughly 2–3% density for your most important term — enough that Google understands what you're about, without reading like spam. Treat that as guidance, not a hard target: write for a person first, and let natural repetition do the work.
There's no promotional-text equivalent and no subtitle. Play folds all of that into the three fields above.
The whole thing in one table
This is the map worth bookmarking. Every listing field, and whether each store's search engine actually indexes it:
| Field | App Store indexed? | Google Play indexed? |
|---|---|---|
| App name / title 30 chars | Yes — highest weight | Yes — highest weight |
| Subtitle 30 chars (Apple only) | Yes — strong | No equivalent field |
| Short description 80 chars (Play only) | No equivalent field | Yes — strong |
| Keyword field 100 chars, hidden (Apple only) | Yes — this is the core keyword slot | No such field exists |
| Description / full description 4,000 chars | No — not indexed for search | Yes — keyword frequency counts |
| Promotional text 170 chars (Apple only) | No — conversion only | No equivalent field |
Read the table top to bottom and the two mental models pop out. Apple concentrates all its keyword power into three short fields and tells you to write the description for humans. Google spreads keyword power across everything visible, and rewards you for using your terms — in moderation — throughout the long description.
What this means for how you write
The practical trap is treating the two stores as one job. If you write an App Store keyword field and never build a keyword-dense Play description, you're leaving Play rankings on the table — Play has no keyword field to inherit those terms. If you write a keyword-stuffed description and paste it into the App Store, you've wasted the effort, because Apple isn't reading it.
A cleaner way to think about it: do your keyword research once, then place each term where its store will actually see it. Your top terms go in both titles. Your Apple overflow goes in the subtitle and keyword field. Your Play overflow gets woven into the short and full descriptions at a natural density. Same research, two different placements.
Where Mokbi fits
Mokbi started as a screenshot editor, but a store listing is text and images together — so it drafts and localizes the listing text alongside the carousel. It writes the fields both stores actually index: App Store name, subtitle, keyword field, and description; Play title, short description, and full description. You give it your app and your keyword list, and it produces keyword-aware copy shaped for each store's model instead of one block of text you paste twice.
Then it localizes all of that into 50 languages, so a term you researched in English lands in the right field in every market — not machine-mangled, and not left as English in a listing that's translated everywhere else. You write keyword-aware copy once instead of maintaining two mental models by hand across every locale. Mokbi drafts and exports the listing; you review and publish it in App Store Connect and Play Console yourself.