Mining competitors’ keywords and listing history (ASOMobile workflow)

TL;DR

• The fastest keyword source is what competitors are already indexed for: ASOMobile’s App Keywords lists every term an app indexes, without you guessing inputs first.¹²
• Mine a small app that ranks surprisingly well, not only the category giant — e.g. Calorie AI (~4K ratings) rather than Cal AI.³
• Filter to search score ≥20 (or ~30 for a new-app plan) and low complexity.⁴
• Use App Report to diff two apps’ keywords, title, subtitle, description, icon, screenshots, in-app events.⁵
• Use Update Timeline to see a competitor’s old screenshots/titles and infer their A/B tests.⁶
• Steve’s estimate: App Keywords alone covers ~80% of keyword research.⁷

Details

Tool context: ASOMobile is an App Masters sponsor/partner (see bias note in Steve P. Young). Workflow as shown in November 2025 and August 2026:

1. Pick the seed app. Search your target keyword (e.g. “calorie tracker”) in the tool’s live search results. Look for an app ranking well with far fewer ratings than the leaders — Calorie AI with ~4,000 vs MyFitnessPal 2.1M, Lose It 700K, Cal AI 200K.³
2. App Keywords. Open the seed app → App Keywords. Sort by search-ads score; filter “search score at least 20”; scan complexity for low values.¹⁴
3. New Indexation. Shows terms the competitor newly indexes — fresh moves you can copy early.⁴
4. App Report (comparison). Add competitors side by side: visibility (Cal AI 78 vs Calorie AI 48), #1 keyword counts (154 vs 5), keyword totals worldwide, plus title/subtitle/description/screenshot differences. Look for terms where a weaker app is #1 and you could take over (e.g. “calorie deficit tracker free”).⁵
5. Keyword Suggest. Enter a root word to get long-tail continuations.⁷
6. Worldwide Check. Enter a keyword and compare scores and your rank across countries (Finding international ASO opportunities and localizing listings).⁸
7. Update Timeline. See how a leader looked at launch, not just its mature form: Cal AI swapped pancake food shots for high-protein salads, briefly reverted to old screenshots (likely A/B tests).⁶
8. Monitor. Track chosen keywords’ search ads score, traffic score and your rank over time.⁹

Then verify each shortlisted term by hand (Checking keyword difficulty by reading the actual search results).

Disagreements / caveats

• Tool scores and indexation lists are estimates; Steve still checks live search results.
• Big brands rank via brand demand from influencer/paid marketing — copying their keywords won’t copy their ranks.⁹

See also

• How to pick ASO keywords (search score, difficulty, relevance)
• Finding app ideas from search demand — the Tentacle Strategy — same App Keywords step used to find app ideas

Footnotes

1. The Most Important Element of App Store Optimization (ASO Keyword Research) @ 04:48 — Steve P. Young ↩ ↩²

2. App Ideas That People Are Already Searching For (Steal This Strategy) @ 07:33 — Steve P. Young ↩

3. The Most Important Element of App Store Optimization (ASO Keyword Research) @ 05:38 — Steve P. Young ↩ ↩²

4. The Most Important Element of App Store Optimization (ASO Keyword Research) @ 06:42 — Steve P. Young ↩ ↩² ↩³

5. The Most Important Element of App Store Optimization (ASO Keyword Research) @ 07:45 — Steve P. Young ↩ ↩²

6. The Most Important Element of App Store Optimization (ASO Keyword Research) @ 11:46 — Steve P. Young ↩ ↩²

7. The Most Important Element of App Store Optimization (ASO Keyword Research) @ 13:19 — Steve P. Young ↩ ↩²

8. The Most Important Element of App Store Optimization (ASO Keyword Research) @ 09:20 — Steve P. Young ↩

9. The Most Important Element of App Store Optimization (ASO Keyword Research) @ 02:23 — Steve P. Young ↩ ↩²