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ASO7 min read

App Name: Keyword First or Brand First?

Brand first or keyword first is one of the oldest naming questions in ASO. Across thousands of ranked apps, the order matters far less than whether the words people type are in the name at all.

Quick answer

For most apps, put the brand first and a short keyword phrase after it, as in Brand: phrase. Apple counts the app name in search and asks for a name that is distinctive and hints at what the app does, and a brand plus a tag does both in up to 30 characters. Across 30,075 ranked AppTierList list entries, 31.1% of names with one of the list's search terms in a tag after the brand sit in S tier, against 26.7% of names that start with the term and 19.4% of names with no term at all. Inside the same list, though, term-first and tag names score about the same: tag names were ahead in 163 of 320 lists. So whether the term is in the name goes with a much bigger gap than where it sits. Search position is one part of the score, so part of that gap is built in. In what we see, pick the tag on your phone: a phrase that returns fewer than 10 apps in App Store search.

Apple counts the name in search and asks for a distinctive one

Your app name is the first thing people read in App Store search, and it is one of the fields search matches against. Apple’s search page lists text relevance, meaning matches in the title, subtitle, keywords and primary category, next to user behavior such as downloads, ratings and reviews. Its product page guidance says what a good name looks like: simple, memorable, easy to spell, a hint at what the app does, and distinctive. It asks you to avoid names built from generic terms or too close to existing app names, and it caps the name at 30 characters.

Within that limit there are three ways to place a search phrase, and this guide uses one short label for each.

  • Term first. The name opens with the phrase, as in Habit Tracker - HabitKit. A few names are nothing but the phrase, like Habit Tracker.
  • Term in tag. The brand comes first and the phrase follows a separator, usually a colon, as in Grit: Daily Habit Tracker.
  • Term inside. The phrase is part of the name with no colon, spaced hyphen, dash or bar before it, as in Blossom Daily Habit Tracker.

A fourth group has no search phrase in the name at all, such as Finch: Self-Care Pet or Streaks. These lean on the brand, the subtitle and the keyword field. Every example here sits in our habit tracking list.

Brand first with a keyword tag does best across lists

The ASO guide showed that top-tier names contain a list search term more often than lower-tier names. This guide asks where in the name that term sits. We sorted every ranked entry in 1,235 lists into the four patterns, matching each name against the search terms we track for its own list.

Pattern Entries In S tier In C tier Median score
Term in tag 4,173 31.1% 14.9% 88.5
Term first 2,563 26.7% 18.1% 86.7
Term inside 2,280 23.8% 19.3% 86.8
No term 21,059 19.4% 23.8% 82.1

Across all 30,075 entries, 21.9% are in S tier. Every pattern that carries a term sits above that line, and the no-term group sits below it. Each entry has a score out of 100, and the tag group has the highest median of the four.

One caveat before you rename anything. The tiers come from a score that mostly rests on public App Store data, and where an app shows up in search for the list’s terms is one of its inputs, so a name holding those terms will tend to score better partly by construction. How we rank lists every part. The no-term group also holds big brands that people already search by name, which no tag can copy.

Inside one list, the order of brand and keyword is close to even

Pooling every list can hide a mix effect, because some lists simply hold more tagged names than others. So we also compared the patterns inside the same list, using each pattern’s mean score in lists with at least two entries of both patterns.

  • Tag against term first: 320 lists qualify. Tag names scored higher in 163 of them and term-first names in 157.
  • Tag against no term: tag names scored higher in 526 of 672 lists.
  • Term first against no term: term-first names scored higher in 271 of 384 lists.

The honest answer to keyword first or brand first, then, is that the order barely matters once the term is in the name. Whether the words people type appear in the name at all makes the larger difference. Many term-first names keep a brand anyway: 1,250 of the 2,563 add a separator and a second part, often a brand, as Habit Tracker - HabitKit does.

Lead with a brand you can own, and let the tag carry the keyword

If both orders do about as well, pick the one that serves you longer. For most new apps that is the brand first, then a tag.

  • It fits Apple’s advice. A distinctive brand plus a short phrase hints at what the app does without being a generic name. Only 162 entries in our data have a name that is nothing but a search term.
  • It lets you test. You can try a new phrase in a later version while the word people remember stays where it is.
  • It is the familiar shape. Of the tag names in our data, 61.2% put a colon straight after the brand, the Name: phrase form people already read at a glance.

Term first can still make sense for a single-purpose tool whose plainest description is the phrase itself. Even then, keep a brand after the separator, so there is something distinctive to grow into.

A brand with no search phrase works for apps people already look up by name. Until yours is one of them, it leaves the matching to the subtitle, the keyword field and your category. Apple asks you not to repeat words from the name, subtitle or category in that field, so a phrase in the tag also frees keyword space for other words.

In what we see, choose the tag phrase on your phone

The tag is the part of the name a new app can win with, so test it before you ship it. In what we see across makers’ apps, this check is the most useful naming step there is, and it is free.

  1. Open App Store search on your iPhone and type a candidate phrase the way a person would.
  2. Count the results. A good phrase returns fewer than 10 apps, so a new app can land around fifth or sixth.
  3. Drop any phrase that returns nothing: almost no one is searching for it.
  4. If big apps crowd a phrase, go narrower. For a new role play game, roleplay belongs to large apps; AI roleplay is closer, and a phrase narrower still is the right start.

Apple’s own guidance points the same way: popular terms drive traffic but are highly competitive, while less common terms bring less traffic and less competition. A small phrase brings the first steady downloads, those lead to ratings, and Apple names both as user behavior that shapes search results. The ratings guide covers the next step, and the update study shows how fresh top-ranked apps keep their versions.

Keep the tag honest. It should say what the app does, never stack phrases to trick search.

Claim your page, then carry the same words to it

The phrase in your tag is the plainest description of your app, so use it beyond the store, starting with your AppTierList page:

  1. Claim the page first. Add the app using your email, or search for it and tap Claim. It is free, needs one email address and asks for no password.
  2. Use the page fields for your website and a description, in your own words, built around the tag phrase. That text appears after the app is Verified.
  3. Share your page on your website and with your users, so people and AI assistants meet the same words everywhere.

The GEO guide explains why the same name and words on every page help assistants describe your app, and promoting your app covers the channels beyond search.

The numbers

  • 31.1%of ranked list entries whose name has a list search term after the first separator (colon, spaced hyphen, dash or bar), and does not start with one, are in S tierAs of
  • 26.7%of ranked list entries whose name starts with one of the list's search terms are in S tierAs of
  • 23.8%of ranked list entries whose name contains a list search term with no colon, spaced hyphen, dash or bar before it, and does not start with one, are in S tierAs of
  • 19.4%of ranked list entries whose name contains none of the list's search terms are in S tierAs of
  • 21.9%of all ranked list entries are in S tier (6,601 of 30,075)As of
  • 14.9%of tag-pattern entries are in C tierAs of
  • 18.1%of term-first entries are in C tierAs of
  • 19.3%of term-inside entries are in C tierAs of
  • 23.8%of no-term entries are in C tierAs of
  • 88.5median score of tag-pattern entriesAs of
  • 86.7median score of term-first entriesAs of
  • 86.8median score of term-inside entriesAs of
  • 82.1median score of no-term entriesAs of
  • 4,173ranked list entries in the tag patternAs of
  • 2,563ranked list entries in the term-first patternAs of
  • 2,280ranked list entries in the term-inside patternAs of
  • 21,059ranked list entries with no list search term in the nameAs of
  • 30,075ranked list entries in active lists (an app in three lists counts three times)As of
  • 1,235active lists those entries belong toAs of
  • 320lists with at least two tag entries and two term-first entriesAs of
  • 163of those 320 lists where tag entries have the higher mean scoreAs of
  • 157of those 320 lists where term-first entries have the higher mean scoreAs of
  • 672lists with at least two tag entries and two no-term entriesAs of
  • 526of those 672 lists where tag entries have the higher mean scoreAs of
  • 384lists with at least two term-first entries and two no-term entriesAs of
  • 271of those 384 lists where term-first entries have the higher mean scoreAs of
  • 1,250of the 2,563 term-first entries also have a separator (colon, spaced hyphen, dash or bar) later in the name, as in Habit Tracker - HabitKitAs of
  • 162ranked list entries whose whole name is one of the list's search termsAs of
  • 61.2%of tag-pattern entries put a colon right after the brand (2,554 of 4,173)As of
  • 2.0%of ranked list entries match a list search term only inside a longer word (604 of 30,075), often a plural, from the plain substring matchAs of
  • 0.7%of ranked list entries are term-first only because the name starts with a term fused into a longer word, as in Sleepwave and sleep (213 of 30,075)As of
  • out of 100the scale of the AppTierList scoreAs of
  • 30characters at most in an app name, and in a subtitleAs of
  • 100characters in total for the keyword fieldAs of
  • 10apps: the most a good tag phrase should return in App Store searchAs of

Method: Ranked members of active AppTierList lists on 2026-11-02 (30,075 entries in 1,235 lists; an app in three lists counts three times). Each lowercased app name is matched against its own list's tracked search terms. Term first: the name starts with a term. Term in tag: otherwise, a term appears after the first colon, spaced hyphen, dash or bar. Term inside: otherwise, a term appears in the name with no colon, spaced hyphen, dash or bar before it. No term: none does. The match is a plain substring match, so a brand like Sleepwave counts as starting with sleep: 604 entries (2.0%) match a term only inside a longer word, often a plural. Separately, 213 (0.7%) count as term first only because their first word fuses a term into a brand, as Sleepwave does with sleep. Search position is one input to the score, so part of the link to tier is by construction.

Reproduce it: GET https://apptierlist.com/api/v1/lists/habit-tracking

Keep reading

FAQ

Should I put a keyword in my app name?

Usually yes. Apple counts the app name in App Store search, and its guidance asks for a name that hints at what the app does. Across ranked AppTierList list entries, names with one of the list's search terms reach S tier more often than names without one, partly because where an app shows up in search for those terms is one part of the score. Keep the phrase short and accurate, and keep a distinctive brand next to it.

Is it better to put the keyword before or after the brand name?

The order makes little difference once the keyword is in the name. Comparing apps inside the same AppTierList list, brand-first names with a keyword tag scored higher in 163 of 320 lists and keyword-first names in 157. For a new app, brand first with a tag is the safer choice, because the brand stays fixed while you test the phrase.

What should go after the colon in an app name?

A short phrase people actually type into App Store search to find an app like yours, such as daily habit tracker. In what we see, the right phrase returns fewer than 10 apps when you search it on your iPhone: few enough for a new app to show near the top, but not so few that nobody searches it.

Can I use a competitor's name in my app name or keywords?

No. Apple lists competing app names and unauthorized trademarked terms among the things not to use in keywords, and its product page guidance says to avoid app names that are too similar to existing ones. Describe what your app does instead, and let the comparison happen on pages that list you next to your rivals.

Sources

Data as of . How we rank

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