App Store Stop Words: What to Cut and What to Keep
App Store Stop Words: What to Cut and What to Keep
Stop words are the small, common words (“the,” “for,” “and,” “with,” “my”) that add length to your metadata without adding meaning for search. In the App Store keyword field, where space is tight, they are almost always a waste. In your title, subtitle and description they are sometimes needed, because real people read those fields. This guide shows where to cut them, where to keep them and how to review your own listing in under an hour.
TL;DR
- Keep stop words out of the keyword field. It is limited to 100 characters in total, and every character spent on “the” or “for” is a character not spent on a term people search.
- Do not repeat what Apple already indexes. Your app name, subtitle, keywords and company name already make the app searchable, so duplicates waste space.
- Keep natural connecting words in the title, subtitle and description. Those fields have to read well to a person deciding whether to install.
- Treat generic words such as “app” and category names as stop words too. Apple advises against using them.
- Review the fields once per release, and check rankings afterward so you know what the cleanup changed.
Table of Contents
- What counts as a stop word in app store optimization
- How the App Store reads your words
- Why the keyword field is where stop words hurt most
- What Apple says about volume, competition and clarity
- A step-by-step stop word cleanup
- When a small word deserves to stay
- Title, subtitle and description: write for people first
- Our view: stop words are a symptom of a bigger problem
- Run the check with Apptenium
- Common mistakes to avoid
- Measuring whether the cleanup worked
- FAQ
- Sources
What counts as a stop word in app store optimization
In text processing, a stop word is a very common word that carries little meaning on its own. Search systems often ignore such words, and so can you when you write a keyword list. In app store optimization (ASO), the useful definition is broader and more practical: a stop word is any word that takes up space in a metadata field without helping the right person find or choose your app.
That covers three groups:
- Grammar words. “A,” “an,” “the,” “of,” “for,” “and,” “with,” “to,” “in,” “my,” “your.”
- Generic filler. “App,” “application,” “free,” “best,” “new,” “top,” “official.” These describe nearly every listing, so they separate nothing.
- Category words you already have. Apple advises developers against including category names or the word “app” in their keywords, since they are generic and do not help people find your app’s specific functionality.
Notice that the definition depends on the field. “For” is clutter in a keyword list. In a subtitle like “Budget planner for freelancers,” it is the word that makes the line readable. The same word can be waste in one field and necessary in another.
How the App Store reads your words
Before you cut anything, it helps to know which fields count. Apple states that search results rest on several factors, including text relevance: matches for your app’s title, subtitle, keywords and primary category. The App Store Connect help adds that your app is searchable by app name, subtitle, keywords and company name.
That gives you a working map of where stop words matter:
| Field | Who reads it | Stop word policy |
|---|---|---|
| App name (title) | Searchers and the algorithm | Keep only what makes the name clear and natural |
| Subtitle | Searchers and the algorithm | Keep connecting words when they make a clean phrase |
| Keyword field | The algorithm only | Remove nearly all of them |
| Description | Searchers on the product page | Write naturally, lead with features and functionality |
| Primary category | Algorithm and browsing | Chosen from a list, so it needs no words from you |
The keyword field is the only one nobody sees. It exists purely to feed search, so it is the only field where you can write without worrying about grammar. That is exactly why filler there is pure loss.
Why the keyword field is where stop words hurt most
The keyword field is limited to 100 characters in total. Apple’s own guidance on choosing keywords opens with that limit before anything else, which tells you how the company expects developers to think: as editors working with a strict budget.
Do the arithmetic on a typical field. A string like this looks harmless:
the best app for tracking my running and walking
That is 49 characters. Strip the filler and keep the meaning:
running,walking,tracker,pace,steps
That is 35 characters, and it contains five usable terms instead of two. You have also freed 14 characters for more terms, such as marathon or distance. Over a full 100 characters, the gap between a filler-heavy field and a clean one can be a dozen or more extra search terms.
Two more habits waste space in the same way:
- Repeating your name or company. Apple’s guidance notes that these are already indexed, so putting them in the keyword field duplicates what the algorithm already has.
- Spaces after commas. The format uses commas between terms. A space after each comma is one more character you cannot use. Many ASO guides recommend separating terms with commas and no spaces, and it costs you nothing to follow that.
What Apple says about volume, competition and clarity
Cutting stop words is only half the job. The other half is filling the space with the right words. Apple’s guidance frames keyword choice as a trade-off: popular terms are highly competitive, while less common terms offer an easier path to visibility, which matters most for a newer app. The practical reading is that a short list of precise, descriptive terms beats a long list of generic ones.
Search is also built around intent. Apple’s search documentation describes results as relevance-based, and clear, specific wording helps match your app to the right queries. That has a conversion side too. A searcher who finds you through a precise term such as “invoice maker” already knows what they want. A searcher who found you through a vague term like “best app” may leave in seconds, which hurts your install conversion rate even if impressions rise.
A step-by-step stop word cleanup
You can do this in one sitting. Set aside an hour and an export of your current metadata.
- Copy every text field into one document. Title, subtitle, keyword field and the first lines of your description. Seeing them side by side shows repetition fast.
- Mark every word that appears more than once. Anything in your title or subtitle that also sits in the keyword field is a duplicate. Delete it from the keyword field.
- Strike grammar words and generic filler from the keyword field. Remove “the,” “for,” “and,” “my,” “app,” “free,” “best” and your category name.
- Re-count the characters. Check you are at or below 100, including commas.
- Spend the freed characters on descriptive terms. Prefer words that name features, tasks and use cases. Ask what a person types when they have the problem your app solves.
- Read the title and subtitle aloud. If a phrase sounds unnatural, restore the connecting word. A clean line should read like something a person would say.
- Log the change and the date. Note the old and new fields so that you can match later ranking movement to a specific edit.
A worked example
Imagine a fictional budgeting app called “Pennywise.” Its first-draft metadata looks like this:
- Title:
Pennywise: The Best Budget App - Subtitle:
The app for tracking your money - Keywords:
budget,app,best,money,the,tracker,for,my,finance,pennywise
The problems are easy to spot. “Best” and “app” appear in the title, and again in the keywords. “Pennywise” is in both the title and the keyword field. “The,” “for” and “my” do nothing in the keyword field. After the cleanup:
- Title:
Pennywise: Budget Planner - Subtitle:
Track spending and save money - Keywords:
expenses,finance,tracker,bills,savings,income,allowance,envelope,cashflow,debt
The subtitle keeps “and” because it makes the phrase read well. The keyword field now holds ten distinct terms and no repeats. This is an illustration, not a result: what it gains in ranking depends on your category, your competition and each term’s search volume.
When a small word deserves to stay
Not every short word is filler. Four cases call for care.
Words inside a fixed phrase. “To do list,” “how to,” “in app purchase” and “on demand” are phrases that people search as units. Cutting the small word breaks the phrase. Check whether your category uses such a phrase before you strip it.
Words that change the audience. “For kids,” “for teachers” and “for freelancers” target a specific group. In a subtitle, “for freelancers” tells a searcher the product is made for them, which can lift conversion. In the keyword field, the audience noun alone (“freelancers”) usually does the work.
Brand names that contain common words. If your app is called “The Habit Tracker,” the name has to stay intact in the title field. Do not rewrite a brand to chase a keyword.
Negations and qualifiers that change meaning. “No ads,” “offline” and “without wifi” can be real selling points. They belong in the description and screenshots, where you can explain them.
The test is simple. Ask whether removing the word changes what a person understands or what they search. If not, cut it.
Title, subtitle and description: write for people first
The title and subtitle are visible in search results, so they serve two readers at once. Treat the algorithm as the secondary reader. A title stuffed with keywords looks spammy, and it can lower the tap-through rate that you need.
A reliable pattern is:
- Title: brand name plus the clearest description of what the app does, in as few words as are natural.
- Subtitle: a benefit or use case that adds new terms rather than repeating the title.
- Keyword field: the leftover terms that did not fit naturally above.
For your description, Apple’s guidance calls for a concise, informative paragraph followed by a short list of main features, with the focus on features and functionality. That is an instruction to write clearly, not to ration small words. Natural sentences are right there.
Also respect the review rules. Apple’s App Review Guidelines cover metadata accuracy, so avoid stuffing names of other apps or unrelated terms into your fields to catch extra searches. Trimming filler is safe, while padding with unrelated terms invites rejection.
Our view: stop words are a symptom of a bigger problem
We look at a lot of app listings, and the pattern repeats. Teams that fill their keyword field with “the” and “best” are rarely lazy. They are guessing, because they have no clear picture of which words move their rankings.
Here is our position. Stop word removal is the easy 10 percent of the work and the part you should finish today. The other 90 percent is knowing which descriptive terms deserve your 100 characters. That takes three kinds of evidence together: how your listing reads against its metadata, which keywords you rank for and how your rivals word the same space.
That is why we built Apptenium as one platform instead of a set of separate tools. A scan of your listing shows where metadata is thin or repetitive. Keyword tracking shows whether an edit moved a ranking. Competitor intelligence shows the terms that rivals repeat and the ones nobody uses. And because the platform connects with Firebase, Google Analytics and ad networks, you can read the effect of a metadata change next to downloads and revenue, not in isolation.
Our advice for any team: change one field at a time, write down what you did and look at the data before the next edit. Small, measured edits compound over time. A one-time keyword purge rarely does.
— Mike
Run the check with Apptenium
If you would rather not audit every field by hand, our ASO tools scan your listing metadata and return copy-ready fixes you can paste in. To see which terms your rivals use and which they miss, competitor intelligence puts their listings next to yours. The Free plan includes a limited number of scans each month, and Pro is $9.99 per month. You can compare both on the pricing page.
Common mistakes to avoid
- Treating the keyword field like a sentence. It is a list of search terms. Grammar has no value there.
- Deleting words you never searched for. Use real search language. Type your own category into the store’s search bar and note what you see.
- Changing everything at once. If you edit title, subtitle and keywords together, you will not know which edit worked.
- Copying a rival’s keyword list. Your app differs in features and audience. Use rivals as a signal for gaps, not as a template.
- Forgetting localization. Each language you localize has its own metadata, and its own stop words. Apple’s metadata reference lists language as a property you set per localization. A list translated word for word often carries filler that does not exist in the source.
- Never revisiting. Search behavior changes, and so do competitors. Put the audit on your release checklist.
Measuring whether the cleanup worked
Pick a small set of terms before you change anything: the five to ten you most want to rank for. Record your position for each, along with impressions, product page views and conversion rate if you can see them. After the new version goes live, check again after a week or two and again after a month, as rankings take time to settle.
Three outcomes are common:
- Rankings rise for new terms, conversion stays flat. The cleanup freed space as intended. Next, improve screenshots and the first lines of the description.
- Rankings hold, conversion improves. A clearer title and subtitle are reaching the right people.
- Rankings drop on a term you removed. You cut something that mattered. Restore it and note the lesson.
The point of logging is to build your own evidence base. After a few releases, you will know your category’s rules better than any general guide can tell you.
FAQ
Does the App Store ignore stop words in the keyword field?
Apple does not publish a list of ignored words, so assume nothing. What is certain is that the field has a 100-character limit, so filler uses room that descriptive terms could use. Cutting it costs nothing and frees space.
Should I put “app” or my category in my keywords?
No. Apple’s guidance advises developers to leave out category names and the word “app”, as they are generic. Use the characters on terms that describe what your app does.
Should I repeat words from my title in the keyword field?
No. Your app name and company name are already searchable, and the subtitle is too. Repeating them wastes characters that could hold new terms.
Can I use stop words in my subtitle?
Yes, when they make the line read naturally. The subtitle is visible to searchers, so a phrase like “Budget planner for freelancers” can convince better than a string of nouns. Just avoid repeating words that sit in your title.
How often should I review my keywords?
Once per release is a good habit, and again whenever your features or competitors change. Log each edit with its date so you can tie ranking changes to the cause.