Localize your App Store listing to rank in more countries

The App Store is not one store. Each country has its own search results, its own top charts and its own competition. An app that ranks well in the United States can be invisible in Germany, not because it is worse, but because its German listing is English text that nobody searches.

What happens when you do not localize

If you have no listing in a country's language, the App Store shows your primary language there instead, usually English. People in that country search in their own language, so your English name, subtitle and keywords simply do not match most of their searches. You lose the impressions before anyone sees your screenshots.

Localization is often the biggest single gain available to an established app. It does not require a better product, only text that matches how people search.

Translate searches, not words

The mistake most teams make is translating their English keywords. A dictionary translation is often not what people type. People in Germany may search for an English loanword; people in Brazil may use a shorter colloquial term; Japanese searches may mix scripts.

A better process for each country:

1. Start from your English target phrases.
2. Find what people in that country actually search for the same need, using local App Store suggestions and the names of the top local apps.
3. Measure volume and difficulty in that store, not in the US store.
4. Write the name, subtitle and keyword field in the local language from the phrases that measure well.

One store, several localizations

Apple lets you provide a listing in each App Store language, and several storefronts support more than one language. ASO practitioners commonly observe that some stores also index a second localization: the US store is often reported to match text from the Spanish (Mexico) localization as well as English (U.S.), for example. Apple does not document exactly how this works, so treat it as something to test, but it can give you extra keyword space in an important market.

Where to start

You do not need forty languages on day one. Prioritise by opportunity:

• Large stores where you already get some downloads without a local listing. The demand is there; your text is in the way.
• Stores where your target keywords are easy. Difficulty varies a lot between countries; a phrase that is hopeless in the US can be open in the Netherlands.
• Languages shared across several stores. A good Spanish listing helps in Spain, Mexico and much of Latin America, though the best keywords differ by country.

Measure it per country

After you publish a localized listing, track the new keywords in that country for a few weeks. A good localization usually shows up first as ranks appearing where you had none, then as downloads. Compare countries side by side to decide which language to do next.

For the text itself, the same rules apply as in English: see writing the name and subtitle and packing the keyword field.