How to analyze competitors on the App Store

Your real competitors on the App Store are the apps that rank for the searches you want, not necessarily the companies you think of. Competitor analysis tells you what they target, where they are strong, and where they leave room.

1. Find your real competitors

Search your three to five most important keywords and note the apps in the top 10 of each. The ones that keep appearing are your search competitors. Add the category leaders you lose users to. Three to five apps is usually enough to follow closely.

2. Read their metadata

• Name and subtitle: the keywords they bet on most.
• Screenshots: the benefits they lead with, and the order.
• Release history: how often they update, and whether their name or subtitle changed recently.
• You can’t see their keyword field, but you can infer it from the searches they rank for.

3. Compare keyword rankings

Track the same keywords for your app and theirs. Three groups appear:

• Gaps: they rank in the top 50 and you don’t. The best candidates for your next update, if relevant.
• Contested: you both rank. Watch who moves after each release.
• Yours: you rank and they don’t. Protect these; don’t drop their words.

4. Judge their strength

Rating count, average rating and chart position show how hard a competitor is to displace. An app with a 4.8 rating and 200,000 ratings will hold its top keywords; one with 300 ratings and a 3.9 is beatable.

5. Mine their reviews

Low-star reviews tell you what users miss: bugs, missing features, pricing complaints. If your app solves one of those, say so in your subtitle or first screenshot.