How to analyse App Store competitors

App Store competitor analysis means studying the apps you compete with in search to find shared keywords, overlaps and gaps you can act on. Done well, it is one of the fastest ways to discover keywords you should target — because someone has already validated them.

Start by choosing the right competitors

Not every app in your category is a real competitor for search. It helps to separate them into two groups:

Direct competitors target essentially the same use case and audience as your app. A user choosing them is choosing instead of you.
Similar competitors overlap thematically or in some segments, without being a head-to-head alternative. They still share keywords worth knowing about.

Labelling competitors this way — exactly what competitor analysis in KWRDS lets you do — keeps your comparison focused instead of drowning in loosely related apps.

Read the overlap, not just the list

The valuable output is not “here are 40 apps”. It is the relationship between your keywords and theirs:

Shared keywords confirm the terms that define your space.
Their keywords you don’t have are candidate opportunities.
Your keywords they don’t have are where you may already be differentiated.

A practical example

You mark “Peak Fitness” as a direct competitor. You share 28 keywords — the obvious core of your market. But Peak Fitness also ranks for “hiit timer” and “strength log”, which you do not target at all. Those become candidates to research and, if they fit, to place in your metadata.

Turn overlaps into a keyword plan

Assign a handful of direct and similar competitors to your app.
Look at the keywords you share and the ones only they have.
Run the promising new terms through a keyword network to find realistic long-tail variants.
Decide which to track and which to place in your metadata.

Keep it honest

Competitor analysis surfaces overlaps and opportunities between your app and the competitors you assign — it works with the apps and labels you set up. Use it to generate ideas and prioritise, then validate them with your own tracking over time rather than assuming a competitor’s keyword will automatically work for you.