AppTweak fuels growth for mobile leaders around the world. In this article, we present the most searched terms on the App Store in the first quarter of 2021. We gathered data for 6 of the world’s largest app markets (United States, United Kingdom, France, Germany, Spain, and India) to find which keywords produced the highest search volumes in Q1 2021.
These insights are valuable for several reasons. First, when adding keywords to your metadata, you should determine the most relevant terms with the highest potential to drive downloads to your app or game. As a result, AppTweak provides Apple’s exact Search Popularity score to help you understand how often a keyword is searched for on the app stores.
Identifying the most popular search terms can also help you understand the distribution of generic and branded keywords to form an effective keyword strategy. This is exactly why AppTweak’s Keyword Research tools indicate which keywords are generic and which are branded, so you can easily choose the best terms for your analyses.
You can also find the most popular App Store keywords of 2020, 2019, and 2018 at the end of this article! Analyzing keyword trends will allow you to understand shifts in consumer interests and effectively target customer behaviors. Follow our straightforward methodology to find the best keywords for your app to identify those terms that either gain or lose search volumes over time.
So, what were the most searched terms on the App Store in Q1 2021? Read on to find out!
What is a Popular Keyword?
The most popular keywords are searches that received the highest volume scores during the first quarter of 2021. The volume score – a number between 5 and 100 – is calculated and received directly from Apple. The higher the search volume, the more often a keyword is searched on the App Store (and the more popular the keyword is).
The 20 Most Popular Keywords on the US App Store (Q1 2021)
In descending order, the 20 most popular keywords on the US App Store in Q1 2021 were as follows:
- mario kart
- snapchat
- youtube
- zoom
- among us
- faceapp
- disney plus
- widgetsmith
- bumble
- mario-kart
- sleep sounds
- tik tok
- tik-tok
- call of duty
- disney
- free games
- messenger
- parler
Most Popular App Store Keywords Across Countries:
The table below shows the 20 most popular keywords and the highest search volumes recorded per country for the United States, United Kingdom, France, Germany, Spain, and India.
| United States - Advertisement -  | United Kingdom | France | Germany | Spain | India | ||||||
| Keyword | Max Volume Q1 2021 | Keyword | Max Volume Q1 2021 | Keyword | Max Volume Q1 2021 | Keyword | Max Volume Q1 2021 | Keyword | Max Volume Q1 2021 | Keyword | Max Volume Q1 2021 |
| 100 | faceapp | 100 | faceapp | 100 | corona warn app | 100 | among us | 100 | face app | 100 | |
| mario kart | 100 | house party | 100 | mario kart | 100 | corona-warn-app | 100 | faceapp | 100 | 100 | |
| snapchat | 100 | 100 | snapchat | 100 | disney | 100 | 100 | pubg | 100 | ||
| youtube | 100 | mario kart | 100 | 99 | face app | 100 | houseparty | 99 | tik tok | 100 | |
| zoom | 100 | snapchat | 100 | scanner gratuit | 99 | 100 | mario kart | 98 | ludo king | 99 | |
| among us | 99 | vpn | 100 | disney | 98 | 99 | zoom | 98 | fau g | 96 | |
| faceapp | 99 | disney | 98 | plato | 96 | widgetsmith | 99 | disney | 97 | signal | 96 |
| 98 | zoom | 98 | signal | 96 | casino | 98 | radar covid | 96 | 95 | ||
| disney plus | 96 | face app | 97 | stop covid | 96 | among us | 97 | 95 | zoom | 94 | |
| widgetsmith | 96 | slots | 96 | tik-tok | 96 | houseparty | 97 | scanner | 94 | arogya setu | 93 |
| bumble | 95 | 96 | 95 | snapchat | 97 | skype | 94 | 93 | |||
| mario-kart | 95 | casino | 95 | tik tok | 95 | mario kart | 96 | tik tok | 94 | pubg mobile | 93 |
| sleep sounds | 95 | among us | 94 | tous anti covid | 95 | qr code scanner | 96 | tik-tok | 94 | hotstar | 92 |
| tik tok | 95 | 94 | vpn | 95 | qr-code-scanner | 96 | parchis | 93 | snapchat | 92 | |
| tik-tok | 95 | love island | 94 | widgetsmith | 95 | tinder | 96 | snapchat | 92 | call of duty mobile | 91 |
| call of duty | 94 | messenger | 94 | among us | 94 | clubhouse | 95 | spotify | 92 | call recorder for iphone free | 91 |
| disney | 94 | scanner app | 94 | messenger | 94 | qr code scanner free | 95 | 90 | google pay | 91 | |
| free games | 94 | tiktok | 94 | scanner | 94 | scanner-app | 95 | fortnite | 90 | tiktok | 91 |
| messenger | 94 | free vpn | 93 | 94 | slots | 95 | telegram | 90 | youtube | 91 | |
| parler | 94 | spotify | 93 | zoom | 94 | spotify | 95 | call of duty | 89 | amazon | 90 |
Source: AppTweak
In Q1 2021, the most popular keywords across countries were dominated by social media apps, such as Instagram, Snapchat, YouTube, Facebook, and TikTok. Other popular apps that were very frequently searched for included FaceApp, Disney Plus, Clubhouse, Signal, and Parler. With last year’s iOS 14 update, we also saw Widgetsmith remain one of the top 20 most popular keywords in the US, France, and Germany.
Source: AppTweak
As people continued to stay connected during the pandemic, apps like Zoom, Houseparty, Skype, and Plato entered the top 20 most popular keywords in Europe. With the exception of Zoom, video chat apps did not gain as much search popularity in the US or India. Regarding dating apps, Tinder was the most popular keyword in Germany, while store visitors in the US searched more frequently for Bumble. Furthermore, in Q1 2021, store visitors in France, Germany, Spain, and India continued to search for government-led apps dedicated to fighting COVID-19.
Source: AppTweak
Overall, the most popular games were Mario Kart, Among Us, and Call of Duty. In the United Kingdom and Germany, ‘casino’ was also a very popular search term. PUBG Mobile was the most popular game in India, reaching a search volume of 100 in Q1 2021.
Source: AppTweak
Expert Tip: The top 20 most popular keywords contain many branded terms. Including other apps’ trademarked keywords in your metadata may be tempting; however, this practice is forbidden on the App Store and we would not recommend adding such terms to your keyword field. Read more about the impact of branded and generic keywords on downloads.
The most searched keywords in each country were predominantly brand names indicating the leading apps on the App Store in each country. In Q1 2021, generic keywords (non-branded terms) constituted the following percentages of the top 20 most popular keywords: 5% in the US, Spain, and India; 15% in France; 25% in the UK, and 30% in Germany. Previous years also display a similar distribution of branded and generic keywords among the most searched terms on the App Store. Naturally, the keywords with the highest search volumes are words or phrases that stick in consumers’ minds.
Source: AppTweak
Top 500 Most Popular App Store Keywords (2018-2021)
Want to unlock more insights? Take a look at the most popular keywords on the App Store in 2020.
Top 500 most popular keywords of 2020: US-UK-FR-DE-ES-IN
Are you interested in the keywords that potential customers use to search for your app or your competitors’ apps? Sign up for a 7-day free trial today to maximize your keyword research.
