Google Play to show only good quality apps in search
People love using new apps/games, but those that don't work well, respond slowly, and often crash are really frustrating. So, Google is now going to promote only those apps with the best quality and performance in its app-store. Google Play will start downranking low-quality apps in its search results by incorporating "app quality signals" in ranking algorithms. Find out more!
Google Play Product Manager Andrew Ahn's statement
Ahn wrote in a blog post: "In an internal analysis of app reviews on Google Play, we noticed that half of 1-star reviews mentioned app stability. Developers who focus on app quality can see improvements in their rating, and ultimately their retention and monetization."
Enhanced search, discovery algorithms to reflect app quality
When users search for apps on Google Play, those with negative reviews and bad performance history wouldn't be shown in the results, further leading to a drop in their ratings. Google said the move is part of its continued effort to deliver the best Google Play experience to users. It earlier announced that it would use Machine Learning technique to identify faulty apps.
Developers should focus on quality: Ahn
Ahn said: "Google Play strives to help people find and discover safe, high quality, useful, and relevant apps. By focusing on the quality and performance of your app, you'll find more success." Google earlier announced the 'Android Excellence' program to segregate apps that function well.
A positive impact on engagement: Google
Higher quality apps will now be surfaced more in Google Play compared to low-quality apps, like the battery-draining and frequently crashing ones. Google said the change impacted engagement in a positive manner; when people use high-quality apps, they uninstall them less. It added the developers who want to focus on performance could use Play Console to find and fix quality issues.
Increase app rating by focusing on performance
Ahn said that developers could use Google Play Console's Android vitals page to identify performance issues that are reported by users and also address them better. He gave an example of how language learning app Busuu has increased its rating from 4.1 to 4.5 by focusing on its performance. However, it is unclear whether developers of demoted apps would be notified.
Are iOS apps better than Android apps?
Apps available on iOS platform are generally considered to function better than those on Android platform. To change this perception, Google has been using Artificial Intelligence and Machine learning to persuade developers to build apps that work seamlessly. Google and Apple have recently removed misleading financial apps from their app-stores to protect users from fraud and high-risk trading practices.
