App Store Search, Relevancy and Marketing
I know multiple companies that were built around app store search terms. For those companies being able to dominate the top of a specific search meant good app sales each month. Certainly Apps by Lift fits this description.
Over on Techcrunch:
Apple is now putting a heavier emphasis on app downloads, so that BestParking has pulled ahead of apps with better names (at least, for a given search) but fewer downloads.
That could mean developers who built localized versions of their apps to target different search terms are going to get screwed, while more generalized apps that serve multiple geographies will benefit.
This is far from the worst thing that could have happened for these businesses. We still have a product, and a market.
Make the product awesome and find a way to get the market to see it.
Previously a powerful way to get the market to see your app was to focus on search algorithms. As things settle down the future might be something more conventional. Maybe it means mobile ads — like Lift Media.
It’s also possible that we need to create single broad reach apps, rather than multiple search target specialized apps. This is something we’ll be considering at Lift moving forward.
I dare say that the search results (while certainly detrimental to my app business in the short run) are more representative of the apps the user is trying to find.
This may just push us, as developers, to make apps that more people want, rather than apps that rank well.
