Google search on Android marketplace is awful
phlogy.com
You can view the blog entry here, my server is rubbish:
http://ipadtravelguides.blogspot.com/2011/08/google-not-so-great-at-search.html
phlogy.com
http://ipadtravelguides.blogspot.com/2011/08/google-not-so-great-at-search.html
Secondly, it would have been much better if I had included a different and more applicable generic term in the name. Last month the app didn't even show up on the first page of results on Google Market or AppBrain. Fortunately, sorting by popularity yielded much better results. (About 25k over 4 months for a can-never-be-popular app, first or second in popularity depending on the week.)
Generic app names have one big advantage: They will eventually get to it and you can rely on organic growth. But you can't expect them to pay for it. (But maybe they will be willing to look at an ad, maybe.)
Worst of all: generic application name and a generic publisher name, in this case: "Travel Guides USA Travel Guide"
I think it's best to choose something simple and small for a first application. Don't cut corners, do it well, and don't expect to make any money on it: you're in it for the experience. Make sure you're giving a unique experience to your users. Beg for feedback! Interacting with your user base is a fairly rewarding experience and it's amazing how helpful people can be. I've even had someone go crazy submitting edited screenshots of my app with good UI suggestions. Even dealing with the super angry at the world 1*-s is an interesting experience. (Don't let it get to you when it happens, cause oh it will happen.)
Side note: One of the most interesting things I have noticed in the Developer Console is the statistics for language and country breakdown. One of my apps had Portuguese first and then Russian as the dominant user language. English eventually became first after 3 months. Koreans hate it. Even my Korean friends hated it!
Another side note: Have any other Android Developers out there gotten emails asking for your source code?
Oops - TL
Still, a lot of info to ponder.
Just because Google does search well in many areas doesn't mean they put the time into doing search well everywhere. Go search your Gmail for "info" or "doc" and tell me how many results you get that match "information" or "document".
Doing this search on android marketplace: https://market.android.com/search?q=usa+travel+guide
Produced a few non travel guides, and most of the travel guides listed are for countries other than the USA. This was my gripe. Surely a new app, with no ratings should be higher in the list that a travel guide for India or Dublin?
https://market.android.com/search?q=%22usa+travel+guide%22&#...
otherwise I think for google how they weight each word with reviews, quality and other variables its relevant for a new app. Pick a less generic name, if you want it to rank higher in search.
ATTENTION GOOGLE and other folks running any sort of app stores:
Canada and other countries require corporate names to have at least one non-generic element. You cannot name your company "Trucking Company", but you can name it "Smitherson's Trucking Company". Anyone running an app store should do the same, otherwise your store just fills up with dipshits naming their app "App" or "Best App" or "USA Travel Guides" in an attempt to spam the results.
Also, USA should have a bigger relevance than other words.
You cannot name your company "Trucking Company"
This is as if Google pretends to know better. It clearly doesn't.
I do agree that I get annoyed by all the apps that are putting a description in their name. But that's not different from someone buying digital-photography-school.com
There is still a trade-off so some people don't prefer this: even if it has benefits in regards to search engines, it's not a memorable brand.
Imagine doing commercials on TV for "Trucking Company".
Those "TRIPOSO TRAVEL GUIDES" app is a little problem there, but most of them have over 1.000 install, and related to Travel, then the result is acceptable.
The truth is, when I search an app name in the Market, I expect an App that have this function, not the App have this name. Doing this can prevent malware app have a fake name. I don't really know how Google do search at the Market, but I always found what I wanted here.
And remember you're searching for 'usa' 'travel' and 'guide' and it combination, not the whole text.
I have no problem with number of installs, or other factors affecting rating, and have no issue with my new app being down the list. I just wish it was higher rated than apps that have nothing to do with the search text.
Recently I received an email about some one copyrighting a very genenric name for a book and requested me to change the name of my app since they already copyrighted (mind you its copyrighted for book name).