App Store and Google Play Listings: Getting Found

How store search works

Apple's page on App Store search says results are based on a number of factors, including text relevance, meaning matches for your app's title, subtitle, keywords and primary category, and user behaviour such as downloads, ratings and reviews. Your rating and up to three screenshots or app previews can show in the search results themselves, so the listing has to work at a glance.

For Google Play, Google's store listing best practices focus on accurate, well-written listings that build user trust. In both stores the practical work is the same: describe the app plainly in the words your customers use, make the first screenshots count, and earn good ratings.

Apple: name, subtitle and keywords

Apple's guide to creating your product page sets out the text fields and their limits:

• App name: up to 30 characters. Apple advises a simple, memorable name that hints at what the app does, and warns against generic terms or names too similar to existing apps.
• Subtitle: up to 30 characters, shown under the name. Use it to explain the app's value; Apple says to avoid generic phrases such as "world's best app".
• Keywords: up to 100 characters in total, separated by commas without spaces. Apple says keywords help determine where your app appears in search results.
• Promotional text: up to 170 characters at the top of the description, which you can change at any time without a new version. Apple says it does not affect search ranking.
• Description: the first sentence matters most, because it is what people see before tapping "more". Apple advises against adding keywords to the description to improve search, and against quoting prices, since they may be wrong in some regions.

To make the most of the 100 keyword characters, Apple suggests leaving out plurals of words you already have, category names, the word "app", duplicates and special characters. It also lists what not to use: trademarked terms, celebrity names and other protected words you are not authorised to use, irrelevant terms, and competing app names. Apple says improper use of keywords is a common reason for rejection.

Apple notes a trade-off: popular terms such as "jobs" or "social" bring traffic but are highly competitive, especially for newer or smaller apps, while less common terms bring less traffic with less competition. For a business app, specific words for what it does usually beat broad ones. Choose your primary category with care too; Apple says categories are indexed for search and that choosing irrelevant ones is grounds for rejection.

Google Play: title and descriptions

A Play store listing has no separate keyword field like Apple's; the words you control are in the title and the two descriptions. Google's help pages give the limits:

• Title: 30 characters or less, under Google Play's metadata policy.
• Short description: up to 80 characters. Google's preview assets guide says it is the first text users see on your listing and can appear in other places, so it should explain the app's core purpose on its own.
• Full description: up to 4,000 characters. Google's best practices say users may only read the first few sentences, and not to repeat the short description.

Google gives an example of what not to write: a run of repeated phrases such as "car racing, car driving, race cars, car races…". Write for people, and let the description explain what the app does, who it is for and what makes it useful.

What both stores reject

Both stores police listing text and images. Google's metadata policy does not allow misleading, irrelevant, excessive or inappropriate metadata, and specifically rules out:

• emojis, emoticons or repeated special characters in the title, icon or developer name, and ALL CAPS unless it is part of your brand;
• text or images that claim store performance or ranking, such as "#1", "App of the year" or "Popular";
• price or promotion claims such as "10% off" or "free for limited time only" in the title, icon or developer name;
• unattributed or anonymous user testimonials in the description;
• misleading symbols in icons, such as a new-message dot when there are no messages.

Apple's equivalent rules are in its keyword guidance above and in the App Review Guidelines. Our guide to publishing on the App Store and Google Play covers review and policy in general.

Icon, screenshots and previews

Many people decide from the icon and the first screenshots without reading a word.

• Apple: up to 10 screenshots and up to three app previews (videos of up to 30 seconds, using footage captured on the device). Apple says the first one to three screenshots can appear in search results when there is no preview, so they should show the essence of the app, with each later screenshot focused on one main benefit or feature. Previews autoplay without sound, so the first seconds need to work visually. Sizes are in Apple's screenshot specifications.
• Google Play: up to 8 screenshots per device type, plus a required 512 × 512 pixel app icon and a required feature graphic. Google says to keep text in screenshots to a minimum, and to make separate screenshots for each language when they contain text. The icon must not carry badges or text suggesting ranking, price or Play categories.

Use real screens from the current version of the app. Show the main task the app does first, not a logo or a welcome screen.

Ratings and review prompts

Apple says ratings and reviews appear on your product page and in search results and can influence how your app ranks in App Store search. Both stores give you a standard in-app prompt, with rules:

• Apple: its page on ratings, reviews and responses says the SKStoreReviewController API lets you prompt for ratings up to three times in a 365-day period. Ask when people are likely to be satisfied, such as after completing a task, and do not interrupt them. Apple also lets you reset your summary rating with a new version, but recommends doing so sparingly, because few ratings can put people off.
• Google Play: the In-App Review API guide says Play enforces a time-limited quota, so calling the review flow more than once in a short period (for example, less than a month) might not show the dialog. Google says the exact quota can change without notice, so you should not attach the prompt to a button; link to the Play Store listing for that instead. Do not ask questions before or during the prompt, such as "Do you like the app?", and do not change the card's design.

Apple also advises making your support contact easy to find in the app and on the product page, so unhappy users can reach you before they write a review. Reading store reviews belongs in your regular upkeep, as our mobile app maintenance guide sets out.

Custom pages and keeping listings fresh

Apple supports custom product pages: extra versions of your product page with their own screenshots, promotional text and app previews, each with a unique URL for a campaign or audience. You can assign keywords to a custom page so it appears in search for those words instead of your default page, as long as the keywords match the page's intent and each keyword combination is used on only one page. Google Play has custom store listings for specific user segments.

Listings are not set-and-forget. On Apple, the description and subtitle change with a new version, while promotional text can change any time. Use the release notes ("What's New") to say what you fixed, especially when it came from feedback. Localise the listing for each language you support. For what happens after the install, see our guide to measuring a mobile app.

Checklist

• App name and subtitle (Apple) or title and short description (Play) say plainly what the app does, within 30 and 80 characters.
• Apple keywords: 100 characters, no repeats, plurals, "app" or competitor names.
• Description opens with the main benefit; no keyword lists, prices, rankings or anonymous testimonials.
• The first screenshots show the core task, from the current version, localised where they contain text.
• Rating prompt after a success moment, never from a button, within each store's limits.
• Support contact visible; reviews answered; release notes written for people.

Frequently asked questions

What is app store optimisation?

Making an app's store listing easier to find in App Store and Google Play search and more likely to be installed: the name, subtitle or short description, keywords, screenshots, previews and ratings.

How long can an app name be?

Up to 30 characters on the Apple App Store, and 30 characters or less for a Google Play title. Apple's subtitle is also up to 30 characters, and Play's short description up to 80.

Does Google Play have a keywords field?

No. Apple has a hidden keywords field of up to 100 characters, but on Play the text you control is the title, short description and full description. Google's policy rules out repeated or irrelevant keywords in that text.

How often can I ask users for a rating?

On iOS, Apple's prompt can appear up to three times in a 365-day period. On Android, Google Play applies a time-limited quota that it does not publish and may change, so choose a good moment and do not trigger the prompt from a button.

Planning an app and its store launch? See our mobile app development service, see all our services, or email info@creahive.com.