Apple has changed the search algorithm in the App Store. Read about the changes and the first victims of the innovation below.
The Internet publication TechCrunch became aware of the new algorithm last week. The main change: reducing the role of names and keywords in search results. Now, exactly how you named your app (Angry Barbarians, Amused Birds, or just My First iOS Game) is not as important as before. At the same time, the search engine began to pay more attention to the number of downloads.
To some extent, this is a continuation of the war with clones of top applications, which Apple started back in February of this year, when projects under such names as Plant vs suddenly appeared in the charts. Zombie, Angry Ninja Birds and Temple Jump.
In other words, innovations in the App Store search engine, first of all, should negatively affect companies that use well-known names to promote their applications.
But those applications that have received a good rating and whose names, as well as keywords, are correlated with their functions, according to TechCrunch, on the contrary, should “go uphill”.
The authors of TechCrunch also believe that the change in the search engine is Apple’s next step towards radical reforms on the App Store, which became known in the same February, when the Apple company acquired the Chomp search platform.
By the way, there is an opinion that the new search was made precisely on the basis of the Chomp algorithm, which, when issuing, first of all, takes into account the functions and types of applications. That is, applications are searched by the robot based not on their names, but based on what they actually know how to do.
TechCrunch’s observations and preliminary findings were confirmed in BestParking.com and the company Xyologic. The other day, Ian Sefferman, executive director of MobileDevHQ, also shared his opinion.
After a thorough analysis of the situation, he came to the conclusion that the so-called Chomp Update takes place (this is not speculation), but, as already mentioned, his only innovation is to reduce the direct relationship between the name of the application and its place in the search results.
So now, with a high probability, if you type Angry, you will be offered the Rovio game, and not something else, and if you type “Traffic Jams”, you will get a link to Yandex.Cards.
As for the impact of the number of installations, as well as the ratings on the search results, then, according to Sefferman, he has not yet been able to detect this.
At the moment, 30 South and Creative Algorithms have already announced a drop in revenue due to updates. The first sales decreased by 30%, the second by $30 per day.
By the way, according to journalists from TechCrunch, the changes at the moment have not affected all regions.