App Store Digest #5: Algorithm updates, holiday insights, and best seasonal apps
We're closing the year with an update to our newsletter! From now on, our team will be bringing you "App Store Digest", every two weeks!? You'll now receive regular updates on all things app store and the latest trends in mobile marketing!
Let's get started! November and early December were punctuated by algorithm changes on the App Store, new features on Google Play, and of course holiday-themed promotional offers. Read on to discover the ideas and best practices that caught our eye!
?? Apple App Store
Algorithm update?
On December 6th, Apple rolled out an algorithm update resulting in big keyword movements across many countries.
So far, the update had the following outcomes:?
For example: the app 5-0 Radio Police Scanner lost rankings on the keyword "scanner", a keyword that is showing document scanning apps in the search results.
The app Video Editor by Luni tried to optimize their rankings for the keyword "Video Editor" by just adding "Video Editor" and a " . " to their title. Adding a " . " to your app title wastes characters as punctuation is not indexed by the stores. Since the update, the app has lost rankings on this keyword.
You can find out if your app was impacted by the update by following the steps outlined in this video.?
Apple accepting submissions during holidays
Apple announced it will still be possible to submit new app versions during the holidays, but warns of possible longer review times between December 22-27 (Christmas).
?? Google Play Store?
Installing an app without visiting its store listing
You can now install an app directly from the Games and Apps Tabs on the Play Store homepage, as well as in search results. All you need to do is press and hold the app to install. Learn more about what this could mean for your Google Play app.
In early November, Google added the “Total Acquisitions” graph to the Store Analysis section in the Play Console, showing the overall installs from anywhere in the store, not just the listing page, considering new download options on the Play Store.
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Once this new feature becomes more popular among Android users, app developers might calculate their installs more accurately by doing "Total Acquisitions" - "All Store Listing Acquisitions" to determine the amount of non-store-listing initiated installs.
Events and categories visible in the Play Store search bar
Google Play Store’s search bar has been updated to offer users a better search experience by combining events and categories. This new change is now available to users in the US and will soon be rolled out to all markets. Read more.
?? Store Trends
The end-of-year represents a golden opportunity for app marketers and they all compete to showcase the most dazzling holiday-themed promotions to store visitors. From In-App Events, Custom Product Pages, and screenshots to promotional content, a lot of work is put into making these apps shine during the "most wonderful time of the year”.
Holiday Promotions
The mobile game Monopoly Go used promotional content to capitalize on the holiday season to capture the attention of new, existing, and inactive users by incorporating seasonal content. Meanwhile, streaming app Hulu followed a similar line of thinking by highlighting seasonal content available on its platform using an in-app event.
The holiday season is especially opportune for shopping and food apps. Walmart and DoorDash leveraged this seasonal event by updating their screenshots with a holiday theme! Both apps updated their visuals and captions and promoted deals outside of their standard offering to include gifting options.?
The end-of-year is spent by many with family and friends sharing copious meals and exchanging gifts. We looked at the leading apps in the Food & Drink and Shopping categories to find out where app store visitors turned to.?
From November 19 to December 13, American app users turned to the 5 same apps on the App Store and Google Play. While all five apps registered similar numbers of installs on both stores, McDonald’s managed to gain over 10K more installs on Google Play. Interestingly, download growth increased for most apps on the App Store while the opposite was true on the Play Store.
Looking at the same period as above, top shopping apps remained consistent in both stores. The only newcomers were Capital One on the App Store and Amazon Shopping on Google Play. Shop was more popular on the App Store while Play Store users favored Shein.?
The best time of the year for Spotify users must be the end of the year when the music app releases “Wrapped”, a breakdown of its customers' most listened-to songs, podcasts, etc. This year Wrapped went live on November 29th, followed by a huge social media reaction. Unsurprisingly, this skyrocketed Spotify’s downloads (US, App Store) to an impressive 70K on the Wrapped release day, doubling its average of 30K downloads.
?? That’s a wrap!
Enjoyed what you read? Noticed something interesting? Feel free to share your thoughts with us in the comments, and be sure to subscribe!
See you in two weeks,
AppTweak Team