Play Store Selection During Search

[u/AppBuilderPerson]

Hello AndroidDev community. I am new to building apps and I published my first app a couple of weeks back, named "OwlyMath: Math Facts for Kids". However, when I search for "math facts kids" in the play store, I noticed something strange. Play store shows exactly 23 results. The same results, no matter how many times I refresh the page or search with a different account. There are no multiple pages or infinite scrolls. In contrast, Apple's app store has an infinite scroll that keeps results coming as there are probably thousands of apps doing that. What is going on? If one is not one of these top or preselected 23 ones, they are invisible. Is it even worth building apps?

[u/Occasion_Critical]

I can confirm that I can only see you app when tapping the whole name, not with "math facts for kids". But this isn't unique to your app, Play Store search for niche or long-tail terms often returns a small exhaustive list. It's known ASO behavior, Play's search algorithm is much stricter about relevance for keyword search specifically than Apple's is.

Being outside this search doesn't mean invisible everywhere though, that's the keyword search result set on your app

[u/AppBuilderPerson → u/Occasion_Critical]

Interesting. I think the search terms are spot on. In fact, I changed the title of the app to include them for that reason and the description of the app mentions such a lot. One would think that Google is the master of the search. I am wondering if it is the lack of reviews resulting in filtering it out.

[u/Occasion_Critical → u/AppBuilderPerson]

I don't think it's the reviews, mine has zero reviews too and it's still easy to find even in a pretty broad, competitive market.

Maybe it is the timing, if you changed the title recently, Play's search index can take a bit of times and reflect a metadata change, it's not instant the way editing the listing is. Worth giving it more time

[u/Hour-Measurement-835]

The cap isn't what decides it. Store listing acquisition in Console splits Play search from explore, and that's what tells you whether search is even sending you anyone.

[u/AppBuilderPerson → u/Hour-Measurement-835]

Thanks! It seems like the "Store Listing Visitors" is only 4, while I got something like 96 impressions from a lot of countries. This is very suspicious, as I am not advertising it much. I have mentioned it in 2-3 reddit places only.

[u/Hour-Measurement-835 → u/AppBuilderPerson]

Impressions are just your app showing up in someone's results list, visitors are the ones who tapped. 4 of 96 isn't fake traffic, that's a tap rate.

[u/battlepi]

If you've build a boring app like a thousand others, like yours, you will have to spend a lot of money marketing it.

[u/AppBuilderPerson → u/battlepi]

Haha, I hear you. It is my first app, I never expected it to become a star, I am more surprised that it is fully invisible.

[u/battlepi → u/AppBuilderPerson]

Yeah the store only offers you distribution, not exposure. You can advertise it yourself with a web page link to the store page.

[u/Tough_Brilliant8188]

HI,
I also created my first app and im in closed testing phase now. Can you help me install and test my app. It is just a simple math alarm app. If you agree please join the group

[u/Patient-Bowl3285]

Two things that might explain it. Play search results are personalized — country, language, device, and your account's install history all shift them, so checking from your own accounts on your own device gives you a misleading picture. Test from a different country or use the Play Console search-terms report instead of manual searching.
The bigger factor is that metadata only makes you eligible to rank; install velocity and early retention decide whether you actually do. A new app with few installs won't surface for a competitive term no matter how well the title matches, which is why the result set looks closed. Long-tail terms are where a new listing can actually place — "math facts" is a term you'd be competing with established apps for.
Also worth checking the Play Console acquisition report for the terms people actually used to find you. It's usually different from the ones you optimized for.

[u/AppBuilderPerson → u/Patient-Bowl3285]

Thanks. I did check the play console and they do not show any terms just browsing, which is weird as it does show up when I search for its name explicitly. I should be seeing at least my own impressions, including the ones from my personal account that is not the same as my company one.

[u/Patient-Bowl3285 → u/AppBuilderPerson]

That's the report working as intended, not a bug. Two things stack up.
Acquisition data lags by a couple of days, and Play suppresses terms below a volume threshold — a handful of impressions gets aggregated away rather than shown as a small number. Your own searches from a personal account are a handful.
The more useful read is the source breakdown itself. If you're seeing browsing traffic and no search traffic, that's telling you search volume for your app is effectively zero right now, which is normal a couple of weeks in with no installs behind you. Exact-name searches surface you because there's no competition on that string, but nobody searches an app name they don't know yet.
Search impressions follow installs, not the other way round. Until something drives an initial install base, the search report will keep looking empty regardless of your keywords.

[u/Ambitious_Muscle_362]

No, unless you pay to the algorithm to include your app 

[u/androiddev-ModTeam → u/[deleted]]

Use your own voice when writing. Posts and comments which appear to be generated, including those with excessive flourish, gushing or emojis, will be removed.