A New Way to Promote Your App on Google Play

#1

Post by bjonathan » Thu, Feb 26, 2015, 1:19 PM UTC

A New Way to Promote Your App on Google Play
android-developers.blogspot.com

Re: A New Way to Promote Your App on Google Play

#2

Post by Nemisis7654 » Thu, Feb 26, 2015, 1:46 PM UTC

I'm not quite sure how much I like this. I can see my search results getting populated with a bunch of apps that I don't want, like "Game of War". This will be interesting to see how this plays out.

Re: A New Way to Promote Your App on Google Play

#3

Post by fpgeek » Thu, Feb 26, 2015, 1:56 PM UTC

If it were anyone else, I'd say this was pretty dubious, but Google knows better than anyone else how to make search ads work for everyone so... we'll see.

Re: A New Way to Promote Your App on Google Play

#4

Post by abalos » Thu, Feb 26, 2015, 2:10 PM UTC

fpgeek wrote: post #3

If it were anyone else, I'd say this was pretty dubious, but Google knows better than anyone else how to make search ads work for everyone so... we'll see.

I agree - hopefully this addresses the issue of giving newer applications visibility. However, this definitely needs to be implemented tactfully. Google is probably the best bet for getting something like this to work.

Re: A New Way to Promote Your App on Google Play

#5

Post by ape4 » Thu, Feb 26, 2015, 2:21 PM UTC

Not crazy about this.

Re: A New Way to Promote Your App on Google Play

#6

Post by discreditable » Thu, Feb 26, 2015, 2:23 PM UTC

Will these promoted apps be as dangerous as websites promoted by browser search? I got this one just now [1]. Virustotal for "Firefox" from that site [2].

1. https://i.imgur.com/JDY7ptq.png

2. https://www.virustotal.com/en/file/4de57439b8fe09b90440b8e82...

Re: A New Way to Promote Your App on Google Play

#7

Post by Navarr » Thu, Feb 26, 2015, 2:26 PM UTC

Nemisis7654 wrote: post #2

I'm not quite sure how much I like this. I can see my search results getting populated with a bunch of apps that I don't want, like "Game of War". This will be interesting to see how this plays out.

I'm personally hoping they target more generic keywords like genres of game or coupon or hotels or stuff like that. I'd be very annoyed if they let advertisers target specific app names like "Facebook", "Twitter", or my own app's very specific name (as long as it isn't generic)

Re: A New Way to Promote Your App on Google Play

#8

Post by krschultz » Thu, Feb 26, 2015, 2:35 PM UTC

This is a huge change. I personally am very excited about it. At the moment if you want to drive installs to a mobile app, the primary channel is Facebook. It's hard to reach customers any other way. I have worked on apps with a relatively high customer LTV, and we could afford to pay for something like this, but there was no way to do it.

Generally speaking I think it will be good for consumers in the long run as well. This will surface the apps that are making money (which is in some way a proxy for providing value, usually) faster than the apps that are simply most popular.

Re: A New Way to Promote Your App on Google Play

#9

Post by diltonm » Thu, Feb 26, 2015, 2:36 PM UTC

"In fact, in the past year, we paid more than $7 billion to developers distributing apps and games on Google Play."

Do they mean when I buy someone's app and send them my money that they are taking the credit for "paying" the developer? If so then that's wrong. My bank doesn't pay my bills. I pay my bills using my bank's system.

Re: A New Way to Promote Your App on Google Play

#10

Post by warrenmiller » Thu, Feb 26, 2015, 2:46 PM UTC

Another way for Google to tax developers:

Indie developer A has the top search result for "crazy panda game" in google play, Developer B pays to get the top sponsored result, Developer A is forced to pay up to get the spot back.

This sucks.