Apple tweaks iOS App Store search algorithms, app positions fluctuate 8X more than usual

Posted:
in iPhone edited January 2014
Sometime between Dec. 11 and Dec. 12, Apple changed its iOS App Store search algorithms, causing app results to move over 40 spots on average, or eight times more than a normal.

Search Ranks
Comparison of keyword search rankings before and after Apple's algorithm changes.
Source: MobileDevHQ


The newly-implemented changes, first spotted by App Store optimization firm MobileDevHQ (via TechCrunch), are jostling both iPhone and iPad apps an average of 41.5 positions, compared to the about five on a usual day.

Apple's search algorithms dictate what results are returned when a user types in keywords like "home automation" or "puzzle games" in the iOS App Store's search bar. While not rankings, developers rely on these targeted searches for app discovery outside Apple's top-downloads charts.

As for specific apps, MobileDevHQ saw somewhat erratic stats for specific popular apps as they popped up in random search terms like "banking," "home" and "music," among others. As seen in the above graphic, Chase Mobile moved up four spots to end up as the fourth hit for "banking," while Wells Fargo Mobile jumped 144 positions after the algorithm change. Percent change for both apps was above 50 percent.

According to other findings, after the new algorithms were instated, rankings for 62.8 percent of apps changed more than five spots, while 40 percent experience a change in rank of over 20 positions. Previously, on a normal day, 17 percent of apps for a specific keyword move five or more spots, while only 3 percent would jump over 20 places.

Perhaps more obvious to the end user will be the top-five apps for any keyword, 31 percent of which changed. This compares to a normal 8 percent margin of change prior to the tweaks.

Why Apple updated its search algorithms is unknown, though the company is continuously improving and refining its iOS App Store. In early 2012, Apple acquired app search engine Chomp and later rolled out the firm's technology as part of the App Store app in iOS 6.

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 6
    nagrommenagromme Posts: 2,834member
    Keep tweaking! If those ranking lists have to exist, tweaks are needed.

    Bigger "jostling" that results in a larger number of apps sharing in temporary Top List exposure sounds like it could be a good thing, vs. the same same lucky apps being re-discovered constantly while other worthy contenders fly under the radar.
  • Reply 2 of 6
    asciiascii Posts: 5,936member

    When an app crashes on iOS it automatically sends a crash report back to Apple. I would like to see them take these in to account in the search rankings, pushing apps down that crash a lot. Over time it would improve the user experience of the OS, giving it a reputation as very un-crashy, as well as providing an incentive to developers to test.

  • Reply 3 of 6
    welshdogwelshdog Posts: 1,896member

    I started reading this and then my eyes glazed over and some drool fell out of my mouth onto the keyboard.  I have trouble accepting that people make a living doing this kind of trivial shit.

  • Reply 4 of 6
    I was reading the chart included in the story and I saw the first search term and read it as "BONKING." I thought to myself, well that's certainly a novel search term.
  • Reply 5 of 6
    adamcadamc Posts: 583member
    welshdog wrote: »
    I started reading this and then my eyes glazed over and some drool fell out of my mouth onto the keyboard.  I have trouble accepting that people make a living doing this kind of trivial shit.

    Perhaps they have more mouths to feed with this kind of shit than you.

    Or they have the belief that someone will pay them enough for their company to buy their own island.
  • Reply 6 of 6
    As seen in the above graphic, <a href="http://appleinsider.com/l/?link=https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/chase-mobile-sm/id298867247"><em>Chase Mobile</em></a> moved up four spots to end up as the fourth hit for "banking.

    Five spots
    ascii wrote: »
    When an app crashes on iOS it automatically sends a crash report back to Apple. I would like to see them take these in to account in the search rankings, pushing apps down that crash a lot. Over time it would improve the user experience of the OS, giving it a reputation as very un-crashy, as well as providing an incentive to developers to test.

    Safari on iOS7 coming in at #1.

    (Cmd-C Cmd-V getting worn out at this site BTW. AI, underpowered by Huddler)
Sign In or Register to comment.