How does play store SEO supposed to work?

[orangpelupa]

For example, when I search for starfield watch face.

It brings cosmic citizen watch face as the 1st result.

The weird thing is that, yes it is indeed a starfield watch clone. But it doesn't have "starfield" mentioned anywhere in the app listing.

On the other hand if I Google starfield watch face. It brings star field watch face play store as 1st result, and cosmic citizen is nowhere to be found.

The Google result made sense, as cosmic citizen doesn't mention starfield anywhere.

So this is very confusing, how is play store SEO supposed to work?

I have experienced this multiple times where searching for the exact app name also didn't bring the app, but other apps instead. Again, using Google search ultimately giving me the proper app in the search result. Often for open source apps that are totally free, like those that are available both on playstore and fdroid.

 

[hassot918]

Play Store SEO works differently from Google Search because it prioritizes relevance, user behavior, and engagement over strict keyword matching. Even if "Cosmic Citizen Watch Face" doesn’t mention "Starfield," it might rank because users searching for "Starfield watch face" frequently click on or install it. The Play Store algorithm also considers app metadata, category, reviews, and engagement metrics, not just keywords in the title or description. This is why Play Store search results can differ from Google Search, which relies more on exact text matching. If you're a developer, optimizing your title, description, and encouraging relevant reviews can help. If you're just searching for apps, using Google Search instead of Play Store search often gives better results.