4 ms·

One thing I wonder is if AppGratis' s business model (intentionally or not) games Apple's App Store ranking algorithm... Why not just change the algorithm inste

by fpgeek 14y ago

One thing I wonder is if AppGratis' s business model (intentionally or not) games Apple's App Store ranking algorithm... Why not just change the algorithm instead of playing whack-a-mole with AppGratis and similar apps? For example, I could imagine Apple requiring disclosure of promoted apps and factoring that in to the rankings. Sure, that adjustment wouldn't be perfect, but there's lots of other noise to deal with (e.g. iOS apps with Android counterparts that are featured by Amazon or Google can see a significant bump) that it shouldn't be hard to make it good enough.

itafroma 14y ago
I'm somewhat surprised Apple doesn't do something similar to what Google does in their SERPs: blacklist anyone caught paying for placement from the App Store rankings.
- fpgeek 14y ago
  One complication is that Apple's "death penalty" is at least theoretically far harsher than Google's. With Google's even if you're blacklisted people can still go to your site and use it if they want to. The only penalty is that the site is (much) harder to find (especially when you're not looking for that site specifically). With Apple's, once an app is kicked out of their app store, there's no way to use it short of jailbreaking (with the possible exception of grandfathering depending on the particular circumstances).
  - itafroma 14y ago
    Oh, I'm not suggesting Apple blacklist an app entirely. Rather, remove them from consideration from the Top Paid/Free/Grossing lists (or put them at the bottom). Maybe even remove them from keyword search results in more severe cases. So you could still find the app by direct link or searching for the app name, but paying to increase rankings would be for naught. Like Google, Apple could then accept reconsideration requests that demonstrate the app is no longer the beneficiary of app store ranking manipulation.
    - fpgeek 14y ago
      Ah, that's a much more proportional response. That makes a lot of sense to me (though maybe not to Apple who often seems to act in black and white).
threeseed 14y ago
Because it is about more than the algorithm. Developers shouldn't have to spend $100K to get into the top 10 of an App Store. For whatever reason. That is money that Apple would much rather see dedicated to making better apps.
- fpgeek 14y ago
  If a developers are willing to spend $100K or more there are always going to be lots of ways they can artificially push up their ranking. How does it make sense to target specific instances of the problem instead of trying to make the associated techniques less effective overall? Suppose AppGratis successfully transitions to a newsletter / web app model instead (and all the "big bad Apple" publicity is probably helping with that), is the impact on the App Store that much smaller? Or does Apple just have fewer options to respond with?

by fpgeek 14y ago

itafroma 14y ago

I'm somewhat surprised Apple doesn't do something similar to what Google does in their SERPs: blacklist anyone caught paying for placement from the App Store rankings.

fpgeek 14y ago
One complication is that Apple's "death penalty" is at least theoretically far harsher than Google's. With Google's even if you're blacklisted people can still go to your site and use it if they want to. The only penalty is that the site is (much) harder to find (especially when you're not looking for that site specifically). With Apple's, once an app is kicked out of their app store, there's no way to use it short of jailbreaking (with the possible exception of grandfathering depending on the particular circumstances).
- itafroma 14y ago
  Oh, I'm not suggesting Apple blacklist an app entirely. Rather, remove them from consideration from the Top Paid/Free/Grossing lists (or put them at the bottom). Maybe even remove them from keyword search results in more severe cases. So you could still find the app by direct link or searching for the app name, but paying to increase rankings would be for naught. Like Google, Apple could then accept reconsideration requests that demonstrate the app is no longer the beneficiary of app store ranking manipulation.
  - fpgeek 14y ago
    Ah, that's a much more proportional response. That makes a lot of sense to me (though maybe not to Apple who often seems to act in black and white).

threeseed 14y ago

Because it is about more than the algorithm. Developers shouldn't have to spend $100K to get into the top 10 of an App Store. For whatever reason. That is money that Apple would much rather see dedicated to making better apps.

fpgeek 14y ago
If a developers are willing to spend $100K or more there are always going to be lots of ways they can artificially push up their ranking. How does it make sense to target specific instances of the problem instead of trying to make the associated techniques less effective overall? Suppose AppGratis successfully transitions to a newsletter / web app model instead (and all the "big bad Apple" publicity is probably helping with that), is the impact on the App Store that much smaller? Or does Apple just have fewer options to respond with?