App Store SEO what did
the 2012 “Chomp” update change by AppCodes October 10th 2016 still valid for iOS10

A brief history of App
Store Search 2008 - original search 2009 - 100-character space for keywords 2012 - “Chomp update” 2013 - occasional small algorithm changes, and Apple seems to shuffle apps around in the store from time to time - but the basic rules introduced by the Chomp update remain the same 2016 - conversion matters? in 2016 the app positions seem to change more often than before. Our bet is that conversion matters - if your app is irrelevant to the search results, it will drop in position

App description still
doesn’t matter

Apple handles plural forms much
better now. If you want to position for “Donuts”, and you’re missing just one letter - use just “donut”. The result will be very close

App keywords now matter almost
as much as the app name. The bonus for the exact name match is much lower now than before the update (in the past, if user searched for “Zombo Game”, the app titled “Zombo Game” would always show up on top.This no longer holds)

In-app purchase names don’t help
much with positioning now. This wiped out a plenty of spam apps. Yay! But also wiped out some legitimate apps :(

The search on the device
no longer accounts for category name e.g. search for “motivapps productivity” shows our apps in iTunes, but not on the device. in AppCodes.com we show device results so either check your position on device, or using us :) “motivapps productivity” iTunes iPhone

If your app is free,
the word “free” is added implicitly to your keyword list that means - no need to add those words to your keyword list

You get no bonus from
using whole phrases in your keyword list. instead of “love letter,letter writer” use “love,letter,writer” in the keyword list

in other words...

The search is still quite
dumb No “smart description understanding” good description with keywords inside empty description + 2 days of waiting

The search is still quite
dumb Only a very basic spelling correction

Although... Plural forms are handled
far better now than before “love letters” “loves letters” almost the same results

Although... Sales are not the
only factor Top 1000 apps (marked red) appear all over the chart in the results

although… Sales are not the
only factor Flashlight.* 246k total dls in U.S. Top 461 overall in U.S. Updated Mar 22, 2012 Flashlight * 1,6M total dls in U.S. Top 248 overall in U.S. Updated Jun 12, 2012 Why the hell is Flashlight.* higher than Flashlight *?

oh, and by the way

Oh, and by the way
We *love* that Apple has gotten rid of in-app purchase spammers. before after

Oh, and by the way
And the new search results seem much more relevant. Good job, Apple! before after

All in all make sure
that your title & keywords are fine and see which ones work best. iterate, iterate, iterate the research prepared by AppCodes.com The Swiss Army Knife for App Store Optimization click to visit