why is my downloads and earning decreasing ?

Hey guys, i launched my app 36 days ago, on the 15th day my app downloads began to increase, it reached 10k downloads each day from 20th day to the day 33, when the 30 days passed i thought that i will get out of the top new free list so i will get lower downloads, but it actually continued for 3 or 4 days after the 30 days to get 10k downloads, so i thought i was in the safe side lol, but i’v released that the past 3 days the downloads in decreasing, to 8k then 7k and today 5k ! im not sure why this is happening ? and is there any way to increase it again ?

anyone did experience something like this guys ?

All of us are experiencing the same (at different level of DAU), we can say that is the normal life cycle of each app, it takes 2/3 months to get stable, the good point is that after that time you will get regular downloads (not 10k of course) and you will easily forecast your earnings

Hi, keep in mind that your app might have ranked good on some countries for some days after dropping off the top new free category list, check your app on App Annie and see in what counties your app ranked and is ranking to get a better picture on the long run.

so after 2/3 months does the app only depend on the search or does it appear in some lists ?

yes i actually was ranking good in the top new free lists, i was the number 10 app, but now im out of the list because i passed the 30 days, im wondering what sources do i get traffic from now ? the search engine or could i be on other lists ?

You were out of the daily ranks and feature lists after the 30 days? If you were of number 10 on top new free(category or general?) then i do believe your app still ranked on that country days after the 30 days, if that´s not the case then that´s really weird because it should had ranked

This can happen - the 30 day window can allow your app to reach top 10 or top 5 even - if there is some buzz around it. That SAME app can then be completely out of rankings after 30 days or some days. While another app may remain in rankings for a while.

Also you will notice that some countries can lag a bit - but for each country the DYNAMICS seem to be the same - and specific to that country. But the pattern is the same.

Occasionally (if your app is in the rankings - you can monitor with appannie.com or distimo.com for free) - and you can see that the app can go up and down on a daily basis in rankings for your category or overall.

Sometimes it will start to gain attention and then fall later. If your game/app is related to some keywords - then if those keywords appear in the news or are relevant (say your idea is related to a movie) - then you will see rankings reflect that - as a sudden spike of interest will propel rankings up again.

There can also be cases where an app is out of rankings completely - perhaps some type of Google banning - or if the Description has too much similarity - or if you switch categories (I am not sure because I had that happen with one app which was doing well - but then I switched categories - so it was that - or some such thing maybe).

USUALLY, the bulk of your downloads (for a non-buzz app) - will come from search results - which is why there is such emphasis on SEO to optimize - so it is similar to trying to get a webpage to rank higher in search results.

I don’t have much experience in this - and I don’t think you will find much discussion on SEO/ASO (app store optimization) here (because it is a “zero sum game” - where everyone is a competitor). Discussion of “which ad networks do I choose” is MUCH less competitive and which is why you find much more collaborative examination of monetization methods etc. - mainly because your revealing that “such and such ad network is better” may hurt revenues if too many developers jump into that ad network (and they don’t have adequate ad inventory) - however, that is less of an issue.

SEO is more competitive and is perhaps why most developers will be tight-lipped about their methods.

Here is a list of SEO optimization techniques I could think of:

  • copying of Description from another app (not directly necessarily but looking at the keywords etc.) - copying other’s description is a no-no though (can get you banned probbably)

  • inclusion of keywords used by other popular apps (is basically an examination of “what makes them come up in results”) - however here an app’s ranking may not just be because of it’s description - but it’s user comments, ratings etc. But probably for some apps which have similar ratings etc. as your app you can examine why their app is higher than yours - and the answer MAY be in their phrasing of their description or title.

  • title is very important (as Google I/O 2013 videos etc. also suggest) - is most important for search/keywords - so use the 30 characters WISELY. Some suggest even not putting the name you would like - but using names that fit more popular keywords.

  • choosing the icon - this is also supposedly VERY important - since other than title, this is the main thing which can attract people - so icon may indirectly suggest the sophistication of your app - or by it’s structure may indicate the use

  • then many people use deceptive tactics to increase downloads - buying of ratings from some folks in india (as advertised here or sometimes you will get such e-mail directly in your developer e-mail). Similarly buying of facebook likes, and such.

  • create a website, create a youtube video - presumably this helps overall with Google search/webpage ranking. Also youtube drives a very respectable traffic - so you could see some improvement from just that - as users on youtube discover your app that way. A possibly way would be to use keywords in your youtube video - to funnel user traffic (if you cannot do all that in your app title alone)

  • some suggest that your package name ALSO should have the relevant keywords i.e. it helps supposedly

  • the good news is that you can change your icon (as was suggested to mind for “Word Anagram”) as many times as you want (though who knows maybe there is some ban limit on this too - though I would suspect that is NOT the case since icon changes are not directly leveraging off other’s descriptions etc. like keyword copying etc. - though you MIGHT get into trouble if your icon looks suspiciously like Candy Cane Saga). However REALISTICALLY, I would guess that MANY candy crush-like game developers are probably looking at HOW/WHY of Candy Cane Saga and some maybe directly copying design ideas from icons etc.

  • with app Description and Title - I have seen that you CAN change the title around quite a bit (I haven’t done Description changes TOO often - except for the usual editing corrections etc.) - and it SHOULD NOT lead to a ban - as it seems Google encourages optimizing your description etc. to match what people want - though they do not want people copying others’ descriptions etc. - which may lead to ban. Google also does not like keyword stuffing - I have seen websites that suggest using the important keywords 5 times but no more (!) as that won’t help supposedly.

  • there are probably some other techniques also, but most developers would be tight-lipped about them as these could mean the difference between ranking 10 to 20 places up or down or maybe 100 places up/down in rankings …

EDIT:
For the bulk of the time - the daily downloads for an app seem to be related to it’s “SEO”/keyword searchability. And some weblogs etc. also suggest that (I think a fiksu.com blog post on that) - that majority downloads are from search discovery on Google Play (unless you are big time app - which is featured by Google etc. or in overall rankings).

Another way to get downloads is to be seen as “associated” with another famous app - I suppose there probably are outfits which are doing 100 installs of that app and YOUR app - to get you two associated. But otherwise Google will do this - and this could also be a source of traffic.

Google then uses that association to (started doing this more recently) - PERSONALIZED feature lists on main page of Google Play - which are recommended because users have another similar app installed. I don’t know if Google also uses you G+ rating or such to also figure out which apps to show - but that could be possible (if not now, then in the future).

thanks for mentioning appannie, i didnt know anything about it, i just found out that my new game (i released it 18 days ago) is ranking 105 in united kingdom for sport games :smiley:

hey thanks for your reply, but im kind of confused here, i was ranking in the top new free list in middle east countries, saudia arabia mainly , and everyone told me that you cannot appear on the top new free list more than 30 days since you launched your app, im not sure though if im in the category list or something because i dont live in saudia arabia, was you trying to say that if i ranked in the top new free list after 30 days i should rank in top free list, or in the category list ?

I am currently in the same situation as you are…
My game was in the top of the top new free list until the end of 30 days…
The only difference is that my game is a huge success in India and I live in India…Its currently in the top free list(13-50 positions) when i check market from here and I am getting 5k+ downloads these days…

omg i checked the top free list too in saudia arabia and im number 16, im also getting 5k downloads these days today it was 4500, i hope it doesn’t get less tho, guys do you think my downloads could be stable at 5k downloads ? im also ranking number 1 app in the category, and im making about $30 per day from admob only

To be honest, I don’t think so, your downloads will decrease untill 500-1000 DAU and after that if you app is good enough then is possible to go up again (but no 5k)

ouch, why will it decrees if it is in the top free list ? and also then how developers can make some profit if the high number of users last only these few days ?

by using more than just banners, at least add iterstitial as exit ads, you are missing a lot of revenue

yes eyad i understand, please respond to this post :slight_smile: http://forums.makingmoneywithandroid.com/advertising-networks/2333-some-questions-about-mobilecore.html

Yes they were correct after 30 days you get out of the of the top new free lists, but if you check your app on AppAnnie and go to “Daily ranks” you can see if your app is ranking in any country. If you are just ranking on specific category it will say on which category you are ranking, but if you are ranking on some country on top free overall list it will say overall which sums app rankings of all categories.

Check candy crush saga on app annie to understand better what i am talking about: Candy Crush Saga - Daily Ranks | App Annie

In this case you can see the app is ranking overall in some countries that is also ranking good on games section and on casual category.

If you click on link featured you will see that the app is also being featured on some countries.

yep i checked, i found out that my app is ranking number 16 on top free list and number 1 in music category, but im wounding why is my downloads still decreasing ? and do you think it will stay stable at this number ? its currently 5k downloads each day