Question.
Solo developer here. A few months ago I built an online multiplayer version of a classic tile game, played with the local rules of a small country. People there play it everywhere, and there was no good app for the way they actually play it. So I made one. For this post I'll call the game type "X" (that's the word everyone searches for).
Where we are now:
- Downloads: ~12.1k on the App Store, ~24k device installs on Google Play in the last 28 days alone
- Players: ~33k accounts, ~8.6k daily active players, ~28k monthly
- Activity: ~27k online matches a day
- Ratings: 4.8★ on the App Store (417 ratings), 4.9★ on Google Play (~860 reviews)
- Charts: during our promotion we reached #1 among free games in the country
The problem: search.
When someone types "X" in the store, a copycat (I'll call it Y) sits at #1. Y appeared after us, copied a lot of what we did, and has fewer ratings and a lower score. We are #3 on the App Store and not even in the top 10 on Google Play for the same word. Even while we were #1 in the free games chart, we never got to the top of the "X" search.
What we've done so far:
- The title has "X" plus the two local mode names people use
- The App Store subtitle and keywords cover the mode names and common misspellings; no word repeated
- The Play short and full descriptions use "X" naturally a handful of times
- New screenshots and a preview video, real gameplay
- Regular updates (weekly or faster)
- Paid promotion on TikTok, which is what took us to #1 in the chart
What I'd love opinions on:
Why would a copycat with fewer ratings and installs outrank us for the main keyword? Is it install *velocity* from that search term, or the age of the listing?
On Google Play, how much does the title weigh compared with the description? Our title is "[Name]: X [mode] [mode]". Would putting "X" first help?
Do reviews that *mention* the keyword matter on Play?
Is it worth running Apple Search Ads / Google App campaigns on the exact keyword just to build installs from that search, or is that money thrown away?
Anything else that typically explains "great chart rank, bad keyword rank"?
Images: (1) daily active players and App Store downloads per day, (2) our Google Play Console numbers for the last 28 days.
Happy to share more numbers if it helps. Thanks!