Android Market Rankings Now Factoring in App Engagment

• Kevin Krause
• 14 years ago

Google is not confirming the matter, but it appears the Android Market ranking algorithm has been tweaked to factor in app engagement. So says Geoff Cook, CEO of social neworking site myYearbook. According to Cook, myYearbook recently saw a huge jump in its Android Market ranking, moving from #63 up to #11 in the Top Free Social category even though daily install numbers remained relatively static. Other apps seeing a big jump in the same time period? Seesmic moved from #39 to #10 and Gowalla was bumped from #78 to #18.

Cook sees only one explanation: the Android Market must now be factoring in engagement when ranking applications, a model he sees as much more accurate for ranking. The exact algorithm is a secret only Google knows, but it most likely is some combination of daily downloads, daily active users, and daily monthly users. This system of ranking helps to separate highly downloaded apps that quickly lose users from applications receiving less downloads but growing a strong user base.

Keep it as speculation for now, but a glance at the rankings in the Market shows they have definitely shifted, and mostly for the better.

[via GigaOM]