App Store and Google Play: how discovery works

People find apps in mainly three ways:

• Search — they type a word into the store's search bar. In both stores this is the single largest source of traffic
• Browse — top charts, categories, editorial picks, recommendations
• External referral — a link from TikTok, a website or a friend opens the store page directly

The marketing consequence of these three is completely different. Someone arriving from search comes with intent — they were looking for something. Someone arriving from outside is merely curious. That is why the same store page can convert at 30% on search traffic and 5% on TikTok traffic.

The difference between the two stores. Apple and Google reach the same goal by different routes, and that changes which text you write where.

On Apple's side there is a hidden keyword field: users never see it, but the search algorithm indexes it. Apple's documentation states plainly that keywords are limited to 100 characters, terms are separated by commas with no spaces (for example Property,House,Real Estate). It also advises not repeating words already in your app name, subtitle or category — those are indexed anyway.

On Google's side there is no separate keyword field. For Play, Google says directly that the title and description text help users discover your app, and to use SEO best practices in the description — without breaking the spam policy.

Apple, by contrast, states that the description does not affect search and says "don't add unnecessary keywords to your description in an attempt to improve search results". Apple also states that promotional text does not affect ranking.