Search ranking vs chart ranking
- Search ranking: where an app appears when someone searches a term like “budget planner”. This is where most installs come from.
- Chart ranking: an app’s position in the top charts — top free or top paid, overall or per category — mostly driven by recent downloads.
How does Apple rank apps?
Apple says App Store search results are based on text relevance and user behavior:
| Factor | What it means | What you control |
|---|---|---|
| Text relevance | Does the search match your name, subtitle, keyword field, in-app purchase names? | App Store keywords |
| Downloads | Installs, especially recent ones and from that search | Listing, ads, launches |
| Conversion | How often people who see you in results install | Icon, first screenshots, rating |
| Ratings and reviews | Average, number and how recent | Review prompt, replies, fixes |
| Engagement | Whether users keep the app | Retention, quality |
Google Play works similarly but also reads the full description and uses published quality thresholds for crash rate and ANRs. The full breakdown is in App Store ranking factors.
Why rankings differ by country and person
- Each storefront has its own ranking, based on local downloads, ratings and the localization’s keywords.
- Results can be personalized by what someone has installed or searched before.
- Rankings move daily, especially for apps outside the top few positions.
So checking your rank by searching on your own phone gives only one data point.
How to check your app store ranking
- App Store Connect → Analytics: impressions and installs from App Store Search show whether search traffic grows.
- Google Play Console → Statistics: installs by traffic source, including search.
- ASO tools track positions for specific keywords per country over time.
- Your listing health: the free App Store listing analyzer scores the factors you control.
Example
After a release that crashes on older Android phones, an app sees a spike in one-star reviews and uninstalls. Its ranking for its main keyword drops from 4 to 11 within a week. A hotfix and quick developer responses help it recover — which is why teams watch app reviews closely after every release.