Not found under search terms

I have recently launched an app. it’s been about two weeks and the only way my app can be found is by typing the name in exactly as it’s spelled. I am not being found under any search terms. Any help or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Answered by Etresoft in 903438022

I am not being found under any search terms.

That's common. Many people complain about that. But with over two million apps, searching is going to be a challenge.

the only way my app can be found is by typing the name in exactly as it’s spelled

You are doing better than many other apps then.

Any help or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

To be honest, search was never one of Apple's strengths. I don't think it's a good idea to rely solely on the App Store for discovery.

I also don't recommend purchasing any ads. They don't work like many developers think they do. In my opinion, they only serve to establish a sense of "presence", "size", or market dominance for an app. So therefore, they're only going to be effective with you literally paint the internet with ads. There are many examples of successful ad campaigns using this strategy.

Unless you are willing to spend a very large amount of ad money, you will need to try a more organic method. Beware of internet scams in this domain. Apple knows about those and will reject your app and terminate your developer account if they find that kind of activity.

I checked your listing with the public iTunes search API just now, so here is what is actually happening rather than a guess. Good news first: your app is indexed fine. Searching "outmark" in the US store returns it in position 1. So nothing is broken. The problem is ranking, not indexing. I ran the generic terms for your niche — "hunting map", "gps hunting", "hunting app", "deer hunting map", "hunt gps" — and you are not in the top 50 for any of them. Those terms return 40-50 results each, and the top spots are held by apps with years of downloads and tens of thousands of ratings. Your app is 10 days old with 4 ratings. The search algorithm weighs downloads, ratings and engagement heavily, so a brand-new app simply does not surface for competitive terms yet, no matter how relevant it is. Two weeks is nothing on that clock. What actually moves it, from having gone through this ourselves: Make sure the 100-character keyword field in App Store Connect is completely full, and spend it on long-tail terms you can actually win ("deer stand marker", "hunting waypoints", that kind of thing) instead of "hunting app", which you will not crack for months. Your subtitle repeats words already in your title. Words in the title and subtitle are the strongest ranking signal you control — do not waste the subtitle duplicating them, use it for a second set of terms. Ask for ratings in-app (SKStoreReviewController) at a happy moment. Volume of ratings is a ranking input, and 4 vs 100 is a different league for the algorithm. If you can spare even a tiny budget, Apple Search Ads on your own niche terms does two things: instant visibility while organic catches up, and real data on which terms actually convert — which then tells you what to put in the keyword field. You can verify all of this yourself without waiting for anyone: https://itunes.apple.com/search?term=YOUR+TERM&country=us&entity=software — if your trackId is in the results, you are indexed and it is a ranking problem; if it is not there at all for your exact name, then something is actually broken. Hang in there. The exact-name-only phase is normal for week two.

Accepted Answer

I am not being found under any search terms.

That's common. Many people complain about that. But with over two million apps, searching is going to be a challenge.

the only way my app can be found is by typing the name in exactly as it’s spelled

You are doing better than many other apps then.

Any help or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

To be honest, search was never one of Apple's strengths. I don't think it's a good idea to rely solely on the App Store for discovery.

I also don't recommend purchasing any ads. They don't work like many developers think they do. In my opinion, they only serve to establish a sense of "presence", "size", or market dominance for an app. So therefore, they're only going to be effective with you literally paint the internet with ads. There are many examples of successful ad campaigns using this strategy.

Unless you are willing to spend a very large amount of ad money, you will need to try a more organic method. Beware of internet scams in this domain. Apple knows about those and will reject your app and terminate your developer account if they find that kind of activity.

Don't use the comments. They hide your reply.

Nothing in my reply should be considered "confirmation". I'm not an Apple employee. I'm just guessing based on the hundreds (thousands?) of virtually identical posts here in the forums.

It doesn't take a genius to deduce that Apple is really bad at search.

I have zero knowledge of any relevant details. It could easily be something else. But it probably isn't.

Not found under search terms
 
 
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