docs/html/distribute/googleplay/about.jd

page.title=The Google Play Opportunity
meta.tags="visibility, growth, distributing"
page.tags="play, apps, distributing, publishing"
page.metaDescription=Billions of downloads a month and growing. Get your apps in front of users at Google's scale.
page.image=images/cards/google-play_2x.png

@jd:body

    <div id="qv-wrapper">           
  <div id="qv">
  <h2>About Google Play</h2>
    <ol style="list-style-type:none;">
      <li><a href="#reach">Worldwide Reach, Rapid Growth</a></li>
      <li><a href="#ratings-reviews">User Ratings and Reviews</a></li>
      <li><a href="#category-browsing">Category Browsing</a></li>
      <li><a href="#search">Search</a></li>
      <li><a href="#top-charts-and-lists">Top Charts and Lists</a></li>
      <li><a href="#featured-staff-picks">Featured, Staff Picks, Collections, and Badges</a></li>
      <li><a href="#product-detail-pages">Store Listing Pages</a></li>
      <li><a href="#related-resources">Related Resources</a></li>
    </ol>
  </div>
</div>

<p>
  Google Play is the premier store for distributing Android apps. When you
  publish on Google Play, you put your apps in front of Android's huge base of
  active customers, in more than 190 countries and territories across the
  world.
</p>

<div>
  <img src="{@docRoot}images/gp-about-0.jpg" alt="Google Play on an Android Tablet"
  style="width:480px;position:relative" />
</div>

<p>
  Google Play is a central part of the Android experience. New users
  personalize their devices with apps, games, and other Google Play content.
  Existing users return regularly to see what's trending and new. Downloading
  new apps is extremely convenient and fast&mdash; Google Play pushes apps to
  the user's devices instantly, over the air.
</p>

<p>
  Google Play is also a top destination for web users. Anyone with a browser
  can explore Google Play on the web. Android users can even buy and install
  the apps they want and Google Play pushes them automatically to their devices
  with no cables required.
</p>

<p>
  The accessibility and convenience of the Google Play web site give you new
  ways to drive traffic to your products from many sources, such as online ads,
  web search and cross-linking. Google Play is designed to connect users with
  great apps and games. It provides key channels to get your app noticed and
  gain traction in the marketplace.
</p>

<div class="headerLine">
  <h2 id="ratings-reviews">
    User Ratings and Reviews
  </h2>


</div>

<p>
  Prospective users look at ratings and reviews as key benchmarks of app
  quality. By rating apps from one to five stars and posting reviews, Android
  users show their appreciation for the apps they have downloaded.
</p>

<p>
  <strong>Your app's rating is one of the most important factors influencing
  its ranking</strong> in the Google Play lists and search results. It's also
  one of the key metrics that the editorial staff looks for when curating apps
  and games for promotion in the store.
</p>

<div class="img" style="padding: 1em auto;width:96%;">
  <img src="{@docRoot}images/gp-rating-web.png" style="border:1px solid #ddd;">
</div>

<div class="headerLine">
  <h2 id="category-browsing">
    Category Browsing
  </h2>


</div>

<p>
  When you publish an app in Google Play, you pick the category where you want
  users to find your app. More than 30 categories are available. Inside each
  category, apps are ranked based on a combination of ratings, reviews,
  downloads, country, and other factors.
</p>

<div class="headerLine">
  <h2 id="search">
    Search
  </h2>


</div>

<p>
  Search on Google Play lets users pinpoint an app or game quickly. Search uses
  powerful heuristics to suggest terms as the user types, and it offers direct
  links to apps as suggestions. In results, users find the most relevant, most
  popular apps at the top.
</p>

<div class="headerLine">
  <h2 id="top-charts-and-lists">
    Top Charts and Lists
  </h2>


</div>

<div class="figure">
  <img src="{@docRoot}images/gp-about-top.jpg">
</div>

<p>
  Top charts keep users in touch with what’s popular and trending with Android
  users, right from the Apps and Games home pages. The charts stay fresh,
  updating several times each day based on recent download activity. As an
  app's ratings and download activity grow, it can move up in the charts.
</p>

<p>
  To make the charts as relevant as possible for users across the world, they
  are also country-specific in Google Play's most popular countries. As your
  apps get traction and build momentum in downloads and ratings, they’ll climb
  one or more of the top charts and gain even more exposure.
</p>

<table style="width:50%;">
  <tr>
    <td>
      Top Free
    </td>
    <td>
      Free apps and free games lists
    </td>
  </tr>

  <tr>
    <td>
      Top Paid
    </td>
    <td>
      Paid apps and paid games lists
    </td>
  </tr>

  <tr>
    <td>
      Top Grossing
    </td>
    <td>
      Gross proceeds, free or paid
    </td>
  </tr>

  <tr>
    <td>
      Top New Free
    </td>
    <td>
      Less than 30 days old
    </td>
  </tr>

  <tr>
    <td>
      Top New Paid
    </td>
    <td>
      Less than 30 days old
    </td>
  </tr>

  <tr>
    <td>
      Trending
    </td>
    <td>
      New arrivals growing quickly in installs
    </td>
  </tr>
</table>

<div class="headerLine">
  <h2 id="featured-staff-picks">
    Featured, Staff Picks, Collections, and Badges
  </h2>


</div>

<p>
  The Google Play editorial team is dedicated to bringing the best apps to the
  attention of users and setting the tone for app quality throughout the store.
  It constantly reviews apps from across Google Play to find not only the
  best-known apps and games, but also the "diamonds in the rough" that they
  want more people to see. The team promotes great apps in the
  <em>Featured</em>, <em>Staff Picks</em>, and other collections.
</p>

<p>
  You can't nominate your app for featuring, but the team is always monitoring
  Google Play for great apps. If you build an app that users love and that
  looks great on Android devices, the editorial team will notice.
</p>

<h3 id="featured-staff-picks2">
  Featured and Staff Picks
</h3>

<p>
  Each week the Google Play editorial staff selects a new set of apps to
  promote in its popular <em>Featured</em> and <em>Staff Picks</em>
  collections.
</p>

<p>
  The <em>Featured</em> collections highlight the latest and greatest app and
  game titles available for Android. The list also includes the best and most
  popular apps in the top categories are also featured. <em>Staff Picks</em>
  collects all recently featured apps and games on Google Play. To focus on
  tablet users, A special <em>Staff Picks</em> collection highlights the best
  apps for Android tablets.
</p>

<table style="text-align:center;margin:1.5em 0;">
  <tr>
    <td style="border:none;">
      <img src="{@docRoot}images/gp-about-picks1.jpg">
      <p>
        Featured
      </p>
    </td>
    <td style="border:none;">
      <img src="{@docRoot}images/gp-about-picks2.jpg">
      <p>
        Collection
      </p>
    </td>
    <td style="border:none;">
      <img src="{@docRoot}images/gp-about-picks3.jpg">
      <p>
        Editors' Choice
      </p>
    </td>
  </tr>
</table>

<h3 id="collections">
  App collections
</h3>

<p>
  From time to time the editorial staff puts together a collection of apps and
  games based on a theme or seasonal event. Users frequently use these lists to
  select apps, attracted by the timeliness of the collection.
</p>

<p>
  The editorial staff chooses apps for collection promotions &mdash;
  high-quality apps that show the best of Android on phones and tablets. The
  staff also looks for apps that can make an interesting or unique contribution
  to the collection as a whole.
</p>

<h3 id="editors-choice">
  <img style="margin-right:.25em;margin-bottom:.5em;" src=
  "{@docRoot}images/editorschoice_ann.png"> Editors' Choice
</h3>

<p>
  <em>Editors’ Choice</em> is a curated collection of apps that highlights some
  of the very best apps available on Android. Editors choose these apps for
  quality and great user interface, long-term popularity and innovative use of
  Android features.
</p>

<p>
  Apps chosen for <em>Editors’ Choice</em> also receive a badge that is
  displayed wherever the app name is seen in Google Play.
</p>

<h3 id="top-developer">
  <img style="margin-right:.25em;margin-bottom:.5em;" src=
  "{@docRoot}images/topdev_ann.png"> Top Developer
</h3>

<p>
  Top Developer is a badge recognizing established, respected developers for
  their commitment to launching high-quality and innovative apps on Android.
  The Google Play editorial staff awards a Top Developer badge from
  time-to-time based on the cumulative work of the developer.
</p>

<p>
  The Top Developer badge appears next to the developer name wherever it is
  displayed in Google Play. The badge means long-term recognition of all of the
  developer’s apps. It signifies an additional level of trust and confidence
  users have in a developer’s products.
</p>

<div class="headerLine">
  <h2 id="product-detail-pages">
    Store Listing Pages
  </h2>


</div>

<div class="figure">
  <img src="{@docRoot}images/gp-about-listing.jpg">
</div>

<p>
  Your app’s Google Play storefront is its <em>store listing page</em>: a rich
  and colorful page that lets you promote your app, highlight its ratings and
  reviews, and show what your app can do.
</p>

<p>
  Your store listing is where your users come to find out everything about your
  app. When they see your app listed in search results, top charts, category
  listings, and collections, one tap takes them directly to your store listing.
</p>

<p>
  Manage your product details page through the <a href=
  "https://play.google.com/apps/publish/">Google Play Developer Console</a>
  from any web browser. Sign in to upload or update your brand assets, and
  enter your product details in the languages of your markets.
</p>

<p>
  When you publish, Google Play adds your app’s ratings, reviews, links to your
  other products, and more. It also makes sure your store listing page looks
  great on phones, tablets, and in a web browser.
</p>

<p>
  You can link web users directly to your product details page from outside
  Google Play, such as from your web site, an ad campaign, reviews, social
  media posts, and more. See <a href=
  "{@docRoot}distribute/tools/promote/linking.html">Linking to Your
  Products</a> to find out how.
</p>

<p style="clear:both">
</p>

<div class="headerLine">
<h2>Related Resources</h2>
</div>

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