Google to rank Play Store apps based on "quality"

Google's Android Play Store is about to take into account app crashes and overall performance for ranking purposes.

With "millions" of apps available, the problem with app stores is finding the best apps - other than the "well known" apps almost everyone knows and uses. That's why Google is about to consider app quality for ranking purposes on its Play Store.

Google already takes into account things like the speed a web page loads in its web search engine, now it will apply the same principle to Android apps on the Play Store. When we're looking for a app, it's likely we'll be confronted with a list of hundreds of possible candidates, many of which will look very similar, prompting us to enter a "install-try-uninstall" where we'll face dozens of very low quality apps. To make things worse, when we're talking about less popular apps, the rating system isn't particular useful, as shady developers can easily buy downloads and ratings. So, Google is relying on something that can't be easily gamed...

Play Store results will take into account things like app crashes, CPU usage, and other factors, demoting apps considered to be "low quality" apps. Hopefully, that will help users find what they're looking for faster, while at the same time it will also be an "incentive" for developers to focus on their app's quality.