Coming soon
Coming soon
You’d have found it difficult to miss the big news coming out from Google last month: they’re tightening up the rules for apps featuring on their store.
Measures such as new policies towards apps that preach “hate speech”, and the decision to enforce use of Google Play’s in-app billing system understandably took most of the headlines, but there were some big changes in the small print that could potentially affect a lot of your product’s in-app marketing efforts. So, if you want to stay on the right side of the Google Play Police, follow our top five tips for safe in-app marketing.
1) Don’t mess around with your users’ devices
If you’ve been using your app to make changes to a user’s device (such as inserting advertising icons onto the home screen or reordering app icons) then chances are you’re falling foul of Google’s new System Interference policy.
Added to the terms and conditions before the latest changes, the new part of the developer policy makes it crystal clear that interfering with devices is a now a big no no:
“An app downloaded from Google Play (or its components or derivative elements) must not make changes to the user’s device outside of the app without the user’s knowledge and consent."
And, in case you are still thinking about making changes, you’re going to have to make sure users know exactly what you’re doing to their handsets and how to turn it off:
“If an app makes such changes with the user’s knowledge and consent, it must be clear to the user which app has made the change and the user must be able to reverse the change easily, or by uninstalling the app altogether.”
So our advice is to quietly drop any features of your app that may do any of the above. It’s clear that Google doesn’t want them and it’s unlikely that there is much benefit you can derive from using them as part of your marketing strategy.
2) Ditch system level third party advertising
In particular, the reason why most developers won’t be able to get value from adding icons and widgets to a home screen is simple: a blanket ban on system level advertising.
“Apps and their ads must not add homescreen shortcuts, browser bookmarks, or icons on the user’s device as a service to third parties or for advertising purposes.”
And, to add insult to injury, that includes a ban on pushing third party adverts to users via notifications on the device.
“Apps and their ads must not display advertisements through system level notifications on the user’s device”
Fortunately, you’re still allowed to use notifications to advertise services within your apps (e.g an airline app notifying users of special deals or a game advertising a currency sale).
But if you’ve been displaying third party adverts to users via push notifications or on the home screen, it’s clear that Google want you to stop what you’re doing as soon as possible.
3) Write quality app descriptions, not SEO spam
One of the major advantages that Google Play app store descriptions have over iOS counterparts is the ability to leverage traditional SEO to bump an app up the charts. With marketers able to insert backlinks and marshall keywords to boost their apps position, Android app descriptions have turned into a bit of an SEO battleground.
As a result of this, Google have changed the rules to force developers to use SEO fairly. In the amended Network Usage and Terms, abuse of SEO is no longer tolerated by Google:
“Product descriptions should not be misleading or loaded with keywords in an attempt to manipulate ranking or relevancy in the Store’s search results” has been changed to “Do not use irrelevant, misleading, or excessive keywords in apps descriptions, titles, or metadata.”
Therefore, you need to focus on writing high quality editorial for apps and fine-tune it with White Hat digital marketing practices, not by spamming your descriptions with keywords to reach the top.
4) Don’t be pushy with your advertising
While consumers are getting more used to adverts in their games due to the rise of freemium, it doesn’t mean that they necessarily like it. There’s a big difference between “tolerance” and “enthusiasm” and, when it comes to adverts, consumers tend to fall into the former.
Google have recognised that and introduced rules to stop companies from forcing users to interact with adverts. Put rather bluntly in the terms and conditions:
“Forcing the user to click on ads or submit personal information for advertising purposes in order to fully use an app provides a poor user experience and is prohibited. Users must be able to dismiss the ad without penalty.”
Make sure, then, that your advertising isn’t being pushy with your users and forcing them to interact. Not only will Google be unhappy with you, your advertising partners are going to be upset that you’ve been charging them for ransomed clicks. And that isn’t going to work out well for you.
5) Make your changes quickly
Finally, if you are affected by any of the changes above, you’re going to need to really get a move on and make those changes quickly if you want to stay on the Play store. Google are not hanging around with this and are offering you only 30 days to make changes to your app.
In fact, by the time you’re reading this, it’ll probably be little more than two weeks to go. So check through your app, make sure it follows the new rules and, if it doesn’t, put those development resources to work while you can. As Google begins to police the Play store more actively, it’s a good time to make sure you’re on the right side of the law.
Are your app marketing efforts affected by the changes to the Google Play rules? We offer user acquisition services on Android and you can find out more about them by emailing info@magicsolver.com