Okay. So let's talk about the black hat techniques. 1
So as with anything be an algorithm or search engine, if it has rules then it can be gamed. 2
And this is what's happening on both the Google Play store as well as the iOS App Store. 3
There are a whole bunch of companies in China that does something called 刷榜 (shuabang). And what they do is 4
that they have 150 to 200 employees each manning a rack that looks like this with maybe 100 iPhones 5
that each have an iTunes account. 6
So, in China in order to sign up for iTunes account you don't need a credit card. 7
So these companies have generated loads and loads of iTunes accounts. And what they do is that once you 8
pay for a boosted ranking of your app they go and download your app on every single one of these iTunes 9
accounts. 10
Then they uninstall it. 11
So effectively what you get is maybe 10,000 or 20,000 downloads of your app in a day propelling it up 12
the category rankings. 13
Now what they can also do is to leave five star reviews. So if you have come across a five star review 14
that looks like it was jibberish, then it was probably done by one of these companies. And the tactics 15
for Android is even crazier. 16
So they can install widgets like you thought that you were downloading a widget for the weather app. 17
Well actually what it does is that while you're asleep at night your phone is installing and uninstalling 18
loads and loads of apps in order to boost those apps in the app rankings. 19
And it's well-known that there's a lot of phones that have and it's well-known that you can get a lot 20
of security vulnerabilities on Android phones. 21
So you can have rats installed, 22
you can have things that basically take over your device and do things that help the guy who made it 23
make money by propelling people's apps to the top of the app stores. 24
Now this can suck if you are that guy who a) gets your phone hijacked by some company that's downloading 25
all of these random apps which then gets uninstalled before you notice anything. 26
But also it sucks for those people who are genuinely trying to put a good app onto the app store when 27
you're trying to compete with these types of practices. 28
So I mean one of the things is that this is actually not cheap. 29
So for example this is a screen cap that somebody took from a company that offered this type of service. 30
So to translate if you want to get a top 10 in the games category then you're going to have to pay about 31
seven grand upfront for getting into the charts. 32
And then every week you're going to have to pay about 30 grand in order to stay in the top 10. 33
But once you get there in the charts then you're guaranteed to get tens of thousands of downloads 34
per day. And if you can monetize those users well then you will make more profits than how much you paid 35
to the guys who did this. 36
But the thing about this is that a lot of the practices are illegal especially for the Android platform. 37
And in order to sustain in the top 10 if you don't actually have a good product, you will have to keep 38
paying that money in order to get these artificial downloads. 39
And remember those artificial downloads don't generate you any revenue. 40
These guys who are working on getting your app download and getting it reviewed are not going to pay 41
you for your in-app purchases. 42
And in fact if they have to pay to install that app you're going to have to foot the bill for that. 43
So if your operative needs to pay $1.99 for your app, then you're going to have to subsidize that one 44
nine nine. 45
But remember that Apple and Google both take a 30 percent cut of whatever it is that you earn on the 46
app stores. 47
Both app stores are kind of turning a blind eye onto this practice because they're actually earning 48
a whole load of money out of it. 49
Now one of the things that's really rampant outside of China is review gaming. 50
So basically anybody with a Google account can review your Android app and anybody with an iTunes account 51
can review your iOS app. 52
And if you search on a jobs board like fiverr.com you'll see a lot of people who will give you X 53
number of views for $5. 54
And my advice is to stay well away from it because while I say that Apple and Google are turning a blind 55
eye to this I have seen cases where apps get pulled because the app developers trying to manipulate 56
the app stores by review gaming or by downloads gaming. 57
And if you do get picked up by either of these platform it can end up in a lifetime ban. 58
So my advice is just stick with the white hat techniques. 59
There's plenty to choose from 60
and they really do work. 61
And if you want long term sustainable organic downloads then white hat is the way to go.