How App Store Ratings & Reviews Affect App Visibility?

Every company in today’s world has an app to provide a better experience to its customers than a website. Apps help customers to connect with their favourite businesses instantly and avail their services smoothly. To ensure that the user only downloads the best app in the category, the Apple App Store allows users to provide ratings and reviews of the app. These reviews and ratings help new people to understand the app and decide whether to download it. If you also have an app listed in any of the app stores, then stay with us, as in this blog, you will get to know how ratings and reviews affect app visibility.

What is ASO and Why Does it Matter?

Before knowing how app store ratings impact app visibility, let’s start by understanding why we even need reviews in the first place.

So, reviews and ratings are an important part of ASO (App Store Optimisation). ASO is just like SEO, but for apps. While SEO is used to rank blogs on Google search, ASO is used to increase the visibility of apps in the app store. Reviews and ratings play a crucial role in ASO. If you’re looking to improve your ASO, you can Buy App Store reviews from trusted platforms like FollowersRich, which can help boost your app’s visibility. So, positive app reviews and ratings > better ASO > higher ranking.

What is a Good App Rating?

To improve app store visibility, you should know what is considered as a good app rating. The rating spans from 1 to 5. A good rating varies depending on the type of app (general app or a game) and the app store ( Apple App Store). A good app rating for different apps and stores is as follows:

1. Apps on Google Play – 4.35
2. Games on Google Play – 4.37
3. Apps on Apple App Store – 4.59
4. Games on Apple App Store – 4.55

One also needs to understand that a high rating alone does not guarantee more visibility in app store; what also matters is the number of reviews the app gets. For example, a rating of 4.2 stars with 200 reviews is better than 10 reviews of 5 5-star rating. So, business owners should focus not only on getting higher ratings but also more reviews.

How Can Negative App Store Reviews Impact Your ASO?

Ratings and reviews shape the perception of consumers towards a brand to a large extent. If these reviews and ratings are poor, they can affect the image of the company. Here are the pointers to understand how negative ratings and reviews affect app visibility:

1.   Low Ranking

Negative app store ratings and reviews give a bad signal to the app store and tell that your app is not providing a good experience to users. As a result, your app will be shown less often or lower in search results.

For Apple, ratings and reviews are important app store ranking factors when ranking apps. So Apple App Store favours the apps with better ratings and positive reviews.

2.   Reduced Visibility

According to the new guidelines of the Google Play Store, an app needs to have a rating of at least 3.0 to rank in the Top Charts. This means that brands need to push themselves more to rank in the search results.

Further, if the app has numerous negative reviews and ratings, its chances of appearing in the “Suggested for You” section reduce significantly. Therefore, if your app has negative reviews, it won’t be shown in the op search results, which will decrease its visibility.

3.   Less Chances of Getting Featured

Apple App Store considers app store reviews and ratings while deciding which apps to feature. Since both apps are known for providing high-quality content, they are more likely to feature those apps that will drive engagement and increase downloads.

Hence, low ratings and negative reviews not only affect your visibility and number of downloads but also reduce the chance of getting featured in the top spot in app stores.

4.   Low Conversion Rate

Apart from visibility, number of downloads, and feature spot, low ratings and reviews also affect an app’s conversion rate. Any user who comes to download the app always checks the rating first, and if that doesn’t appeal to them, they will start looking for an alternative.

Negative reviews and ratings in the app store tell prospective customers that the app is not good, so they might decide not to download it and look elsewhere for a better option.

5.   Poor Branding

Poor reviews and ratings also affect the image of the business. More and more negative reviews compel new users to believe that the app is not reliable and credible. This creates a distrust in them of the app.

Now, since it’s a negative thing, it spreads quickly, and everyone starts questioning the quality, functionality, and safety of the app. People start forming a negative perception of your app.

Conclusion

Reviews and ratings are the first thing any user sees before downloading any app. And now you understand how they can affect the visibility of your app. Now your job is to start taking action towards all the negative reviews you have on your app in the App Store. Apart from removing negative reviews, you can also buy App Store reviews, which will enhance your image on the App Store.