Long-tail keywords on Google Play: why longer is not more popular

Long phrases are easier to rank for and searched less. A tool that scores them above their head term is measuring its own method.

What a long-tail keyword is

A long-tail keyword is a phrase of three or more words that narrows a broader term: the head term plus a feature, an audience or a qualifier. Each one is searched by few people, but together they are a large share of all searches, and they are much easier to rank for because few apps carry the whole phrase in their text.

Longer phrases are searched less, and Play shows it

Play's autocomplete is the only public trace of search behaviour, and it points one way. In one market we measured, a one-word term came up as the first suggestion 44% of the times it was suggested; five-word phrases 25%; six words or more 17%. The longer the phrase, the more the user has to type before Play offers it, and the fewer people get that far.

That sounds obvious, but popularity estimates can get it backwards. If a score rewards appearing in autocomplete without asking how short the seed was, every long phrase — which by definition appears once it is typed out — looks as popular as its head term, and a five-word phrase can outscore the two words it contains. We found exactly that in our own scores and fixed it. If your tool shows popularity rising with word count, treat it as a defect, not an insight.

Where the long tail pays off

For a new or small app, the first ranks come from the long tail. A phrase that describes your app precisely converts better than a head term, because the person searching already wants what you do. Top positions on several of them bring installs, and installs are what later move you on the head term.

Using it without stuffing

Play does not require a phrase to appear verbatim; apps routinely rank for phrases whose words appear separately in their listing. Let the title and short description carry the head term and the long description carry the qualifiers, in real sentences. Writing every long phrase out word for word turns the description into a list and breaks Play policy.