APP store China tuning algorithm? Partial application Invalid search by full name

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Text/Sohu It He Feng

Apple App Store in China today, "strange phenomenon", some applications, especially Chinese applications, by the full name search failure, no accurate matching results. For a time, developers suspect that there are also bugs, guess Apple test algorithm is also a lot of developers also lamented that Apple still do not understand Chinese.

Search failed by application full name

"What's going on?" Search application full name is not the first show Ah! Today, a number of developers are responding to the iphone App Store search by keyword-accurate matching failure.

One person in charge of the tower Reading told Sohu it that their application, "Tower reading Literature", was not shown on the first page of the mobile App Store and itunes search on the full name. Sohu It verified indeed as he said.

Sohu It also searched the mobile App Store for a number of different categories of Chinese and English applications, and found some really strange search results:

1, World War II: Search by full name, this hot hand Gancai row to the first page of the sixth, the top five is not included in the "World War II" four Word application. In the past, the search for World War II was ranked first.

2, a meal: according to the "meal-find takeout, see menu" Search, the past is accurate matching in the first place, this time in the first page of the top 25 search results, but did not see this application.

3, Camera 360[Camera 360]: According to the full name search, appearing in the first is another foreign application camera+, and Camera360 ranked sixth.

4, micro-letter and micro-BO: Search "micro-letter" full name, in the first show, but the search "Weibo" full name, but did not show in the first place, appearing in the first is the micro-letter, micro-blog after the home.

5, easy to use car: by the full name search, ranked first is NetEase, and easy to use the car only in the home page 10.

6, Jingdong Mall and Suning easy to buy: According to the full name of the search for the two applications, all appear in the first place. In addition, the gods Shake, the hotel tonight special, fishing Tatsu people are normal.

5, Instagram: According to the full name search, there is no accident, is still in the first place.

6, Uber: According to the full name search, there is no accident, is still in the first place.

From the above search results found that the search for foreign English applications, such as Instagram and Uber, ranking in the first place, no change. and search Chinese application, the search results vary greatly, regardless of the size of fame, such as Jingdong Mall, Suning is not the purchase of the rankings change, and micro-credit and micro-Bo this two well-known applications, search results make people laugh and cry. And the meal net, World War II, easy to use cars are "cups" representative. Although it is a small sample size, it may be similar to many applications.

By the time of press, the search application expiration by full name still exists. However, similar cases did not occur in the US and China areas of the App Store.

Test new algorithm or bug?

Accurate matching by keyword failure, the appearance of unrelated search results, but also let some developers laugh and cry, and even public criticism. Stone Interactive CEO Wu gang in Micro Bo, a post of the World War II search screenshots, ridicule "search algorithm is not garbage ah, but also very two!"

Why the "two" criticism? It is reported that many developers found that the new search algorithm may be the user search the first word to order the results. If you search with "two", the search results are exactly the same as the full name search results of the "Second World War", as well as the results of "20" search. This can be understood, why the "micro" search, out of the results, and search "micro-letter" and "Weibo" exactly the same. However, with the "Food" and "God" search results, but with the "food" search results are different.

Based on the use of Chinese characteristics, if the search by the first word, the results of the search, will undoubtedly be very inaccurate. Sohu It has just tested to "Jinghua" search, out of the results with the "Beijing" or "Jing Dong" exactly the same.

And if this is the new algorithm Apple is going to implement in the future, developers are more than fully understand why this adjustment. Liu Fei nine days CEO Knangla is to this sigh: "Apple really do not understand Chinese ah." ”

In addition to the above remarks, there are a lot of speculation. There are some developers who think that the search failed by application full name, must be a bug in the App Store and hope Apple can change it as soon as possible. Alternatively, it may be that Apple is testing the App store's new algorithm, causing bugs to appear.

In June and July of this year, foreign media reported that Apple was tweaking the App store's search-sorting algorithm, reducing the weight of the app city and keywords, which doesn't necessarily show the name's software that includes the search keyword first. However, it has not affected China. And at this time occasionally, not fully implemented.

In addition, in February this year, Apple acquired the app search and discovery platform Chomp, which was seen as a signal to improve the search and recommendation of the Apps store. But the failure of the keyword search, and confusion, has also prompted developers to express disappointment with Apple.

Some developers, in frustration, are also thinking of possible solutions. The head of the tower Reading said they had written to the Apple official for questioning. Also has the developer suggestion, pays more attention to some commonly used search words in their application rank situation, carries on the AEO optimization.

Apple has yet to give a public response.