[JumpCrisscross]

>"No offense to the makers of “Picasa HD Lite”, which ranks #1 in a search for “picasa,” but Web Albums’ 5-star average from 483 ratings should be ranked higher than a 2.5-star average from 30 ratings."

No, if I search for X I want to get X, not a better rated app in the same category as X. If I search for "photo album" or something to that tune this argument would be valid.

[danboarder]

@JumpCrisscross what you missed here is that "Web Albums" is the official google Picasa app for iOS. Picasa HD Lite is a low-rated knockoff optimized for appstore SEO. The author's point stands, the official Picasa app (Web Albums) should rank first.

[Timothee]

How is it the official app? It's not made by Google but by Pixite (author of the OP): http://www.webalbumsapp.com/

Were they bought out or something? That page doesn't seem to indicate so.

[danboarder]

Thanks Timothee, you're right. Google's name for their Picasa albums product is "Web Albums" and the one the author in OP is talking about was by Pixite (not Google). But still, it has much higher user ratings and should rank higher. reference: http://support.google.com/picasa/bin/answer.py?hl=en&ans...

[JumpCrisscross]

Ah, I stand corrected (and educated). Carry on.

[clarky07]

Not entirely. They should have the word Picasa in their title. If that is what it is, why not name the app, Picasa Web Albums?

[MattRix]

It's not "optimized for App Store SEO". The way the App Store works is that it ranks items by total downloads, as long as you have a certain keyword (in this case, "picasa"). The reason that "bad" app comes up first is because it's a free app, so of course it has way more downloads than a paid app would.

[danboarder]

That sounds a lot like SEO to me, optimizing for keywords to rank higher, etc... (Perhaps "appstore search engine optimization" - ASEO?).

[MattRix]

But everyone who submits an app has to choose keywords. When users search, you either match a keyword or you don't, that's it. Sure, you could call it SEO, but that term makes it seem way more complex than it really is.

[danboarder]

For a lot of people I think SEO has a shady sound to it... and referring to how people optimize for ranking in the appstore by using brand names or official product names (even when they are not that brand) seem like shady SEO tricks. In this case it was about Picasa Web Albums, with unofficial apps having names like "Picasa Web HD" or "Web Albums" etc., all for ranking but no doubt leading to customer confusion.