May have something to do with the company’s recent acquisition of Chomp

Jun 24, 2012 15:06 GMT  ·  By

Apple is changing the App Store’s search algorithms to facilitate the discovery of applications that register the highest number of downloads in their respective query. Another aspect that Apple seems to be putting an emphasis on is “topic detection.”

High-profile developers speaking to TechCrunch are suggesting that the App Store’s ability to churn up results based on keywords has diminished. However, new forces are coming into play to serve up your desired apps: downloads and topic-based relevance.

For instance, developer BestParking.com told the site the its "Best Parking" app is ranking highest in searches like "chicago parking," "dc parking" and "sf parking.” The reason? Downloads, according to the report:

“Apple is now putting a heavier emphasis on app downloads, so that BestParking has pulled ahead of apps with better names (at least, for a given search) but fewer downloads.”

This was not the case before, when such searches would yield results based strictly on the app’s name.

Xyologic cofounder Matthäus Krzykowski noticed another thing: Apple’s App Store has seemingly updated its "topic detection" abilities (per the report in question):

“...it’s now better able to infer what you’re looking for when you type in a search term, so if you type in the word ‘gas’, you probably want apps that help you find gas stations or low gas prices, rather than driving games or apps that happen to have the word gas in their title.”

Krzykowski’s team also noticed that “search rankings seem to be looking at other indicators of popularity, like ratings and comments,” according to the report.

It is believed Chomp’s technology is behind this shift. Acquired by Apple recently, Chomp’s specialization is to provide search algorithms that look at an app’s purpose, rather than the keywords in its title or description.