Google Developer Account: Tips & Tricks

Setting Up a Google Developer Account

Your Google Developer Account allows you to manage your app’s listing details for the Google Play Store, as well as view many helpful usage and download analytics. 

Use the Google Play Developer account setup article for instructions on how to set up a Google Developer Account.

Once you have completed your account setup, add in our VisitApps team as an admin - use the email googledev@visitapps.com. Doing this will allow the VisitApps team to handle the submission process on your behalf.

What Is the Google Play Store?

Google Play Store is Google’s app management console. That means you can manage the listing details for your app, analyze its performance and use tools to strategically market your app once you log in.

When you login to Google Play, you will see a screen like the one below. It will display any, or all, of the apps your organization manages.

Select the app you wish to view or work with by clicking on the app icon.

Settings & Analytics Available in the Google Play Store

Access Your App Analytics

When you login to Google Play, you will see a dashboard displaying analytics and performance data for your app.

The first two dashlets show you your average number of app installs compared to the average number of app uninstalls. This helps you quickly understand your app’s general growth rate.

You can also see a summary of your app’s average ratings, crashes, and more information about app installs and versions.

You can keep all of the graphs expanded, or, if you prefer, compress them to only see the summarized numbers.

You can compress using these options on the top right of each section.

Create Reports With Statistics

In the "Statistics” section, you can select from a number of commonly used reports to gauge the performance of your app. Each report gives you the ability to specify the time frame and intervals you want to review.

Some common reports app managers run are:

• Installs and uninstalls by device or user
• Average and cumulative user ratings

Each report generated is compared with both previous trends (of your app) and with industry-wide averages.

If you find something notable in the report, individual data points can be exported, or you can export the entire graph. To export your data, simply select ‘Export Report’ in the upper right of the section.

Understanding the "Health” of Your App

Health is difficult to define in a general sense when it comes to apps. However, the "Android Vitals Overview” dashboard provides you with some good insights. It informs you about the rate at which your app crashes.

You can separate the data by Android versions, devices, and versions of the app. Doing so helps you gain insight into who may be experiencing issues.

Understanding the Release Management Dashboard

The "Release Management” section provides you with information about how new version releases of your app are performing in the Google Play Store. The VisitApps team will be the ones submitting new version of your app to the Google Play Store, so you don’t need to worry about that. But it’s still nice to know you can review the data about new releases.

Managing Your App’s Google Play Store Listing

You can manage your app’s Google Play Store listing by selecting the "Store Presence” tab from the left menu. This is where you can update the detailed description and one-line summaries explaining your app.

You can also manage your screenshots and categorization here.

The VisitApps team will assist you in getting your logo, graphics, and support information populated, but filling out the rest of the fields in this section can help advertise your app.

Create a Google Play Store Listing Experiment

By selecting the "Store Listing Experiments” sub-section, you can create A/B experiments of app listings to see which one performs best in the Google Play Store. Google will show the alternate version of your listing to some users, and the standard version to others. It will track all of the data for you so you can determine which listing version performed best.

Understanding How People Find Your App

The "User Acquisition” section, in the left menu, allows you to see how users find your Google Play Store listing and then download your app. This gives you an idea of how well your Google Play Store listing attracts and retains users.

It also allows you to modify your description and screenshots to see what works best for your desired demographic. It informs you on how many people download your app after viewing the listing, as well as the percentage of people that keep your app installed over a given time frame.

Managing Google Ad Campaigns

From this section, you can also manage Google Ad Campaigns. Doing so can be useful for promoting your app for specific events, or within geographic regions. This is a separate, paid feature provided by Google, but can be helpful for promoting your app.