What is Google Play Developer Console
Google Play Developer Console is the platform that Google provides for Google Play and Android developers to publish – and of particular interest to ASO teams – to monitor their app’s performance in the Google Play store. As Google explains, by using the platform it’s possible to: “Publish your apps and games with the Google Play Console and grow your business on Google Play. Benefit from features that help you improve your app’s quality, engage your audience, earn revenue, and more.”
Why the Google Play Developer Console is Important
The Google Play console allows app developers and marketers to better understand how their apps are performing in terms of growth, technical performance such as crashes or display issues, and financials. The console offers acquisition reports and detailed analysis which can help app devs / marketers find out how well an app is really performing.
The platform is important as it provides developers with access to first party data (trustworthy information collected about an app’s audience that comes straight from Google Play) that highlights the real performance of an app. The console allows the monitoring of conversion rates (CVR); it shows the number of impressions an app listing receives and the number of installs an app receives from different sources over time. The user acquisition reports found in the console show data on how an app is getting its growth such as users’ origins in terms of source. (Google Play shows users’ traffic source, for example whether organic ‘explore traffic’ or paid traffic from ‘third party referrals’).
Having access to deep analysis contributes to an understanding of an app’s performance in terms of growth.
However, the data is limited. It’s not possible to see attribution (the science of attributing a user to its source) at the campaign ad level, just at the source level, which is why Mobile Measurement Partners (MMP’s) exist- to bridge the gap between them.
