Some countries never download my app from Google Play.

turbomike

Maybe someone else who's concerned about getting the most out of their popular apps can help me out here...

Japan and Russia show zero downloads and I want to make my apps visible/searchable to them.   So,  I re-built one of my apps and used Google Translate to convert it to Japanese.  I did get a few downloads from Japan the very next day, but isn't Google Play automatically converting our apps' descriptions to other languages as needed?  I noticed there is an option in the developer console that lets us change from automatic to manual description in a foreign language.

Which method nets best results in terms of visibility on the app store?  Seems there should be a better way than rebuilding each app in those harder to reach languages.

andromoappmaker

How are you determining downloads from other countries? In Google play I just see the top ten countries in my stats? Of course it's late and I'm tired so I might be missing and forgetting something.

As far as translation goes, I do not believe that Google translates your app text in any way. However your app should be available within the different countries unless you manually block them within Google Play.

I think part of it may be a language or cultural barrier. 

Note: I do see Japan and Russia in my country list for devices within AirBop 

turbomike

I'm using Google Analytics to get more details.  Since I posted I did get a 4 unique visitors from Japan on my English version app but it doesn't compare to 4,000 other visitors from across the globe daily.  Europe (Russia in particular) almost never has a visitor and Japan too.  All other countries have many multiple visits daily.
It looks pretty odd when you see it in analytics. The countries are never lit up green showing activity.

andromoappmaker

I just checked my Analytics and I have some Russian and Japanese folks using my apps. Not many but #10 in my country list. This app is pretty small scale, so take it for what it's worth.

Honestly I think that the biggest difference is probably the Alphabet used. Japan and Russia both use different character sets, so they probably use them when searching as well. Maybe enough content in those markets.

Perhaps some other people will have information on their apps.

turbomike

Thanks Mark.  The Japanese version of my app is now getting 10-18 downloads per day.  Seems like the demographic i'm targeting are probably staying away from apps with any hint at not being a domestic.  Maybe the translation from Google Play is just really terrible.  We've all seen poor English translations and I know I hesitate to click the "Install" button for some reason when I see them. 

I was recently contacted by a company, that for a fee would translate my apps' descriptions professionally.  I think I'll wait and see what I can do on my own before I pay.