According to a post today on the Google Search Help Forum, Google will soon push a fix for a long standing search bug that falsely shows iTunes App Store listings as having 1 star ratings (via MacRumors). The problem was first reported by several iOS app developers in late October, and it seems Google has finally acknowledged the issue…
Today, a Community Manager on the forum said that a fix is scheduled for the next release:
Hi everyone, thanks for your continued reports here. As Spencer mentioned, he’s been following up thoroughly with us regarding this and I’m happy to share that we’ve been working hard on providing a solution, and a new fix has been scheduled for the next release, which should be rolling out early next week. Appreciate your patience here.
It seems this is mainly happening to apps that haven’t received enough reviews for the current version’s rating to display in the iTunes web page, but these should probably show no rating, rather than the 1 star that’s currently being displayed.
It goes without saying that this could be a problem for several developers, especially those with established apps that actually do have rightfully-earned positive ratings. One such example is Dandelion, an iTunes “Best of 2012” game that has a 3.5 star rating for previous versions. “We have 4.5 stars on the app store. This is very unfair and potentially very damaging to our business,” one developer wrote on Google’s help forum.
Some developers have reported that the issue is already resolved for them, and a wider fix, as Google mentions, is expected to roll out early next week.
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