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It makes sense that Google would expose you to popular apps present on the Google Play store. This is why we see recommended games all over the interface. However, it now appears that Google will advertise apps in your Play store search history.
Google recently announced to its developers that there are some major changes coming to the console. We were uncertain how these would manifest, as this is still in early development. However, it looks like the company has already pulled the lever on app advertising.
The Play Store will advertise apps in your search history
This was spotted by 9To5Google’s Abner Li. When you usually tap on the search bar in the Google Play Store, you’re met with your search history. You’ll see a handful of your recent search queries. The search bar will only show you specific apps if you start typing in a name.
However, Li reported that, when he tapped on his search history, he was immediately greeted with three random apps.
The thing is that he did not previously search for those apps, nor did he interact with them in the past. So, they can’t be basic recommendations based on their search. Also, Li did not install those apps. This points to the Play store advertising these apps in the search history.
This might not be so bad
At this point, we don’t know if Google is rolling this out to users or if this is a limited test. In any case, This seems like a very non-intrusive way of advertising different apps. Advertising three apps in the search history should definitely introduce users to trending apps without cluttering the interface.
We don’t know if these ads will be algorithmically chosen based on your search habits. We will have to wait for this functionality to reach other users in order to see what Google is planning. If you don’t see the ads, this functionality might be restricted to the most up-to-date version of the Play Store. Li is running version 33.0.17-21 of the Google Play store.