Navigating Google's Developer Jungle
Tales from an Indie Hacker
In the vast world of app development, encountering hurdles is par for the course. Two big players make the rules and it’s easy to fall into their traps. After my first encounter with Google written on “Exposing myself live and DMCA takedowns”, there was another assault.
Google second assault
Picture this: it’s 2019, and I’m building Tintodo, an events App with scrapped events from Facebook and Eventbrite. But just as I launch the app into the wild, fate intervenes in the form of COVID-19. I innocuously reference the pandemic in Tintodo’s description, just to give a warning about the situation. COVID-19 Apps with misinformation appear in the App Store and Google decides to remove all Apps referencing COVID-19. Et voilà! Another App removed from Google Play Store.
I decided to post what happened to Hacker News, to see if shouting about Google's bad decisions led to suspension removal.
While I can’t say for certain if it was my outcry that spurred action, a few days later, Tintodo was republished. Thankfully I didn’t lose this assault.
Google knockout
Fast forward to the present day, and Bonetflix finds itself thrust into the eye of the storm. I lost access to my Google Play Console. This means Bonetflix Android App is no longer available on Google Play Store.
Google's stringent policies have become increasingly unforgiving, particularly for developers who fail to engage with their accounts regularly. Despite receiving email warnings (to an unused email), the absence of any recent activity left me vulnerable to account deletion. I don’t even remember the last time I accessed my developer account.
Play Store's new deletion policy
This policy was introduced on 5th April 2023 in Giving Users More Transparency and Control Over Account Data where they claim that developers will need to provide an option to initiate account and data deletion from within the app and online.
It’s funny that my account is marked as inactive, and I can’t access it nor delete my information. I don’t have a background in legal, but I have read GDPR rights, and we, EU citizens have the right to access and erase our data. I will try to complain to DPOs before complaining to the European Data Protection Supervisor and see if I can get any further.
SEO Impact
Bonetflix Android App barely had users, but it had backlinks to Bonetflix's website. Even though the linking text was not relevant, the rankings suffered a lot. The average Google Ranking position increased by approximately three positions.
When I first published Bonetflix App, there were no significant changes in SEO statistics but this fact means they have a relevant impact on its rankings. If I ever publish an App again, I will publish it on several App stores to maximize backlinks and minimize Google dependency.
Future steps
This incident allowed me to forget about an App that was getting a spot in my mind and didn’t generate much revenue.
Although I hadn’t updated the App in more than a year, I was updating Bonetflix database. I will try other small bets with this database and see how things work.