In his report “Is Apple Finally Adding Ratings Into Ranking Factors?” Fisku’s Tom Cummings is reporting that very possibility.
Cummings’ says, “After some in-depth (and still ongoing) analysis by our Performance Labs team, we can conclude that Apple is testing changes to the iTunes ranking algorithm.
What we don’t yet know is the entirety and permanence of these changes.”
Shown is a graph that generated by Fiksu that Cumming says shows, “… apps with ratings of 4 or more stars received a rank boost in late July and have maintained that rank throughout August.
Poorly rated apps with less than 3 stars received the opposite treatment about two weeks later, dropping off precipitously in rank and staying that way. Average rated apps, between 3 and 4 stars, suffered a slight degradation in rank but have generally been less affected.”
To see the entire report, please visit the link provided.