Google Play India vs US: the same 50 searches, two different top 10s (2026 study)

Most ASO advice quietly assumes the US store. But Google Play ranks every country separately, and India is now one of the biggest Android markets in the world. So on 2 November 2026 we ran the 50 searches from our top-10 study in India and in the US on the same morning, in English, and compared the results.

25 of 50

searches had a different #1 app in India and the US

7 of 10

apps shared between the two top 10s, typically

23%

of shared apps held the same position in both countries

14%

of India’s top-10 apps weren’t in the US top 20 at all

How we ran it

• Searches: the same 50 short English searches as our earlier studies, five in each of 10 categories, chosen before any data was collected.
• Stores: Google Play India and Google Play United States, English, results as returned to a signed-out visitor, both collected on 2 November 2026 within the same hour.
• For each search we took the top 20 in each country (976 India listings, 974 US listings) and looked up every app’s public listing.
• The full dataset is public: download the CSV (1,950 rows), including each app’s position in the other country.

Same search, different winner, half the time

In 25 of the 50 searches, India and the US had a different app at #1. Often it was a swap near the top: in 14 of those 25 searches, the US #1 was still in India’s top 3. Only 2 of 50 searches had exactly the same ten apps in both countries, and even then not in the same order.

Even when an app ranks in both countries, its position rarely matches. Of the 428 India top-10 listings that also appeared in the US top 20, only 99 (23%) had exactly the same position. The typical app was two places apart. If you only check your US ranks, you don’t really know your India ranks.

India’s top 10 speaks Indian English

The searches where the two countries differed most weren’t random. They were the ones where Indian users describe the same need in different words:

Eleven India top-10 titles used India-specific words like EMI, GST, India or Hindi. In the US top 10: none. The EMI calculators are the clearest case. Indians searching “loan calculator” almost always want their monthly EMI, so Google Play shows them apps built around that word.

Finance and tools differ most, fitness least

Money, tax, astrology and travel are local by nature, so their top 10s split the most. Fitness and photo editing work the same everywhere, and two fitness searches (“home workout” and “running tracker”) had identical top-10 sets in both countries.

What stayed the same

• The basics: in both countries the median top-10 app was rated about 4.5–4.6, had shipped an update in the last 30 days (71% in India, 69% in the US) and used the search phrase about three times in its description, matching our keyword density study.
• Big apps dominate both: about half of every top 10 had 10 million installs or more (52% India, 50% US).
• Small apps get in, a little less often in India: apps under 100,000 installs made the top 10 in 20 of 50 Indian searches, against 26 in the US.
• The exact phrase in the title mattered slightly less in India: 60% of India #1 apps had it, against 74% in the US, partly because local winners use local words such as “EMI” instead.

What this means for your app

1. Track every country that matters to you separately. Your US position is not a proxy for India: half the #1 spots and most exact positions differ.
2. Research Indian vocabulary, even in English. Check Play autocomplete in India for your core terms and look for words like EMI, GST, UPI, kundli or exam names that your US keyword list never shows.
3. Use a custom store listing for India if your app serves Indian users differently. Google Play lets you target a listing by country, so the India listing can lead with the words Indians search.
4. Expect a different set of competitors. One in seven of India’s top-10 apps didn’t even reach the US top 20, so your India rivals may be apps you’ve never seen.
5. Indian finance, tax and astrology apps have an edge at home. If you build for India, the local vocabulary is an opening that global apps often miss.