Localising your Google Play listing: custom translations vs machine translation
Google Play gives you several ways to show your listing in other languages. They are not equal. Here is how the options differ and how to write each field within its limits.
The fields and their limits
| Field | Limit | What it's for |
|---|---|---|
| App name (title) | 30 characters | Your name plus, at most, a short descriptor. |
| Short description | 80 characters | The one-line pitch people see first on your store page. |
| Full description | 4000 characters | The long description; also what Google Play reads to understand your app. |
Google Play has no separate hidden keyword field like Apple's. Search relevance comes from your visible text, mainly the title, short description and full description. That makes the wording in each language matter twice: it has to persuade a human and describe your app clearly to search.
Option 1: no translation
If you add nothing, users in other languages see your default-language listing. Google Play may offer some users an automatic translation of it, but you don't control that text, and it isn't a listing you wrote for that market. For search, your app is mostly matched on your default-language words, which is a weak fit for people searching in their own language.
Option 2: machine translation
Play Console offers ways to have your listing text translated automatically, and you can of course paste in output from any translation tool yourself. Machine translation has improved a lot and is often grammatically fine. The problems are elsewhere:
- It translates words, not search behaviour. The translated title may use a perfectly correct term that people in that market don't search for.
- It ignores limits. A 30-character English title can easily come out longer in German or French and get rejected, or cut in a way that loses the meaning.
- Tone drifts. Playful English copy can come out stiff, or formal where the market expects casual (or the other way round: German and Japanese, for example, have formal and informal ways to address the reader).
- Brand and feature names get translated when they should stay as they are.
Option 3: custom translations in Play Console
In Play Console you can add translations for your main store listing language by language and write each field yourself. This is the option that gives you control: you choose the title, short description and full description for every language, and you can also add localised graphics and screenshots. For a market you care about, this is the one to use.
You can also go further with custom store listings aimed at specific countries, which is useful when a language spans markets that think differently about your app. Most indie apps don't need that at first.
Writing each field well in another language
Title (30)
Keep your brand name as is, then add the strongest descriptive term that people in that market actually use. Expect less room in languages with long words, and resist cramming: Google's policies discourage keyword stuffing and promotional phrases in titles.
Short description (80)
One clear benefit, in natural language. This line does a lot of the persuading, so write it as a sentence a native speaker would say, not a list of terms. Check the count carefully; accented letters and longer words add up quickly.
Full description (4000)
You rarely need all 4000 characters. A strong localised description usually has:
- An opening two or three lines that work on their own, because many people won't expand the text.
- Short sections or lists of key features, written with the terms people search for in that language, used naturally.
- Any market-relevant facts: language support of the app itself, offline use, pricing model.
- No repetitive keyword lists. They read badly and can breach Play's metadata policy.
If the app itself is still English-only, say so plainly. It prevents bad reviews from people who expected a translated interface.
A practical workflow
- Pick your languages (see which languages to localise first).
- For each language, research the terms people use for your type of app: search suggestions on Google Play in that language, plus the titles and short descriptions of leading apps in your category.
- Write title, short and full description per language within 30 / 80 / 4000 characters.
- Back-translate into English to check meaning and tone.
- Add them in Play Console under your store listing's translations.
- After a few weeks, compare store listing visitors and acquisitions per country and adjust.
Machine translation as a starting point
None of this means machine translation is useless. It's a fine first draft. The difference comes from what happens after: choosing the terms people search for, fitting the limits, fixing tone, keeping names intact and checking the result. That is the part that turns a translated listing into a localised one.