Has anyone actually made a mobile webapp that isn't a completely miserable user experience? People keep talking about how PWAs are the future or whatever but then every time I try using one the performance is really poor.
Twitter for example claims their PWA "Loads quickly on 2G and 3G networks" compared to their native app but my actual experience using it was very much the opposite. Everything takes seemingly 2-3x longer to load.
Could you make an app that just installs your web app in the launcher so the user only uses your webapp directly? iirc that can't be pulled as easily by Google.
I found it harder to make a clean, smooth user interface. Lots of workarounds to make things fit into the right place, to make the right thing in focus for user input. I'm not a professional front-end developer so maybe I just wasn't any good at it, but achieving a basic level of quality was much harder.
That's the the thing - if it's a case of "play by our very specific, unambiguous and consistently applied rules" then I think most people would have no issue. However I know that Apple for example have kicked a few apps off the App Store after they made their first party replacements. And while I have no first-hand experience with Android, a friend of mine has been grousing about some Google Play store ranking or recommendation changes (I don't know exactly what it was) within the last few months that decimated his income overnight. These stories pop up relatively frequently on HN, and I'm sure you'll have seen them if you've been around for a while.
The issue is that you can find yourself completely kicked off (literally or figuratively) a platform with no recourse whatsoever even when you play by their rules. One day you have a business and an income, the next you don't.
1. Is a frankly a Google lie. Matt Cutts likes to bang the OC drum but in my measurements it is only one fragment of the SEO picture and not a big one at that. Google rewards content volume and freshness waaaay more than uniqueness and quality. If you get a sudden penalty, OC will not save you.
2. That's a great way to get autoflagged for a penalty.
3. You're on the money here this is actually a viable alternative. But then you're at the mercy of Facebook instead of El Goog. Different boss same crap.
People said the same thing back when the web was the thing and everyone depended on Google search traffic. They didn't listen. They're not going to listen this time. Whatever the solution is, it won't be telling people not to follow the latest proprietary gold rush.
> Having your business model around Google is not a good idea. Try to be as independent as possible.
The surprising thing is it's 2018, it shouldn't be that hard to do. Diversify to do websites, maybe look at other platforms like Salesforce, or build desktop apps along with mobile apps.
I've known many friends who were building apps and none of them relied solely on Google for the success of their company.
If you really depend, you are in high risk and should be ready to be shut down at any time.