Google outlines updates to the Chrome Web Store

Back in November 2021, we broke the story here at Chrome Unboxed that the Web Store would soon see some changes. Being a developer of a few Chromebook exclusive extensions myself (CrosKeys and CrosPaper) I was really excited to hear there’s some movement to improve the platform.

As Michael shared earlier this month, the Web Store team recently informed developers by email of what those changes would be:

Dear Developer,

Since 2009, developers have been hard at work building extensions that make Chrome more powerful, useful, and personalized for users. The Chrome Web Store aims to make it easy for users to find top quality extensions while recognizing the developers who create them. Today, we’re happy to announce two new extension badges to help us deliver on that goal: the Featured badge and the Established publisher badge. Both of these badges will appear in the store in the next few weeks.

Developers who earn these badges may receive higher rankings in search and filtering, and may also see their extensions appear in special promotions both on and off Chrome Web Store.

The Google Chrome Web Store team

A recent post on Google’s Keyword details each badge, what they mean, and how to earn each one.

Established Publisher badge

The Established Publisher badge showcases publishers who have verified their identity and demonstrated compliance with the developer program policies. This badge is granted to publishers who meet the following two conditions:

1. The publisher’s identity has been verified.
2. The publisher has established a consistent positive track record with Google services and compliance with the Developer Program Policy.

This badge is represented by a small check mark next to the developer’s website name. For example, we were happy to see Google trusts us over at CrosExperts. In their email to developers, Google makes it clear that this is the less exclusive of the two badges, representing nearly 75% of all extensions in the Web Store!

Featured badge

The Featured badge will be granted to extensions that follow our technical best practices and meet a high standard of user experience and design. Featured badges will be assigned to qualifying extensions through our extension review system. Chrome staff will manually evaluate each extension before it receives the badge, paying special attention to the following:

1. Adherence to Chrome Web Store’s best practices guidelines, including providing a delightful and intuitive experience, using the latest platform APIs, and respecting the privacy of end-users.
2. A store listing page that is clear and helpful to prospective users, with quality images and a detailed description.

Developers can’t pay to receive either badge, but we’re able to request the Web Store team for consideration. Starting on April 20, 2022, the One Stop Support page began allowing developers to nominate our extensions for the Featured badge.

I’ll definitely be taking advantage of this for my projects and I’m sure this will make it easier to find well-maintained Chrome extensions and themes for all users. Hopefully, more improvements are on the way to make the Web Store easier to navigate. What would you like to see be changed or updated on the platform? Let me know down in the comments below.