What is CSL Explorer?
With CSL Explorer, you can analyze custom store listings targeted by country/region and search keyword for any app on Google Play.
You can:
See how top apps in your category are using CSLs
Understand how competitors localize listings for a specific country/language
Compare CSLs with default listings to easily identify what changed
Uncover keyword targeting strategies behind customization
View live CSLs and track historical changes as far back as 2020
Note: We display CSLs targeted by country/region and search keywords. CSLs targeted by user state, Google Ads campaigns, or URLs are not included.
Browse by category: Discover CSLs from top apps
In the first tab of CSL Explorer, you can browse custom store listings from the top apps in any Google Play category or AppDNA/GameDNA (our taxonomy of 200+ granular subcategories).
To get started, select the category/DNA, country, and date range you’d like to explore CSLs for. You can go back as far as December 2020, with a maximum window of 90 days.
The apps displayed are sourced from the Top Charts - specifically, the top 200 free apps within your selected category/DNA.
From this list, we display those apps with at least one detected CSL during the selected period, ordered by their category rank.
Both country/region and keyword CSLs are shown here. You can filter for either type at the top.
By default, one CSL per app (the most recent) is displayed. Click "Show 1 more CSL" to reveal older CSLs detected in the selected period.
CSL details
Each custom store listing includes:
Targeting type: Country/Region or Keyword
Targeted keywords (for Keyword CSLs)
First seen & last seen dates (when the CSL was detected)
Seven customizable fields:
App name
Short description
Long description
Screenshots
Icon
Feature graphic
Promotional video
Use the Translate toggle to convert the app name, descriptions, and screenshots into your language. You can also save any creative directly to My Moodboards.
Compare CSL to default listing
Each CSL is compared side by side with another listing to mirror how Google Play displays different listings to users.
Country/Region CSLs
On Google Play, country/region CSLs are shown to all users in that market.
In AppTweak, the CSL is compared with the app’s default listing:
All users in the selected market see the country/region CSL (left).
The default listing (right) comes from markets without a CSL.
If the app has a default listing in the same language as the CSL, that default listing is shown. If not, the app’s default language is used.
The default listing displayed is always the most recent version collected, regardless of when the CSL was live.
Keyword CSLs
Keyword CSLs are shown only to users searching for a specific keyword.
When a country/region CSL exists for that market:
The keyword CSL is compared to the country/region CSL.
Users searching for the keyword see the keyword CSL.
All other users in that market see the country/region CSL.
When no country/region CSL exists:
The keyword CSL is compared with the default listing.
Users searching for the keyword see the keyword CSL.
All other users in that market see the default listing.
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Change highlighting
We perform a field-by-field comparison between both listings - covering both textual and visual elements - to highlight what changed: metadata added is shown in green, metadata removed in red, and screenshots that changed position in orange.
By default, only changed fields are displayed, making it easier to understand the rationale behind each CSL for that specific market or keyword. Enable "Show all available fields" to view the full listing.
Clicking the app name redirects you to the By App tab for deeper analysis.
Search by app: Analyze competitors' CSLs across markets
The second tab of CSL Explorer allows you to dig deeper into the full CSL strategy of a specific app, allowing for cross-market analysis.
Select any app available on Google Play and choose as many markets (country + language combinations) as you’d like. Both country/region and keyword CSLs are shown, and you can filter either type using the filter at the top.
All matching CSLs are displayed and ordered by most recent date detected. Markets with no detected CSLs are clearly indicated.
Each CSL groups all targeted markets, as CSLs can target multiple countries and languages. For example, a single CSL might target Canada-English, UK-English, and US-English.
Note: Since CSLs can be edited over time, we show each unique version.
Any change to one of the seven customizable fields creates a new CSL entry, allowing you to track the full evolution of a listing.
As a result, these entries may represent edits to the same CSL ID rather than entirely new CSLs.
Search by keyword: Explore CSL keyword targeting
The third tab of CSL Explorer shows all apps targeting a CSL for a specific keyword in a selected market and date range.
In the search bar, enter the keyword you want to analyze:
If Today is not included in the date range:
Only past detected CSLs are shown.
If Today is included:
We perform a Live Search, showing apps currently targeting the keyword with a CSL.
CSLs are grouped by app. For each app, we display its organic rank for the keyword and its App Power. Apps are ordered by organic rank. By default, one CSL per app is shown. Use "Show 1 more CSL" to expand.
Add keywords to build CSL history
We collect CSLs daily for the most popular keywords. If the keyword you entered is not already tracked by AppTweak, you will see the "Add keyword" button at the top.
By adding a keyword, we will automatically collect CSLs for this keyword each day. This builds historical data, so you can view historical CSLs for that keyword when you return to CSL Explorer.
If the "Start building CSL history" banner does not appear, it means we’re already collecting CSLs for that keyword, and its history will be available from the first day we started collecting it.
Keyword context matters:
Keywords are country- and language-specific (e.g., hotel in US-English ≠ hotel in US-Spanish).
Availability
CSL Explorer is available for all Android markets covered by AppTweak.
It's an AppTweak Enterprise feature. Get in touch with our team to learn more!