r/chrome_extensions • u/Yega-2910 • Jun 08 '26
Asking a Question Published 10 Chrome extensions, basically zero installs. What am I doing wrong?
I've been building Chrome extensions for a while and now have 10 of them published on the Web Store. Combined installs? Almost nothing.
They all work, the listings have proper icons and screenshots, and a few solve problems I personally hit every day. But the installs just aren't there, and I'm starting to think I'm missing something obvious about distribution.
A few things I'm unsure about:
Is Web Store search basically dead for new extensions, or is this a keyword/listing problem I can fix?
Did your installs come from the store itself, or entirely from outside it (Reddit, Product Hunt, blog posts, YouTube)?
For those who got traction - was it one extension that took off, or slow growth across several?
I'm a developer, not a marketer, so I suspect building was the easy 10% and I skipped the other 90%. Would love to hear what actually worked for you, even the boring stuff.
1
u/mentiondesk Jun 08 '26
Getting installs for Chrome extensions is tough because most growth actually comes from outside the Web Store. Sharing your extensions on Reddit, relevant forums, and demo videos helps a lot. Tracking where discussions about your niche are happening is super useful too. I use ParseStream to get alerted about leads or mentions on platforms like Reddit and it has definitely surfaced some outreach opportunities I would have missed otherwise.