Google Play Metadata Policy is the section of Google Play's Developer Program Policies governing store listing text and graphics, banning misleading, irrelevant, excessive or promotional metadata such as ranking claims and keyword repetition.
The policy covers the whole listing, from title, icon and developer name to descriptions, screenshots and promotional images, and caps the title at 30 characters. In the title, icon and developer name, Google bans emojis, emoticons and repeated special characters; ALL CAPS unless it is part of the brand; and text or imagery signaling store performance ("#1", "Best of Play", "Popular"), price or promotions ("10% off", "free for limited time only") or a Play program ("Editor's choice", "New"). Across the listing it rules out unattributed user testimonials in the description, blocks of repetitive or unrelated keywords, and misleading, irrelevant or excessive text.
Violations carry real cost. Google's enforcement ladder runs from rejection, where the previously published version stays live, to removal of the app and its listing, to suspension for egregious or repeated violations, which counts as a strike against the developer account. For ASO, the policy sets the boundary on keyword placement: Play has no hidden keyword field, so every keyword has to live in copy people read, and the policy is what stops that copy becoming a list. It applies to every translation, so one localized title with "#1" can block an otherwise clean update.
Example
A fitness app's localized title reads "#1 WORKOUT PLANNER!!!" and its description ends with a block of comma-separated keywords. Both breach the policy, so the team renames it "Stride: Workout Planner" and works the keywords into sentences describing real features.