Your first screenshot is doing most of the work

Search results show one to three screenshots depending on orientation and platform. That is where most impressions happen — before anyone opens your product page. Whatever is in slot one is, for the majority of people who ever see your app, the entire visual pitch.

Choose the screen that answers "what is it"

Not the login screen, not the settings, not the most technically impressive feature. The first screenshot should show the app doing its core job with realistic-looking content in it. If your app is a habit tracker, that is a filled-in week, not an empty state. Empty states are the second most common opener and the least persuasive image you can ship, because they show the product doing nothing.

Make it survive being cropped and shrunk

In search results the image is small and, on some layouts, cropped. Keep the caption in the upper band, keep the key interface element near the centre, and avoid compositions that only make sense at full size. A quick check: shrink it to 200 px wide and squint. If you still get the idea, it works. If it becomes an abstract gradient with a grey rectangle, redesign it.

Design slots one to three as a sequence

The first three images are seen together more often than any others. Treat them as a three-beat argument: what it is, what makes it different, what it feels like to use. Repeating the same composition three times wastes the sequence; three unrelated feature shots waste it too. A deliberate order is one of the few listing changes that is both free and measurable.