Google Web Stories was launched in 2020. It blends animation, audio, pictures, and text content. The visual content creates a dynamic user experience resulting in increased engagement. Users can explore different content by swiping or tapping the smart screen.

Website owners can funnel a large number of online traffic towards their site through the feature.  In this guide, you will learn about the different features of Web Stories. Moreover, you will also learn how to optimize the content to boost online traffic.

Google Web Stories

Google Web Stories can be in different formats. The content is displayed in Google Search when users enter the keywords such as ‘things to do in City’. A grid view is displayed that shows related web stories from content publishers.

Users can search stories created by a particular content creator. The view is at the present only available in English in the US version of Google Search.

Web Stories also appear in the form of a carousel on Google Discover. The feature is available in Android and iOS Google apps. The carousel is displayed at the top of the news feed.

Web Stories in carousel format are grouped into different categories. You can search for content related to lifestyle, beauty, wellness, fitness, entertainment, celebrities, and opinion. Note that at the present the feature is only available in the US, Brazil, and India.

The third format of Web Stories is in Google Images. The stories are displayed as an image in Google Images when users search for a related keyword. This feature is available in all languages and regions of Google.

Why You Should Create Google Stories?

The time and effort in creating Google Stories will be worth it. You can get regular organic web traffic from Google. It will result in improved search engine rank of your website. Users can get thousands of online traffic by creating Web Stories.

Another benefit of creating content on Google Web Stories is that it will let you earn advertisement income. You can link the stories to your AdSense account and monetize from displaying stories. Also, you can put affiliate links in Web Stories. You can boost affiliate earnings by writing review articles related to the affiliate product.

Users who read the review will come to your affiliate website to make a purchase. Web traffic can drive a lot of traffic towards your affiliate website resulting in increased conversions and revenues.

How to Create Web Stories?

You can easily create Web Stories using a WordPress Story editor plugin. Installing the plug-in will allow you to create stories without any HTML coding.

You can search for the Web Stories plugin in WordPress. Select the plugin from the results page and then select Install Now.

Once the plugin is installed, you must click on the Activate button. You will now be able to create content for Web Stories.

Guidelines for Creating Google Web Stories

Google has specified some guidelines for creating content on Web Stories. The content must meet the recommended best practices to appear on Google Search and other related platforms. Following the guidelines will help you get maximum traffic to your site.

Meet AMP Specification

Content must comply with AMP guidelines to render properly on Google Web Stories. Meeting the guidelines will allow your stories to be rendered using AMP servers. This will result in the best experience for online users.

You can use the AMP Linter tool to check whether your content adheres to the specified guidelines. Also, you can use Google’s AMP Test Tool to make sure that the content meets AMP specifications.

Relevant Metadata

Google requires that the Web Stories should be accompanied by necessary metadata. The metadata is displayed in the preview of the website stories. This is an important criterion that must be met for your Web Stories to appear on Google platforms.

The following metadata is required for a Web Story to appear on the Google platform.

• published-logo-src
• title
• poster-portrait-src
• publisher

Publisher-logo-src specifies the logo of the publisher that must appear on the preview of the Web Story on the Google platform. Poster-portrait-src is the main picture that appears when your Web Story content is displayed on users’ screens. Title and publisher metadata show the title and author of the content.

Indexing of Web Stories

After you have created a Web Story, you must submit the URL for indexing. Your Web Story won’t appear on the Google platform if it is not indexed.

To check whether the Web Story is indexed, you can use Google’s URL Inspection Tool. The tool can also be used to submit the URL of the content to the search engine.

Sitemaps report and Index Coverage Report of Google can also be used to check the indexing status of your Web Story.

Make sure that Web Stories have a canonical link to ensure that the content gets indexed on Google. The link is in the format of rel=canonical. For instance, the following canonical tag is for the website ‘Top speakers under $100’.

<link rel=”canonical” href=”https://www.abc.com/url/to/best-speakers-under-$100″>

Another important thing to remember is to specify the localized version of web stories in case the content is in different languages. You can view Google Developer’s guidelines about information localized versions of web stories.

If your web story is still not indexed, you should check whether the robot.txt file of the webpage has a noindex tag. This tag will prevent Google from indexing your website.

You can use various Google tools to ensure that the content renders correctly on users’ screens. Chrome Developer Tools can let you simulate the website in different formats and devices. In addition, the URL Inspection Tool will allow you to verify compatibility with AMP. The tool can also be used to know whether the story has been indexed by Google.

IG Webs is a Huntsville SEO professional that can help you in boosting the online visibility of your website. We have the expertise to provide guidance on optimizing your site for search engine ranking.

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