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Learn how you can use Google Web Stories for WordPress to grow your blog traffic!
Did you see the new Google Web Story I created here!!?? I think it’s super cool and is going to be an amazing new tool to help content creators grow their blog traffic. How? Let me explain…
Information consumers are spending less and less time reading traditional content and attention spans are getting shorter creating a need for more easily consumable content.
As a result, there has been a shift to creating more “snackable” content as Google likes to call it. And Google Web Stories might be the answer.
Formerly known as AMP Stories, Google has released a new version of stories that are delivered as an Accelerated Mobile Page (AMP) technology, called Web Story.
This integration with AMP is important as it is able to deliver content on mobile devices at lightning speed. Google has noted that next year, changes to the search engine’s algorithm include on-page speed performance creating highly engaging content quickly will play a HUGE factor.
What is a Google Web Story?
Web Stories are very similar to the stories you see on Instagram and Facebook as a way to share more interactive visual content with your audience.
Storytelling has always been an important factor in building your brand voice and growing your audience. But, there are two key things that set Google’s new Web Stories apart from the other two.
First, Google is a giant and all bloggers are always trying to figure out what it wants so that their content can rank. Stories that you make in Facebook and Instagram will never rank on a Google search engine.
Since the release of Google Web Stories, there has been some chatter that using the stories within your posts may help to boost your authority and ultimately, your reach. WOOOHOOO!
In fact, stories may be a way to help you rank not only on the search engine itself, but for Google Images and the Google App! These Web Stories are popping up everywhere and are gaining a lot of attention.
Second, Google developed a plugin that works directly with WordPress so that you can create and embed and even update them directly from your WordPress dashboard.
Again, this a feature that you won’t find on Facebook or Instagram. Although it’s still in the beta phase and there are a few updates left to come, the plugin has a lot of functions to create beautifully designed, immersive Web Stories to share with your audience.
How to Get Started With Your First Google Story
To get started, you will need to make sure that you are running the AMP WordPress plugin and that you have the latest version of Gutenberg installed on your website.
You’ll also want to check the “Stories” box to enable AMP for stories from the AMP “General Settings”.
Download the Plugin for Web Stories for WordPress
You can download the web stories plugin directly from their site as a zip file. To upload into WordPress, just go to Plugins>Add>Upload Plugin and select the file. Make sure to click activate once you’ve uploaded it.
Once it’s installed, you’ll be able to find it in the left-hand sidebar of your WordPress dashboard under “Stories”. Here you create new stories and see all of the ones that you’ve already published.
How to Create a Google Web Story
Creating a Google Web Story is SUPER easy! First, head over to the app in your WordPress dashboard to create a Web Story.
- There are several out of the box templates to work within the dashboard to get you started or you can create your own!
- Add images from your library or upload images that you want to use. Vertical images work best.
- Your stories can also include video, though they recommend a maximum of 15 seconds. Also, videos must have captions if there is talking so that viewers can read if they are unable to listen.
- Create backgrounds with solid or gradient colours or add overlays
- Add text to the story. Google recommends a minimum font size of 24. Also, try to keep text to a minimum – the idea isn’t to create a post but to highlight the headlines and attract the viewer to click to read more.
- Add short audio clips or background sound to enhance your story
- Add as many pages as you like but remember the idea is to be “snackable” content so shorter is better
- Features like animations and social sharing are expected to come soon
Use Clickable CTA Links to Interact with Your Audience
What’s really great about Google Web Stories is that you can create clickable call-to-action (CTA) links to drive your audience where you want to have more traffic. This can be a post, landing page or another social media account. You can even use Web Stories to promote your affiliate links or upcoming promotion!
Another cool feature coming soon is social sharing and related links at the end of your story so that your audience can head over to your content or even share it with their favorite platforms.
Set Your Document Preferences
Now that your story is ready to go, you want to make sure to toggle over to the right-hand tab on “DOCUMENT” to set your preferences. Here you can set the author and you’ll need to have a publisher logo and a cover image for sharing. The cover image seems to work best with a square canvas.
You’ll also want to set a meaningful permalink as it automatically defaults to “auto-draft” which I don’t imagine will do much for your SEO.
Learn more tips about getting traffic from SEO as a beginner blogger here
Embed Your New Google Web Story into Your Posts!
Don’t forget to go back to your published story and add the link to your blog post!
Once they are published, your stories are all shareable with a unique link so that you can (or your audience) share them to ANY platform. SAY WHAT?? Yes!
What do you think about the new Google Web Stories for WordPress? Are you going to try to use them in your blog content marketing plans?
This is really cool! I hadn’t heard about this yet but it does seem to be a great way to connect with readers! Thank you so much for sharing 🙂
Hi Cathy! Yes, I think there’s lots of promise for these stories to connect with more audiences. I’m super pumped to see where it goes in the future! Thanks for reading 🙂
Ooh, this looks exciting!Will download the plug-in and bookmark this post for reference. Thank u!! X
You’re welcome, Lauren! I did a small update to include that you will need to have AMP on your website as well as enabling the Stories feature for AMP to make sure that it works. It looks like a very promising feature for the future!
ohhh this looks so interesting, thanks for sharing the details. I’d not yet heard of Google Web Stories. I’m not quite at a stage where I would start implementing yet but possibly down the road.
It totally looks very promising for finding new ways to connect with audiences! I’m excited to see where it goes in the future. Thanks for reading! Have an amazing day!
Thanks for a great article to help get kick started with Google Web Stories! Question for you, just so I’m clear, do you need to also have the separate AMP plugin downloaded in WordPress as well in order to use web stories? I downloaded just the story plugin and created a story, but it’s not embedding into my blog post the same way yours is. Hope that makes sense. Thank you!!!
Hi Liz! Yes, I apologize… Got ahead of myself and didn’t mention that you need both AMP and that you need to enable AMP to show the story. I have updated the article – thank you so much for pointing it out!
I’m actually really glad you wrote this because I had heard something about this but was completely clueless!
I think because it’s just rolling out, there’s still lots to learn about it but it does look very promising! Thanks for reading 🙂
I LOVE when you shiny marketing opportunities arise! Thanks for giving a great overview of this – really cool. I am definitely going to give it a try. Have you seen any traction on the Google stories you’ve created yet? This will be great if it takes off!
Hi Yolanda! I haven’t seen much on them, though I’m not quite sure how to track their analytics. I will have to dig into that a bit further for sure. But, I am really excited to see where this goes in the future for sure! Thanks for reading, hope you have an amazing day!
Thanks for sharing! I am new to blogging and learning about new tools is helpful!
You’re welcome, Edda! And welcome to the crazy world of blogging! 🙂
Sasha! you’re a legend! I’m definitely going to try this! Such a great find. And possible potential for Google SEO juice right!?
Hahahhaa… I’ll have to tell my kids I’ve been called a legend. They never believe me lol. On another note – YES! I think this is super cool and it’s always good to be friends with Google. You never know how it will help with ranking. Have an amazing day and thank you for reading! 🙂
I never heard of this one before! Google is trying to up level their reach in many different ways which is why I mostly focus on improving my SEO since I started Last month.
YES! Google is a giant and they seem to be pulling out all kinds of interesting stuff in the past few months. It will be interesting to see how it all plays into SEO and ranking.
Wow! That’s so cool. I am going to try to figure this out today. I’m not super tech savvy, but am gradually figuring it all out.
Awesome, Mary! How did it go? Did you manage to get one up? I’d love to check it out 🙂
I had no idea this was a thing! I’m excited to try it out. Thanks for sharing!
Hi Beth! I am also excited to see what will become of it as it grows in popularity! Cheers!
Soo cool! Just discovered a new feature 🙂 Thanks for sharing!
Thank you, Marguerite! So glad that you found a new “shiny”. Did you get to try it out? What did you think?
This looks like a lot of fun, although I’m still not sure I completely understand it. ? Thank you for sharing; I am going to look into this further and maybe give it a try. ❤
I’m not sure how it will play out either but I figure it’s worth checking out! You’ll have to let me know how yours goes.
Will definitely look into this! Great information. Thanks!
Thank you, Lorna! Have you tried to set up a Web Story yet? I am looking forward to seeing others as they roll out and how they are using them to grow their websites.
Definitely going to be saving this post and trying this out! This is neat! I’m new starting out so maybe this will help me get some more views! Thank you for sharing!
You’re welcome, Nicole! I’m really excited to see where this is going to take us all for blog traffic. Hopefully we can benefit! 🙂
I have never heard about Google Web Stories on anyone else’s blog post or just anywhere in general. I will definitely be trying it out. Thank you so much for sharing!
Cool! I wrote the post as soon as I saw that it was launched and it’s still in Beta so that may be why. I’m excited to see where it takes everyone in terms of traffic. 🙂
Part of me wishes I had chosen wordpress rather than blogger for my blog, when i first started. Switching over to wordpress stresses me out, but I’ve heard it’s much better than the blogger platform. Great article Sasha!
Thanks, Cindy! It can be a little harder switching from blogger but it can be done. And, when you’re ready to monetize, it’s really the best option. There are also lots of amazing people that can help you to migrate when you’re ready. 🙂
Never heard of this before, but it looks awesome! Especially if it will boost your overall rank! I will download it on my WordPress and give it a try. Thank you for the great information. ?
You’re welcome, Bibi! You’ll have to let me know what you think of it and if it drives you any traffic. Cheers!
Thanks for another great post Sasha! They are always so informative and I think they are really helping to drive our new blog page! I hadn’t heard about this but will definitely be giving it a try!?
You’re welcome, Abby! I’m really excited to see where AMP goes and how it can help our blogs in the future with traffic. Cheers 🙂
This is really interesting! Thanks for sharing ❤️
You’re welcome! I’m so curious to see how things go with it in the future and how much traffic it can help to drive.