Google Web Stories is a new feature from Google which will pop up in Google Search Results. The concept of stories is not new, this concept is readily available on YouTube, Instagram, Facebook, etc. However, Google released this feature for their search engine as well. Recently, a WordPress Plugin was released officially which you can use to create and place web stories on your WordPress website. After placing the web stories, Google will pick up your web stories and display it in Google Search results for your post. A person could simply tap on the web story to view your story without even opening the webpage. However, please note that stories usually are designed to work on mobile devices.
According to Google, Web Stories are a visual storytelling format. This feature can be beneficial for blog writers as it might enhance their search engine presence and with web stories, you can get better attention from the users. So, it might become a great addon for search engine optimization for your websites. Official, recommendations from Google states that your Web stories should be in between 5 to 30 pages. You should use short and attractive titles and keep the text short and if you are using a video in your web stories they should not be lengthy. Videos should be around fifteen seconds for the optimal experience.
These stories will also be embedded in the Google Images search and Discover option of Google. You can also use affiliate links but Google Recommends adding only one affiliate link per story. You can use this feature to tell a story with attractive pictures, text or videos which can enhance your website content quality and ranking.
Google Web Stories Plugin
The Web Stories plugin from Google was recently officially released for WordPress. You can now easily add this plugin to your WordPress website. Here is how you can install this plugin on your Word press website.
First, log in to the Admin panel of your WordPress website and click on Plugins and select Add New.
Now type in the search bar “Web Stories” and Click on Install to Install the Google Web Stories plugin. Please make sure that the search result shows you the exact plugin you are searching for. You can also use this link to download the web stories plugin.
Once installed click on Activate. This will activate the plugin and add an option for stories on the left side of your Admin panel. You can access the story creation panel by clicking on stories.
Adding Stories to your Posts
There are initially two ways to add stories to your posts in WordPress. The first is to add a story to a New article which you are going to write. The other is to add a story to an existing article. Here we will show you how to add stories to your existing post.
First Click on Stories on the admin panel and select Create New Story in the stories Plugin.
Now create your story and click on Publish.
Once you click on publish you will get the option to add to a new post or you can select view story. Click on View story. You can select the other option if you have just started writing an article.
Copy the URL of your story from the address bar.
Now open the post that you want to place the story in and select where you want to place it and click on add block option and select Web stories.
Please note that this guide only shows the method for the default WordPress theme. If you are using another theme this method might be different.
Now it will ask you for your story URL, add the story link that you just copied, and click on embed to add your story to your post.
Is the Web Stories Feature worth the hassle?
This feature is already present in many apps however honestly I barely watch these stories but it might not be the case for most people. However, when it comes to blogs it may prove beneficial as stories may serve as a summary for your blogs and increase your search engine ranking and attract more users. However, the plugin requires your time and effort to operate. With time there might be better plugins released that will be less time-consuming.
We have to wait and see if this feature picks up in the meantime it is a good idea for people to use this feature to enhance their ratings on the search engine. Especially, for bloggers who want to get more traffic. However, we still have to find out how much will this feature help. If you have free time and can go through the hassle of adding stories to your posts you should try it out. If Google stays committed with his feature it may turn out to be beneficial for early adopters.
