Power of Google Web Stories: As content becomes more competitive, brands are increasingly creating interactive visual stories to stand out from the crowd.
One format used for visual storytelling is Google’s Web Stories, which, unlike the common ‘Stories’ format on closed social media platforms, allows brands to host immersive visual content on their websites.
Get Massive Website Traffic Using Google Web Stories
Table of Contents
In this guide, we will look at:
- What are web stories?
- How to Create a Web Story
- Why You Might Use Web Stories
- Web Stories Limitations
- Web story options
- short version:
Should You Use Web Stories?
From our point of view, Web Stories are a good alternative to the ‘Stories’ format that has become common on social media platforms. Web Stories are great if you want to create quick, visual, ‘appetizing’ content on the open web.
But Web Stories are far from being a complete solution. The format is only suitable for a limited range of mobile-first content. It’s not really suitable if you want to create a wide range of high-quality visual stories, such as long-form features, multimedia reports, interactive brand stories, or digital magazines.
For most organizations, Web Stories should probably be one of many content tools in their toolbox, and it will not replace their CMS or a specialized digital storytelling platform.
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What are web stories?
Google Web Stories makes it possible for brands to create visual stories for users on mobile devices. More than that though, Web Stories is an ‘open web’ alternative to the popular ‘Stories’ format created for closed social media platforms such as Instagram and Snapchat.
You can think of web stories as a way to build Instagram-worthy stories, but for your website. This means that they can be:
- can be accessed by anyone with an internet connection,
- linked to other websites, and
- indexed by search engines.
There are also options to embed web stories on a web page, just as you can embed a YouTube video.
Web Stories is a rebrand of what was formerly called ‘AMP Stories’ and is built using the AMP Framework. AMP is short for Accelerated Mobile Pages and was launched by Google in 2015.
One of the reasons Google created AMP was to make it easier to create fast web pages, especially for mobile devices. Pages created with AMP are lightning-fast, and are sometimes, controversially, cached and processed by Google. The consequence of web stories is that they load quickly.
You can see a variety of Web Story examples on the project home page.
How do I create a Web story?
There are two ways to create a web story: the code method and the template method.
1) Code Method
If you are a developer or have immediate access to a developer, you should be able to create and publish a web story yourself. Google has posted the complete documentation on the AMP home page.
Keep in mind that there is a learning curve around AMP HTML, and it can take some time to learn how to implement more advanced features. This is especially true if you are looking to update existing content.
2) Template Method
For most marketers and content teams, creating a Web story with a template will be very easy. Google lists a variety of companies and tools that make it easy to create web stories, with the two oldest being Make Stories and Newsroom AI.
Many of these templates use a WYSIWYG editor, with standard drag-and-drop functionality for images, and easy embed options for including Web Stories on your website. There is also a special WordPress plugin, which will allow you to access your WordPress media library to create stories.
Even for teams with in-house developers, the template method is probably the best way to experiment with the format and create your first Web story.
Why should you use Google Web Stories?
1) Visual storytelling is becoming more popular
Let’s face it: Content on the web is becoming more visible. Now that many of us have fast internet and most of us have potent mobile devices, it is becoming increasingly common for brands to invest in visual experiences.
Google Web Stories allows brands to publish stories for mobile devices in files that are more engaging and engaging than typical blog posts.
2) Web Stories are Easier to Google
Web stories have two advantages when it comes to Search Engine Optimization (SEO) on Google.
First, they load quickly and load times are one of the factors that Google’s algorithms take into account when ranking pages in search.
Second, they qualify for the Google Discover carousel, currently available to Google users in the United States, India, and Brazil. Is. This carousel sits at the top of Google search results for certain queries.
However, as with other AMP content, it’s worth noting that the general SEO rules still apply. Your content will remain. It must meet the user’s search objective and be present in your XML sitemap. Sites with low subject and domain authority will continue to struggle to rank competitively.
3) Web stories are mobile-first
The big advantage (and, as we discuss below, a major disadvantage) of Web Stories is that they are mobile-first. This means they are designed to work and look great as full-screen content on mobile devices. They also use interactions common to mobile devices, such as swiping horizontally to go to the next “page” and tapping to trigger interactions.
We’ll discuss why this is a problem below. But if you want to produce short, visual, snackable content aimed at mobile users, Web Stories are a good fit.
4) Control Over your own Content
One of the great limitations of social media stories is that they are designed to be the “walled gardens” of a platform. These platforms are the private space and control that can view and share your content within their ecosystem.
This may be a small risk for most brands, but it should be taken into account when creating exclusive content for this or that social network. While all brands should be involved in social media, one way or another, creating content for their sites is also important.
Another advantage is that you can access more comprehensive analysis via Google Analytics or other third-party tools that would never be offered on a social network. And you also have access to other forms of monetization, including Google’s own advertising offerings.
What are the limitations of Google Web Stories?
1) Limited User Experience
One of the main advantages of Web Stories is that it is optimized for mobile devices, which is also one of its main limitations. While some web stories are built for multiple screen sizes, most stories don’t look good on desktop monitors.
In fact, they look just as they are: mobile-only content.
Many of the typical user interactions for web stories, such as clicking multiple images horizontally, can look awkward on the desktop, where vertical scrolling is the dominant interaction. It’s safe to say that if you want to produce content for both mobile and desktop, you should consider other options.
2) Not suitable for all kinds of material
Web Stories are primarily designed to compete with the early mobile storytelling formats of Snapchat and Instagram. For most brands, this is just one of the many types of content they are investing in.
If you want to create long-form features, multimedia reports, interactive brand stories, digital magazines, or simply create more in-depth, comprehensive content, you’ll need a different solution (we review some at the bottom of this guide). ).
3) Rigid Format
A web story is essentially a slideshow of sorts for mobile devices. This predetermined storytelling format can be very powerful and lends itself to stories with a clear, easy-to-digest rhythm.
However, as mentioned in point 2, modern content teams produce a wide variety of content. Some of this material can be reused and simplified into a web story format. However, most of this will need to be published using a different solution.
4) It’s Google
First, let’s acknowledge again that Google’s web stories are built on an open standard, AMP, and promoted as the ‘open web’ as an alternative to the walled gardens of the major social networks. All this is commendable.
Also, one of the main reasons most publishers invest in Google Web Stories is that they offer a v. Looking for a competitive advantage in Google’s core product: Search. While Google may introduce new features and products to Search that use Web Stories, they may only offer them in a limited number of markets, or to kill them a few months or years down the road. . Storyteller beware.
Google Web Stories Alternatives
Google Web Stories has four main visual story options.
1) Social media ‘Stories’
The main alternative to web stories is to create content for the walled walls of major social media platforms.
Instead of going into detail about it here, we’re going to assume that since you got here, you’ve wanted to create an immersive visual experience for your website.
2) Development Tools
There are a variety of tools that expert developers can use to create visually appealing web content. These tools are a great option if you have free time for developers, but they don’t solve any problems for content teams that don’t have additional resources available.
It’s also worth noting that any solution will involve developers, and we mean that with love; Some of our best friends are developers; It takes a long time to complete. If you go down this route, add this extra preparation time to your content calendar.
3) A web design platform
For content teams with professional designers on board, there are a variety of design-first platforms that can be used to create visual stories. These platforms generally offer no-code options and are ideal for web designers looking for flexibility.
The main limitation of web design platforms is that they can be intimidating and complicated for non-designers to use with confidence. If you are not a web designer, you should expect a healthy learning curve.
4) A digital storytelling platform
The fourth category is digital storytelling platforms. These platforms are primarily for the content teams themselves, i.e. writers and editors who are at the heart of content production in most organizations.
Digital storytelling platforms’ main claim to fame is that they allow anyone to create a wonderfully immersive visual story. Even those, like the author of this article, who don’t know their kerning with their chin and can’t code for dear life.
If you want to know more about digital storytelling platforms, we have written a guide here.
And if you want to start digital storytelling today, check out Shorthand’s free trial. You’ll be able to create a stunning visual story in minutes without writing a single line of code.
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