Web Development Tools and Techniques

Web Stories

Google’s New Feature to Boost Ranking and Another Way to Make Your Page More Appealing in Searches

O que são Web Stories?

If you use social media, you’re probably aware of the concept of “Stories” found on platforms like Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, and WhatsApp. Google couldn’t stay behind and recently launched “Web Stories.”

Web Stories are a full-screen narrative format. Although they have a similar aesthetic and experience to those found on social media, their primary goal is to offer a brief visual presentation of your content.

Another difference is that they don’t expire or disappear after a while online. They remain on your website and can appear as part of “Rich Results” in a search relevant to your content, conducted from a mobile phone.

Examples of how Web Stories would appear in a search:

As unique results, as part of your page’s description, in the same place where the featured image usually appears. Available in searches worldwide and in any language.
In image searches worldwide and in any language.
In grid view in “Rich Results” for “Visual Stories.” As of the present date, this type of result is only available in the United States in English.
On the “Discovery” page. As of the present date, it’s only available in the United States in English.

How to Create Them?

There are two basic paths to creating Stories:

Through AMP technology

Create a story in AMP and test it using this tool.

You can add relevant Structured Data to expand the list of places where they can appear. This makes it easier for them to also appear in the news carousel or the host carousel.

Through the Google WordPress Plugin

If your website is built on WordPress, Google has some great news. In September, they launched a plugin that makes it easier for you to create your stories directly from WordPress.

The plugin is still quite basic and has a lot of room for improvement, but it’s very helpful!

Not All Web Stories Will Appear in the Results

Google suggests a series of practices to increase your chances of appearing in the results:

  1. They need to be complete, telling the whole story, and they can’t be too commercial. For example, if your story is “10 Places to Visit in Madrid,” it needs to include all 10 places without the user having to click to access the rest of the information. Furthermore, stories whose sole purpose is to promote a service or product are not allowed.
  2. The story must have a minimum of 5 and a maximum of 30 pages, with Google recommending between 10 and 20 pages.
  3. Affiliate programs: you can only include one affiliate link per Story (remember that “Story” refers to all published pages).
  4. The recommended character count is less than 40 for titles and less than 200 for text.
  5. Prefer the video format; the duration must not exceed 60 seconds per page, with 15 seconds per page being the most recommended.
  6. Pay attention to the quality of your images and videos. Low-quality and pixelated visual elements will not be allowed.

In addition, the minimum requirement is that your site complies with the “Webmaster Guidelines” and adheres to Google News “Content Policies.” In other words, your site must provide quality, relevant, and unique content. Content of a sexual nature, copyright infringement, harm to people or animals, deceptive practices, threats, hate speech, fake news, disclosure of confidential information, terrorism, violence, or spam will not be accepted.

Is it Worth Spending Time on Web Stories?

Creating a Story, whether through AMP or the Plugin, is not a quick process. It requires several hours of your time in front of the computer deciding on design elements and storytelling. Since it’s still quite new, there are currently no other Plugins or third-party systems to make the process easier.

In general, Web Stories make search results more colorful and magazine-like, offering visual information to your audience. For these reasons, I believe they have a good chance of sticking around, but the truth is that it’s so new that we don’t yet know how seriously Google is taking it.

It’s also important to remember that, as of now, the most important applications are not available outside the United States, such as the “Discovery” page and the “Rich Results” for “Visual Stories.”

Given this, is it worth creating Web Stories?

To date, I don’t believe it justifies creating Stories for all your content, at least until we have a better idea of how seriously Google is taking it. But I also wouldn’t recommend ignoring it completely!

As with everything (or almost everything) in the SEO universe, I would recommend experimenting and closely monitoring your site’s statistics. Create Web Stories for two or three standout pieces of content and monitor your site through Search Console and Google Analytics. See if it has an impact on impressions and visits, if it helps with conversions, and so on. The advantage is that there are probably many people who are too lazy to invest the time, so if you do, you’ll be ahead of the game!

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