Google web stories WordPress plugin is the latest good news to all the website owners right now!

Has your website’s traffic got affected after the last Google update? Getting a surge in your website’s traffic would help you, wouldn’t it? This relatively new feature called Google web stories for WordPress would do the trick! Keep reading to answer all the how’s and what’s that are running in your mind!

Google web stories is a piece of great news to all the website owners and bloggers out there since their back to back updates in its algorithm.

Google has also launched a plugin which is currently in its beta version for WordPress websites so that the users can make use of it to get placed in Google’s web stories.

So, without beating around the bush, let’s dive in to answer all those questions in your minds.

What are Google Web Stories?

It’s a new feature by Google for content that offers content in small chunks so that it can be easily consumed by the users. The main aim to enhance the user experience and read the contents on the go.

Google web stories are news in a story format which is developed in the (Accelerated Mobile Pages) AMP format.

Google considers that this will enhance the experience of mobile users as the concept of consuming content will no longer be the same with the advent of technology. Google predicts that users will want to have a glance of the content first and predicts that, the audience won’t dive in to read the content unless it’s engaging to them.

Web Stories enables users to experience a faster loading speed. These will help you share visual narratives that are very engaging to the users.

Google Web Stories
Image Credits: developers.google.com

The best part is that they are not limited to one platform. These stories can be embedded and shared anywhere across the web.

This bite-sized content from stories will be a huge competition to other apps like Instagram and TikTok.

How Does Stories Help to Get More Traffic?

The best feature is that unlike Instagram, you don’t have to wait until you get a certain number of followers to add a link to your story. If your short story was catchy enough to get the attention you can bring a lot of traffic to your website through the Google Web Stories.

This way, web stories complement your SEO efforts and makes your job easier while enhancing the user experience as well.

You can also monetize your Google web stories through an affiliate link, Google ads and Google DV360. As per Google, that it will add more ad support soon.

Google Web Stories WordPress Plugin

Google has announced the web stories plugin which is currently in its Beta version to help the website owners to make the most use of the Google web stories.

Also claimed that this plugin will bring you first-class support for your web stories.

The plugin is still in its beta version but still, Google has called us to try it out if we want!

Download & Installing the WordPress Plugin

Google Web Stories WordPress Plugin
Image Credits: google.github.io

 

Since the plugin is not added to the WordPress directory, you have to download it separately. Here is a step by step instruction to help you with installing the google web stories for WordPress plugin.

  • If you wish to try this download Google web stories for WordPress plugin .
  • Go to the Plugin menu on WordPress and click add new.
  • Click the Upload plugin button and choose the zip file and upload it.
  • Install the plugin
  • Once the installation is complete, click the activate plugin button and you are good to go!

Since this is a beta version, there are chances that you may find some bugs or you can find a feature that can be added to the plugin to make it perfect. Google has announced that feedback are welcome and you can submit it

Google has also announced that it will launch the final version of the plugin by later this year with added stability, improved performance and bug fixes. The final version of the plugin will support page attachment and animations.

Benefits of Google Web Stories

As we said already, the main advantage for any website owner being the increased traffic there are more benefits to it they are,

  • Help you create beautiful and engaging content easily
  • Load faster since it uses AMP
  • Helps much in branding perspective too
  • As we said already, these web stories are not confined only to one platform they can be shared anywhere in the web
  • It enables monetization using Ads support

How to Create a Google Web Story?

Google Web Stories for WordPress

The Web story for WordPress Plugin is fairly easy to use with a good user interface. Once you have installed it on your WordPress, you can see the media on the left side of the tool. It’s just a simple drag and drop method.

You can drag and drop your media to the workspace to create a story. Also can add texts and templates to them. You can also add links to it as we have already mentioned.

Here is an example for Google Web Stories 

https://www.onivdigital.com/stories/importance-of-digital-marketing-in-small-business/

Tips from Google to Publishers

Here are some tips that google has given to help you publish a great web story

  • Add Alt text to all the images that you are using in the web stories. They help with a better understanding of Google and also the users.
  • Always check the image quality.
  • Never add a horizontal image. Google insists on using images in portrait mode for better and full-screen viewing experiences
  • Always add subtitles to your videos. Google wants to make sure that it should be understandable even if the users are watching without audio.
  • Be creative, attract your audience and give insightful and interesting content

Hope this was a useful piece of content which would help you with your website. If you feel we have missed any feel free to let us know in the comments!

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