How to Use Google Web Stories to Drive Traffic to Your Blog
Google Web stories, just like stories from social media platforms, are formats that blend videos, animation, text, and images into viewable content. Stories are the latest content format on the internet. They are highly raved (and interactions usually soars for web stories) because they are tappable and shareable. Furthermore, some formats exist online for only a limited amount of time making it such a necessity for some people to view them immediately.
Google Web Stories almost have a similar concept as social media snaps or stories. But in many ways, they are different. The idea of visual storytelling has been creating lots of noise in the last couple of years. This is a reason why video blogging became such a fussed about career. Google Web Stories is a good bridge between creating video content and creating a website to blog at.
What are the special features of these Google Web Stories?
Bloggers can use motion animations, images, texts, sounds, and videos to create web stories that they could embed on their blogs. Each web story has its own, unique URL. This makes it a separate entity to your blog, or your social media page. It is also what makes it different from social media stories.
Since these are considered separate SEO units by themselves, Google could index them. This means, your web stories can rank on Google Search Pages separately from your blog. If you target your stories to rank well on SERP, linking back to your blog could yield incredible results.
One of the favorite things content creators and bloggers have about Google Web Stories is the fact that it is highly monetizable. You can use affiliate links or get paid by linking your Web Story to a specific website or URL. Users can also put ads on their web stories through Google Adsense.
Can you create your own Google Web Story?
The simple answer is yes, and you should. Web stories are versatile and easy to create. Google has a drag-and-drop platform that is free to use. Even with the free version, bloggers may be able to embed their stories onto their websites. Google web stories just have so many benefits and potential that it is quite difficult to pass by. It is such a worthy experience to try.
There are just a few PRO TIPS you must remember in creating your own Web Story. Usually, a web story can be between 5 to 30 pages or (in short video terms) about 15 seconds of content. The dimensions are strictly 720 x 1280px – any larger than that your content is virtually unreadable. Make sure to avoid the top and bottom 83px of your images as there are dangers that this part of the story is unviewable.
How to embed them in your WordPress Blog?
There are so many ways to create web stories online that are easily embeddable to WordPress websites. Some of these tools are free and others come at very affordable prices. Here are a few examples of tools and plugins to use for embedding web stories to a WordPress blog:
A new Google Web Stories WP plugin was made available back in late 2020. Because of this plugin, Google Web Stories became such a rave for bloggers. Lots of SEO content usually have them as they are fun to create (for creators) and fun to watch (for viewers or readers). The Google plugin for WordPress Web stories is an open-web software and is free for everyone.
Another drag-and-drop Web Stories builder would be the MakeStories software. It is also downloadable for free. The software allows for the creation of zero-code, highly customizable content.
There are various tutorials available online that teach bloggers how to use these tools and apps to create stories. These tutorials teach not only how to create stories but also how to embed them on WordPress sites.
How can it drive traffic?
Google Web Stories, just like social media stories or snaps, are a great way to drive traffic into your blog. You can do so by linking your story to anywhere in your content. Or you can have other people (like influencers) link your page from their stories. It is such fun content to create and it is also equally fun for readers and viewers to see.
How exactly can stories drive traffic? Here are some examples:
- It is a great way for new users to find your site
- The content is highly immersive and quick to scroll through
- This kind of content is highly-raved because of its ‘limited’ availability
- Web Stories are available on Google Search Pages and on Google images
- It can be used as a teaser to new merch, new content, new look – basically new anything
- Acts almost like a trailer for new content
- It can easily be linked to any content within your website
Also read: 8 Free WordPress Themes for Selling Books
