Will Google Web Stories increase traffic?

7th August 2020

Will Google web stories benefit SEO? 

You may have caught wind of the hype surrounding the new offering from Google. Google Web Stories is being touted as the new “proven way” to lead traffic to your site by way of “snackable content” fit for mobile device led consumption.  

What are Google Web Stories? 

Google Web Stories is a new form of Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP), a technology that has been around for some time. Visually they resemble the stories many are familiar with seeing on social media platforms Instagram and Facebook.

Web content, such as news articles, are simplified down into a handful of full (mobile) screen slides that focus heavily on images and video content, bolstered by snippets of text (a maximum of 10 words) to give a bite size approach.

Google recommends that web stories should be between 10 and 40 slides, to allow the consumer to view them at a glance. 

Web stories also have the potential to be used as an advertising platform, as you are also able to feature affiliate links and use them alongside Google Ad Manager.  

Will Google web stories bring traffic to a website? 

Whilst it certainly picks up our digital marketers ears as a possibility to explore further, the phrase “a new way to get more traffic” often crinkles a few noses within the studio too. 

It is a phrase that is banded around a lot in our industry and caution should be taken before following the newest SEO tip down the rabbit hole. Before you change up your SEO strategy,  it is important that you have had a chance to investigate the potential impact of it on your website. 

It is important to follow changes in the industry closely. We always follow the recommended course of practice when it comes to official announcements from Google. While other methods may bring short term gains, they will rarely pan out well in the long term. When it comes to new technologies we tend to apply it methodically to one or two projects and monitor the results before rolling it across all websites. Data gives us a detailed insight into cause and effect, so you are wise to use this to benefit others.

Ian Howes – Nu Image Director

How do I get started with Google Web Stories? 

Google has just released a WordPress plugin which allows the creation and embedding of your stories from the admin area of your WordPress site, making the addition of a web story to your blog very easy to accomplish. 

Once the plugin has been installed, it provides templates to guide you, your website media is pulled through ready for insertion and you can embed your finished story within seconds. 

Is Google Stories worth it?

Whether it will bring the huge abundance of traffic to your site that is currently being professed, remains to be seen. 

It is undoubtedly an attractive way to format otherwise hard to digest information, particularly in a world that is currently moving so fast and with a desire for both instant access to information and the need for rapid consumption. Throw away “snackable content” somewhat contradicts Google’s current thirst for good quality, informative content. That said, they do certainly have a habit of keeping us all on our toes! 

We, as an SEO agency, are always keen to keep ahead of SEO trends, however we will not be rushing to roll this new offering out to all of our clients until we have had the time to delve a little deeper into the analytics and importantly, enough time to monitor results. Google have not yet added the final touches to their new development as it is currently missing animation abilities, alongside a couple of other features, so we are adopting a wait and see approach with this one. 

If you have a pop at creating your own Google Web Story, we would love to hear your feedback and whether it’s something that you find works for your customers!