Google Web Stories Plugin For Wordpress Beta Version

If that’s the case then you have landed at the right place. A few days back, Google has announced a launch of a new WordPress plugin that would allow you to create Web Stories for your website. Although the plugin is in its beta stage, you can still download it from Web Stories Beta Page and use it for your sites. But before that, allow me to educate you more about the Google Web Stories plugin…

What Is Google Web Stories?

It is a new WordPress plugin, officially launched by the mighty Google itself. As said earlier, it allows you to create web stores for WordPress. If you are having trouble understanding the concept behind this, try to imagine how to are able to create and post stories on social media sites like Facebook, Instagram, Whatsapp, etc. But here, with the help of Google’s new Beta plugin, you can create and post stories on the behalf of your sites. The best part about web stories is that it is a more refined version of Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP). So, it is obvious that it would work only for your mobile audiences. Since we are seeing exponential growth in the sector of mobile audiences, it is logical to make your website mobile-friendly. Yes, yes, I know that by now, almost all the websites are mobile responsive. But this web stories plugin has been developed to provide a boost to your mobile rankings and traffic. So, it is safe to say this Web Stories plugin for WordPress could be your next best shot of attaining top ranks on Google search, Google images, Discover, and Google App.

Components Of Google Web Stories

The idea behind the creation of this plugin is to provide a sleek, fast, and efficient way for mobile users to consume content. Just like social media stories, Google Web Stories plugin allows you to start with a canvas or simply, a page. After that, you can add –

Images, GIFs, or Videos

The best way to capture attention of your readers is to use an appealing image. Google Web Stories plugin not only allows you to add images but it also enables you to include GIFs and Videos too. Don’t forget to check out the guidelines mentioned below for prescribed graphics usage.

Text, Audio & Shapes

To compliment your images or GIFs, the plugin also allows you to add text in your stories. Don’t worry, the text in your stories will be 100% customizable to match your brand style, font size, and font style. Last but not the least, you can add an audio clip and use it as a background music to invoke emotions.

Animations & Actions

After adding graphics, text and audio, Google Web Stories plugin permits you to set some animations too. This way, you can make your title text fly-in or fade-in to maintain your readers interest in stories. Just like social media stories automatically progress to the next story after video playback, the same can be achieved with this plugin. Ultimately, the plugin also enables you to include social sharing links at the end of your last story. Simply said, Google Web Stories WordPress plugin allows you to tell a story about your brand or product in a new, quicker, and engaging way…

Guidelines To Create An Ideal Web Story

Web Story Length – According to Google, the best practice of using web stories involves using 4-30 pages with 10-20 landing pages.Text – In each of these pages, you can add up to 200 characters with a minimum of 24px font size.Video – If you are using videos for your web stories, it shouldn’t exceed the 15 seconds limit Moreover, your web stories videos should be infused with subtitles. Not to forget, the video used in the stories must be shot in portrait mode so that it can acquire the full screen when switched to the full screen mode.Affiliate Link – You could also benefit from attaching your affiliate links at the end of your story page. As per Google guidelines, you can use only one affiliate link per web story.You also have the opportunity to add an excerpt of your blog in your web stories and include a “Read More” interactive element at the end to convert them into an active reader on your site.

Benefits Of Google Web Stories Plugin For WordPress

I sincerely hope that you would have at least got an idea about the potential of this plugin when it comes to generating mobile traffic. Now, it’s time for us to explore all the other benefits offered by this WordPress plugin.

Benefits Corresponding To Traffic

With that being said, I will emphasize its role in improving the traffic for your site and overall business. Since this characteristic is in its beta phase, not many will be employing this for their site. Although, Google is already showcasing stories on different support channels. This means that if you start using this for your site now, you will face little to no competition and you will rank higher in SERP features. And, once you rank higher, you are automatically assured a boost in your traffic.

Benefits Corresponding to Monetization

Just as I said earlier, Google Web Stories plugin for WordPress allows you to include affiliate links in your stories. That’s just a tip of the iceberg. With the help of this plugin you can have the capability to create a story ad (somewhat similar to Facebook Ads) that includes all the attention-grabbing elements like text, image, video, audio, etc. With this, you, as a publisher or advertiser are inviting traffic to a landing page, sponsored content, product page, checkout page, etc. for further action. All thanks to the “interactive elements” of the web stories plugin. As of now, the story ads are supported by Google Ads Manager and Google DV360 (Beta) that also offers story ad templates. Apart from the above two ad servers, the support for a few more ad channels are supposed to launch soon.

Where Can You Find This Plugin?

As said earlier, Google has released its beta version for public use. As of now, it means that Google Web Stories WordPress plugin won’t be available in the WordPress repository. Although, you can download it from Google’s official GitHub repository.

Check out Google GitHub repository & download the plugin. After downloading the plugin, you are free to install and use it for your websites. With that being said, you must keep in mind that the plugin is still in its development phase and may contain several bugs. And, once you encounter a bug, feel free to notify the Google team on GitHub. In addition to this, Google also encourages you to send in feature and enhancement requests to them via GitHub.

How To Install Google Web Stories WordPress Plugin?

Before I list down all the steps required to install this plugin, you must ensure that you have downloaded the .ZIP file of the plugin from Google GitHub. Now, since it is just a WordPress plugin, you would need to –

Step 1 – Open up your site’s WordPress dashboard.Step 2 – Now, in the left sidebar, locate the “Plugins” menu and click on it.Step 3 – At the top of your plugin’s page, you must click on the “Add New” button.Step 4 – Since this plugin isn’t available in the WordPress repository, there’s no need to find it in the given list. Instead, you must click the “Upload Plugin” button and upload the .ZIP file. (Zip file can be downloaded from Github)Step 5 – After uploading the plugin, simply click on the “Activate”.

With the completion of this step, you have successfully installed and activated the Web Stories plugin.

How To Use Google Web Stories Plugin?

Now that you have successfully installed the plugin, it’s time for you to learn how to create web stories with Google Web Stories plugin for WordPress. In order to do so, you must locate the “Stories” menu in the left sidebar of your WordPress dashboard. After that, click on the Stories “Dashboard” sub-menu… You will be then redirected to its dedicated story creation space. From here, you can either “Create New Story” from scratch.

Create a Google Web Story

Clicking on Create New Story option represent you with editor, which remind you of graphic design software Canva. It is simple and easy to use drag & drop editor.

Exploring The Web Story Builder

Importing the template is followed up by creating/editing the web story using the drag & drop editor. The workspace or web story builder comprises of 3 different segments –

ElementsWord area for live editing & previewingCustomizer for font size, color, etc.

In the elements section, you are given the option to add images, videos, other graphics, text, or different shapes in your story template. The live editor permits you to select, move, resize different elements of your web story. If your selected element is textual in nature, you can further customize its font, color, indentation, arrangements, etc. with the help of customizer settings, available at the extreme right corner. And, once you are satisfied with your story template, you are all set to publish it.

Add Images

Click on the image icon to insert images or videos in the story. After clicking in the images tab, you would be amazed to know that this plugin auto-populates the image library with your site’s image library. Moreover, you also have the option to upload resources as well.

Text

When you click on the text tab, you will get Heading, Subheading, body text and add new text button. After adding preset text to the page, you will get design options at the right side, where you can customize colors, size, position, layer, style, & alignments of each element. Also, insert link (affiliate link or landing page) on the text.

Shapes

When you click on the shapes tab, it contains a square, circle, triangle, heart, star, pentagon, hexagon, and blob. Just drag and drop them on the page and customize colors, size, position, opacity, etc. Also, you can insert link in the shapes as well.

Ready-made Google Web Story Templates

For the sake of convenience, I am going to first explore all the templates provided by Google and pick a random one for further customization. After exploring the ready-made templates, I found that Google is offering 8 templates of different categories. It includes template categories such as Beauty, Food & Cooking, DIY, Entertainment, Fashion, Fitness, Travelling, and Wellbeing. Once you find a template pleasing, click on “Use Template” and can edit according to your requirements.

Publishing Your Web Story

Publishing a web story with the help of Google Web Stories plugin for WordPress is pretty simple… It is as simple as click the “Publish” button available on the live editor builder area. When you click to publish button you’ll get the options – View Story or Add It To New Post.

View Google Web Story

However, you should remember that there are certain conditions or technical guidelines that Google wants you to adhere to. Finally, after publishing by you and after verification by Google, your web stories will be displayed across various channels including Google search result, Google images, discovers, and Google app.

SEO For Web Stories

According to me, anything that relates to your website, can be SEO optimized. Same is the case with web stories for your website. Technically, web stories are just simple web pages of your site that are displayed and used differently than the conventional web pages. You could see that your stories will have their own URL and can link internally or externally without any difficulty. Therefore, just as you perform SEO for your pages, posts, etc., you must also optimize your web stories with SEO too. Here are different SEO components that can be optimized for your web stories –

Metadata – Usually, Google Web Stories plugin will automatically include metadata for your stories but you can edit it as per your like. It includes title, description, schema, etc.Linking – Just as normal pages require internal linking, you can add links to the corresponding page/post in your web stories. Adding external links to your stories is also favorable.URL Format – Ideally, you will never have to optimize or customize the format of your web story URLs. It is automatically handled by the plugin.Image SEO – Just like you use an apt “alt” tag for images in your pages/posts, you must also use the proper “alt” tag for images used in web stories.Video SEO – Google encourages you to use short videos and include captions or subtitles in it.Canonical – If you are planning to use the same content in the web story that is already present in its corresponding web page, you must make your web story canonical.Desktop – Although, the sole purpose of web stories is to target mobile users/readers, you can still marginally use it for desktop with landscape display.

What’s The Next Step?

Now that you have learned about this WordPress plugin for web stories, it’s time for you to give this a try..!! It is absolutely free. All it takes for you is the will to try something new and efficient way to generate traffic. I assure you that with the increasing adoption rate of AMP technology, Web Stories plugin for WordPress is only going to reap maximum benefits for you. While the complete version is scheduled to launch in a few months, you can continue to exploit this plugin with its beta access. If you are a blogger, or digital marketer then, you can also refer these blogs.

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