Enable Web Stories on Google
Web Stories are a web-based version of the popular “Stories” format that blend video, audio, images, animation and text to create a dynamic consumption experience. This visual format lets you explore content at your own pace by tapping through it, or swiping from one piece of content to the next.
This guide explains how Web Stories can appear on Google across Search, Google Discover, and Google Images, and how to enable those appearances.If you’re a creator, visit the Web Stories on Google website for resources on creating stories, without any coding involved.
Here’s an overview of how to enable Web Stories on Google:
- Create the Web Story.
- Make sure the Web Story is valid AMP.
- Verify the metadata.
- Check if the Web Story is indexed.
- Follow the Web Story Content Policies.
How Web Stories appear across Google
Note: The actual appearance across Google surfaces might be different.Google DiscoverGoogle SearchGoogle Images
| Carousel on Google Discover: Web Stories can appear on Google Discover on Android and iOS via the latest Google app in the form of a carousel near the top of the feed. The carousel is available in the United States, India, and Brazil.The example Web Stories carousel is geared towards lifestyle content. Some examples of other carousel categories are: Beauty, Fitness, Celebrities, Wellness, Entertainment, and Opinion. |  |
| Single card on Google Discover: Web Stories can also appear as a single card that’s part of the Discover feed. This appearance is available in English in the US. |  |
Create the Web Story
Web Stories are web pages under the hood and must follow the same guidelines and best practices that apply to publishing regular web pages. There are two ways to get started:
- Pick one of several Story editor tools to start creating stories without any coding involved.
- If you have engineering resources, you can get started with AMP. To ensure your Web Story renders appropriately, we suggest using Chrome Developer Tools to simulate different device sizes and formats.
To ensure a smooth process, review the Best practices for creating Web Stories.https://www.youtube.com/embed/uzRHCXKQZY4?origin=https%3A%2F%2Fdevelopers.google.com&video-id=uzRHCXKQZY4&enablejsapi=1&widgetid=1
Make sure the Web Story is valid AMP
After you’ve developed the story, make sure the Web Story is valid AMP. A valid AMP story is one that adheres to various AMP specifications. This allows the Story to be served via the AMP cache and ensures performance and the best experience for your users. You can use the following tools ensure that your Web Story is valid AMP:
- Web Stories Google Test Tool: Check that the Web Story is valid.
- URL Inspection Tool: Check that the Web Story is valid AMP and the Google indexing status of a URL.
- AMP Linter: Validate Web Stories during development via command line.
Verify metadata
For your Web Stories to be eligible to appear on Google Search or Google Discover experiences, supply the necessary metadata to surface the Web Story in the preview.
- Refer to the full list of metadata.
- Verify that your Web Story preview appears correctly in the Web Stories Google Test Tool.
Remember that the following fields are required on every Web Story: publisher-logo-src, poster-portrait-src, title, and publisher.
Check if the Web Story is indexed
Check to see if Google Search has indexed your Web Story. Use the URL Inspection Tool to submit individual URLs or review status using Index Coverage Report or Sitemaps report. If your Web Story isn’t indexed:
- To make it easier for Google to discover your Web Story, link to your Web Stories from your site or add your Web Story URL to your sitemap.
- All Web Stories must be canonical. Make sure that each Web Story has a
link rel="canonical"to itself. For example:<link rel="canonical" href="https://www.example.com/url/to/webstory.html">Note: If there are multiple versions of the same story in different languages, make sure to tell Google about localized versions. - Check to make sure the Web Story URL isn’t blocked to Googlebot via robot.txt or the
noindextag.
Best practices for creating Web Stories
To keep your readers engaged, follow our best practices for creating Web Stories. We recommend focusing on the critical tasks first. If you have more time, follow the recommended best practices too.
Storytelling
| Critical storytelling best practices | |
|---|---|
| Video first | Video is more engaging than text or images. Use as much video as possible, and supplement with images and text. |
More storytelling best practices
Design
| Critical design best practices | |
|---|---|
| Reduce your character count | Avoid including multiple pages with walls of text. Consider reducing text to approximately 280 characters per page (the length of a tweet). |
| Don’t block text | Make sure text is not blocked by other content on the page. Avoid burned in text; by not using burned in text, you prevent text from being blocked when it gets resized to fit various device sizes. |
| Keep text within bounds | Ensure that all text in your Web Story is visible to the reader. Avoid burned in text; by not using burned in text, you prevent text from overflowing when it gets resized to fit various device sizes. |
| Use animations mindfully | Bring your stories to life with animations. Avoid distracting or repetitive animations which can cause fatigue. |
SEO
Note: The same SEO best practices for web pages also apply to Web Stories. A Web Story is still a web page.
| Critical SEO best practices | |
|---|---|
| Provide high-quality content | Like any web page, providing high-quality content that is useful and interesting to your readers the most important thing you can do. Include a complete narrative and follow the storytelling best practices to keep your readers engaged. |
| Keep the title short | Keep titles shorter than 90 characters. We recommend using a descriptive title that is shorter than 70 characters. |
| Make sure Google Search can find your story | Don’t include a noindex attribute in your story; this attribute blocks Google from indexing the page and prevents it from appearing on Google. Additionally, add your Web Stories to your sitemap. You can check to see if Google can find your Web Stories with the Index Coverage Report and Sitemaps Report in Search Console. |
| Make the story self-canonical | All Web Stories must be canonical. Make sure that each Web Story has a link rel="canonical" to itself. For example: <link rel="canonical" href="https:/Note: If there are multiple versions of the same story in different languages, make sure to tell Google about localized versions. |
| Attach metadata | Make sure that your Web Stories follow the AMP story metadata guidelines. Include markup that you would normally include on a web page, such as:title and description meta tagsStructured dataOGPTwitter card |
Technical
| Critical technical best practices | |
|---|---|
| Make the story valid | Web Stories must be valid AMP pages. To avoid invalid AMP issues, test your Story using the AMP Validator tool and fix any detected errors. |
| Don’t include text in the poster image | Avoid using images that contain burned in text, as this could obstruct the title of your story when users preview your story in Search results. If users are unable to clearly read the title, they may be less likely to continue reading. |
| Include the right poster image size and aspect ratio | Make sure that the image linked to your <amp-story> poster-portrait-src attribute is at least 640x853px and use an aspect ratio of 3:4. |
| Include the right aspect ratio for the logo | Make sure that the logo image linked to your <amp-story> publisher-logo-src attribute is at least 96×96 px and aspect ratio of 1:1. |
Other resources
- Web Stories on Google website: Creator-focused resources to making Web Stories.
- Enable Web Stories on Google Search: Developer-oriented guide on building Web Stories that meet the technical guidelines required to appear on Google Search.
- AMP stories website: Developer-focused Web Stories format capabilities.
- Web accessibility: Tips to help ensure your Web Story is accessible to all users.
- Structured data guidelines: Details on adding structured data to help Google Search understand your content.
Web Story Content Policies on Google
For your Web Stories to surface on Google Discover and Search as single results, they must comply with Discover policies and the Google Search Essentials. For Web Stories to surface on richer experiences across Google (for example, the grid view on Search, Google Images, and the carousel on Google Discover), Web Stories must comply with the following additional content policies. In cases of egregious violations of the Web Stories Content Policies, a site may stop permanently appearing on the richer experiences across Google.
Copyrighted content
We don’t allow Web Stories that infringe anyone’s copyright. Web Stories are meant to reflect original works, so we don’t allow Web Stories that include someone else’s copyrighted work unless you have received permission. Google does not assume any obligation or responsibility with respect to obtaining rights for your Web Stories to appear across Google. If your Web Story infringes on someone else’s copyright, we may block it from appearing. For more information, review our copyright procedures.
Text-heavy Web Stories
We don’t allow Web Stories that are text heavy. Web Stories may not be eligible if the majority of pages have more than 180 characters of text. Usage of bite-sized video (less than 60 seconds per page) wherever possible is encouraged.
Low quality assets
We don’t allow Web Stories that contain images and video assets that are stretched out or pixelated to the point that the viewer’s experience is negatively impacted.
Lack of narrative
We don’t allow Web Stories that are missing a binding theme or narrative structure from page to page.
Incomplete stories
We don’t allow Web Stories that are incomplete or that require users to click links to other websites or apps to get essential information.
Overly commercial
We don’t allow Web Stories in which the sole goal is to advertise a service or a product, and especially if you may directly benefit from users consuming your Web Story. Affiliate marketing links are permissible as long as they are restricted to a minor part of the Web Story. Display ads may be placed following the Story Ad Guidelines. Good affiliate programs are supported based on spam policies for Google web search.
