Google Web Stories – the new AMP?

What is Google Web Stories?

If you've seen Stories on Instagram, you already know what Google Web Stories is. The idea behind this technology is similar. The user sees images with text or small segments of video in front of him and taps them until he finishes watching them. A simple concept that works great in social networks and has already migrated to almost every Internet product (we are still waiting for the appearance of stories in Excel).

The main difference between Google Web Stories and analogues from social networks is the ability to implement stories not only on a specific site and for a specific circle of people, but to publish them directly in search results for a huge audience that may stumble upon a Web Story accidentally by entering a relevant search query.

In general, these are Instagram stories on the scale of Google.

What are the advantages of Google Web Stories?

1. Additional traffic from new sources

The stories will be found by users in various sources, including search results and Google images. Given the ability of search algorithms to extract a new audience for sites that meet SEO standards, you can guarantee yourself an increase in traffic using Google Web Stories.

Google also likes to promote resources that somehow involve proprietary technologies of the corporation. Google intentionally promotes the same AMP pages better than those that do not use AMP technology.

2. The content belongs to you

Google Web Stories is a self–hosting product, that is, it is hosted by you and on your own site. No one will come with a pointer and decide for you what can and cannot be published (within the law, of course).

Instagram Facebook and Instagram are a rock in the garden. It's not difficult to break the rules of social networks, so an impressive number of brands get banned. With Google Web Stories, you will have all the rights to the content.

3. Dynamics on the site for those who have little dynamics on the site

Standard static sites are quite boring and do not immerse the user in the content as much as stories. You can use Google Web Stories as the only dynamic element on the page. They are quite attractive, informative and can capture the user's attention for a long time.

In addition, the Google Web Stories interface takes up all the space on the screen, not allowing you to be distracted by other elements. And it works not only on mobile devices, but also on computers.

4. Stories attract the attention of users

People spend hours flipping through stories on Instagram. This is an abyss that absorbs people with their heads, not letting them come off. Therefore, everyone copies this format. It just works.

If you want to increase the retention rating (the user's time on the page), then Google Web Stories can help with this.

5. Stories is easy to create

There is nothing difficult in creating your own stories and publishing them online. If you manage them on Instagram, then the option from Google will not become more difficult.

And it's also fun to create such content. You can dress up even banal news or regularly tell site visitors something about your service, application. Everyone can show a creative nature and create a non-trivial information product.

6. More opportunities for publishing ads

If you earn money from advertising, then why not create another type of content on your resource, where you can insert ads and successfully promote it?

Stories are integrated into the AdWords system. Therefore, individual pages in Google Web Stories can act as a space for advertising. Beautiful, immersive and profitable.

How do I add a Web Story to a website?

Stories is an effective tool for communicating with the audience. Before proceeding to the technical part and the design of the story, it is necessary to think over a marketing strategy. Don't forget to make a plan, work out your own style, beat the brand and add Call-to-Action components.

You may need an SMM specialist who already has experience in creating such content.

• Manual development

Google Web Stories can be created from scratch with your own hands, if you have the right qualifications. Large companies usually have engineers who are already familiar with the AMP framework or are able to master it in a short time and use it to create stories and other types of content.

We will not go into this method specifically, because we cannot present all the documentation within the framework of the article. If you have a developer, then give him a link to the official website of AMP.. It has everything you need to create Google Web Stories.