An introduction to Google Web Stories

As content becomes more competitive, brands are increasingly producing interactive visual stories to stand out from the crowd.

One format used for visual storytelling is Google's Web Stories, which — unlike the 'Stories' format common on closed social media platforms — allows brands to host immersive visual content on their own websites.

In this guide, we'll look at:

• What are Web Stories?
• How to create a Web Story
• Why you might use Web Stories 
• The limitations of Web Stories
• Alternatives to Web Stories

The short version:
Should you use Web Stories? 

In our view, Web Stories is a good alternative to the 'Stories' format that has become common on social media platforms. Web Stories is great if you're looking to produce quick, visual 'snackable' content on the open web.

But Web Stories is far from a complete solution. The format is only appropriate for a limited range of mobile-first content. It isn't really suitable if you're looking to create a wider range of high quality visual stories, such as longform features, multimedia reports, interactive brand stories, or digital magazines.

For most organisations, Web Stories will probably need to be one of several content tools in your toolbox, and won't replace either your CMS or a specialist digital storytelling platform.

Google's Web Stories makes it possible for brands to create visual stories for users on mobile devices. More than that, though, Web Stories is an 'open web' alternative to the popular 'Stories' format built for closed social media platforms, such as Instagram and Snapchat.

You can think of Web Stories as a way to produce Instagram-worthy stories, but for your own website. This means they can be:

• accessed by anyone with an internet connection,
• linked to by other websites, and
• indexed by search engines. 

There are also options for embedding Web Stories in a web page, just as you might embed a YouTube video. 

Web Stories is a rebrand of what used to be called 'AMP stories', and is built using the AMP framework. AMP is short for Accelerated Mobile Pages, and was launched by Google in 2015. 

One reason Google created AMP was to make it easier to create faster web pages, specifically for mobile devices. Pages built using AMP are lightning fast, and are sometimes — controversially — cached and rendered by Google itself. The upshot for Web Stories is that it should load quickly. 

You can see a range of examples of Web Stories on the project's homepage.

There are two ways to create a web story: the code method and the template method. 

The code method

If you are a developer — or have ready access to a developer — then you should be able to build and publish a Web Story yourself. Google has published complete documentation on the AMP homepage. 

Note that there is a learning curve around AMP HTML, and it may take some time to pick up how to implement more advanced features. This is particularly true if you're looking to retrofit existing content. 

The template method

For most marketers and content teams, it will be far easier to create a Web Story using a template. Google lists a range of companies and tools that make it easier to produce Web Stories, with the two most long-standing being Make Stories and Newsroom AI.

Many of these templates use a WYSIWYG editor, with standard 'drag and drop' functionality for images, and simple embed options for getting Web Stories onto your website. There is also a specialist Wordpress plugin, which will allow you to access your Wordpress media library to build stories.

Even for teams with in-house developers, the template method is probably the best approach as you experiment with the format and create your first web story.

1. Visual storytelling is increasingly popular

Let's face it: content on the web is becoming increasingly visual. Now that many of us have faster internet and most of us have extremely powerful mobile devices, it's become increasingly common for brands to invest in visual experiences.

Google's Web Stories allows brands to publish mobile-first stories that are more visually compelling and immersive than typical blog posts. 

2. Web Stories are Google-search-friendly

Web Stories has two advantages when it comes to search engine optimisation (SEO) on Google.

First, the stories load quickly, and load time is one of the factors Google's algorithm takes into account when ranking pages in search. 

Second, stories qualify for the 'Google Discover' carousel, which is currently available for Google users in the United States, India, and Brazil. This carousel sits above Google search results for some queries. 

As with other AMP content, though, it's worth noting that the usual rules of SEO still apply. Your content will still need to meet the user's search intent and be present in your XML sitemap. Sites with lower topic and domain authority will still struggle to rank for competitive terms. 

3. Web Stories are mobile-first

The big plus — and, as we discuss below, a big minus — of Web Stories is that it's mobile-first. This means that it is built to perform and look great as full-screen content on mobile. It also uses the interactions common to mobile, such as horizontal swiping to get to the next 'page' and tapping to trigger interactions.

We'll discuss why this is a problem, below. But if you're looking to produce short, visual, snackable content targeted at mobile users, then Web Stories is a good option.

4. The content is yours

One of the big limitations of social media stories is that they are built for the 'walled gardens' of a platform. These platforms are private spaces, and they control who can view and share your content within their ecosystem.

This might be a small risk for most brands, but it's worth keeping in mind when you create specialist content for this or that social network. While every brand has to participate in social media — one way or another — it's important to also create content for your own site.

One other benefit is that you can access richer analytics — via Google Analytics or other third party tools — than will ever be offered on a social network. And you also have access to other forms of monetisation, including Google's own ad offerings. 

1. Limited user experience

One of the major benefits of Web Stories — that it is optimised for mobile — is also one of its major limitations. While some Web Stories have been built for multiple screen sizes, most stories don't look great on desktop monitors. 

Indeed, they look like what they are: mobile-only content.

Many of the user interactions common to Web Stories — such as horizontal clicking through various images — can feel strange on desktop, where the dominant interaction is vertical scrolling. It's safe to say that if you are looking to produce content for both mobile and desktop, then you should look at other options. 

2. Not suitable for most types of content

Web Stories are primarily built to compete with the mobile-first storytelling formats of Snapchat and Instagram. For most brands, this is only one of many different content types they are investing in.

If you're looking to create longform features, multimedia reports, interactive brand stories, digital magazines — or just generally want to create more thorough and complete content — then you'll need a different solution (we run through a few at the bottom of this guide).

3. Inflexible format

A Web Story is, in essence, a kind of slide show for mobile devices. This preset storytelling format can be very powerful, and lends itself to stories that have a lot of obvious, easy-to-digest beats. 

As mentioned in point two, though, modern content teams produce a huge variety of content. Some of this content can be repurposed and simplified into a Web Story format. Most of it, however, will need to be published using a different solution. 

4. It's Google

First, let's acknowledge again that Google's Web Stories is built on an open standard — AMP — and has been promoted as an 'open web' alternative to walled gardens of major social networks. This is all laudable.

At the same time, a major reason most publishers will invest in Google's Web Stories is because they are looking for a competitive advantage in Google's core product: search. While Google might introduce new features and products in search that utilise Web Stories, they also might only introduce them in limited markets, or introduce them only to kill them a few months or years down the road. Storyteller beware. 

There are four main visual storytelling alternatives to Google's Web Stories.

1. Social media ‘Stories’

The main alternative to Web Stories is to create content for the walled gardens of the major social media platforms. 

Rather than go into detail about that here, we're going to assume that — given that you've made it this far — you're looking to create immersive visual experiences for your own website.

2. The developer tool

There are a range of tools that expert developers can use to create visually compelling web content. These tools are a great option if you have developer time to spare, but they don’t solve any problems for those content teams with no additional resources on hand. 

It's also worth noting that any solution that involves developers will — and we say this lovingly; some of our best friends are developers — take a long time to complete. If you're going down this path, factor this additional lead-in time into your content calendar.

3. A web designer platform

For content teams with professional designers on board, there are a range of design-first platforms that can be used to create visual stories. These platforms usually offer no-code options, and are great for web designers looking for flexibility.

The main limitation of web designer platforms is that they can be intimidating and complex for non-designers to use with confidence. If you're not a web designer, you should expect a healthy learning curve. 

4. A digital storytelling platform

The fourth category is the digital storytelling platform. These platforms are primarily for content teams themselves — that is, the writers and editors that sit at the heart of content production in most organisations. 

The main claim-to-fame of digital storytelling platforms is that they allow anyone to create a stunning immersive visual story. Even those — like the author of this article — who don’t know their kerning from their knolling, and can't code to save their lives.

If you're looking to learn more about digital storytelling platforms, we've written a guide here.

And if you’re looking to get started with digital storytelling today, check out Shorthand now. You'll be able to create an impressive visual story in minutes — without writing a line of code.