Last October, we created a home for Web Stories in Google Discover so users could find a personalized stream of the best Web Stories from around the internet. The goal with Web Stories is to enable publishers and creators to easily build and take full ownership of their content. 

The reception from publishers has been amazing. Over 20 million Web Stories are already online, with 100,000 new Stories being added daily. And people on 6,500 new domains have published Web Stories since October 2020. 

Millions of viewers are also seeing and engaging with Web Stories every day on Google Discover and Google Search. Through this immersive and intuitive format, viewers can  take a virtual snorkeling trip, try a new workout, and make tasty desserts.

In our chats with creators, we’ve heard that they want more insights and resources to help them create the content their audiences are eager to view. Here’s are some useful things we’ve learned so far:

1. Lifestyle content, with aspirational imagery, informative how-to info, and relevant product-partnership opportunities, fits      the Story format well and has the highest engagement of any vertical.

4. There is no “perfect” page length for high-quality Stories, but we’ve noticed that users tend to click or tap through an              average of 11-15 pages. 

5. On Google Discover, users watch an average of 1.7 Stories for every Story opened, but this can vary significantly across            demographics.

We look forward to sharing more insights to help you produce the best Web Stories for your audience. To learn more about how to get started with Web Stories, visit Stories.Google.

Whether your goal is to grow your business and brand, raise awareness for a cause or help people achieve their own goals, an effective way to get it done is to produce great content. Great content comes in many shapes and forms, such as an inspiring blog post, a helpful guide or a fun questionnaire. No matter the format, creating content takes effort and dedication, and you must be highly attentive to what your audiences appreciate. 

Here are some sample questions that this experience will help you answer:

• What is your best performing content, and which pieces of content are trending?

• How are your new pieces of content performing?

• How do people discover your content across the web?

• What do people search for on Google before they visit your content?

• Which article refers users to your website and content?

There are a few ways to access Search Console Insights:

• Select “Search Console Insights” from the top of Search Console’s Overview page.

• Use this linkto access it directly and save a bookmark (you can always search for “search console insights” on Google and visit our site.)

• Coming soon:  In theiOS Google App, select “Search Console Insights” in the account menu (tap your profile picture). We are working to also add Android Google App support. 

Even if you don't use Google Analytics, you can still use Search Console Insights. However, to get the full experience and the best insights about your content, we recommend associating (linking) your Google Analytics property with your relevant Search Console property. Please note that for now, Search Console Insights only supports Google Analytics Universal Analytics properties, but we’re working to support  Google Analytics 4.

We care about the content ecosystem, and we appreciate the web creator community that makes the web interesting and useful for so many people. We hope that with time, Search Console Insights will help creators improve and achieve their goals. 

As always, if you have feedback or questions, you can reach us via one of our Search support channels and at @WebCreators on Twitter or @GoogleWebCreators on Instagram.

Creators everywhere have embraced stories, the new tappable storytelling format made up of videos, GIFs, images, text and other visual elements. Audiences love engaging with stories content — and the best part is that they’re not just limited to social platforms. Web Stories are available on the open web, meaning they’re crawlable by search engines and you can share them — and link to them — just like any other webpage. Web Stories also don’t automatically disappear and can stay live as long as you like.

It’s easy to create your own Web Story — and takes just five steps. Here’s a deeper look at the process.

1. Choose a visual editor

A visual editor is a program that enables you to produce and customize your photos, videos and graphics. They often come with simple functionality and built-in templates, so you don’t need to be an expert at video editing or design to make beautiful and engaging content. Web Stories for WordPress, MakeStories and Newsroom AI are just a few examples that might work for you. See more suggestions here.

2. Draft the story

The best Web Stories tell a complete narrative from the moment they are published to keep the reader engaged. Since all pages of a story are published at once, it's important to think through the narrative of your Web Story in the same way you would for a blog post or video. 

Although the creative process varies from person to person, we recommend outlining your Web Story in Google Docs. The Storytime team uses this script template to plan each page’s content and any text, videos, photos or animations we plan to use.  

3. Find the visual assets

Choosing the right imagery or videos is essential to creating a compelling Web Story. This can be the most time-consuming task, but if you’ve been blogging, you probably already have videos or other images you can use. It’s important to remember all full-page videos should be formatted vertically. That way your Web Story will use less bandwidth and load more quickly. 

4. Create the Web Story

Once you have your story drafted and all your assets in one place, it’s time to start building. When you’re first starting out, using your visual editor’s pre-made templates is the fastest and easiest method to build your Web Story. To begin, you’ll want to drag in an eye-catching video or image into the tool and add a call to action that will motivate your audience to click to learn more.

Stories are an inherently interactive form of media. Viewers can click forward and backward through the pages and follow links to engage. You can also try including quizzes and polls to increase engagement and interaction.

5. Publish the Web Story

Once you feel good about your Web Story’s media, layout and text it’s time to send it out into the world. When you’re using a visual editor, this is as simple as clicking the Publish button. 

And that’s it! Once you work through these steps you will have created your first Web Story. To see this process done live, check out our video Creating your first Web Story in less than 5 mins, from start to finish. And if you want inspiration from other web creators, here are some examples of best-in-class Web Stories.

Kevin Espiritu never expected to be a gardener. As an accounting student at UC Santa Barbara, he supported himself by playing online poker. “When I graduated,” he said, “I didn’t know what I wanted to do.”  Kevin spent looking at screens, playing professional poker and video games, and realized he needed to do something to “reset” himself. When his brother came home from college, the two decided to spend a summer gardening. 

Epic Gardening began as a blog where Kevin shared the cultivation techniques, strategies and tools and he had acquired. And from this garden, Kevin grew a thriving business. At Epic Gardening, he cultivated an enormous social media following, including over 1 million YouTube subscribers. Epic Gardening aims to educate 10 million people worldwide on how to start their gardens right in their backyards. I sat down with Kevin to discuss where his passion came from and how he grew his audience.

When you started gardening, it was hard to find beginner’s information. Was that the problem you were trying to solve? 

Without growing up as a gardener, there were two issues I noticed. All the terminology was only for gardeners — if you're trying to learn, that's not helpful — and the good information was buried in semi-inaccessible formats. I thought I'd write it in a blog format, which was the prevailing medium at the time.

How did you turn your garden blog into a successful online business? 

There were a lot of ups and downs because I didn't know much about monetization. I knew how to get some traffic and build a little community, so I tested different ways to make money online. I ran display ads and created affiliate links to products that I used. Those are two methods that still exist today in Epic Gardening. I had built websites and done marketing, and still hit a ceiling that I couldn't get past. So I went to work for a publishing company. I thought to myself, “If I can't figure out how to make a viable income on my own, I'll go work for someone who can. Then, once I learn enough, I'll jettison out and do Epic Gardening.” I learned a lot about business there before I dedicated myself to Epic Gardening.

What did you learn at the publisher that allowed you to take your business to the next level? 

I learned that it matters what you focus on and the order in which you focus on it.

For example, I added links everywhere and tried to blanket the site with affiliate links wherever it made sense. At the publishing company, I saw how focused and targeted they were. I dug into my Amazon affiliate data, and I asked a few questions: “What are the products I'm selling the most of by volume? What are the products I'm selling the most of by price, and how can I either expand that affiliate coverage by writing about a single piece of expensive equipment? Can I cover those in ways that increase the overall footprints and clicks?" 

I wrote a couple of articles on hydroponics on how to keep the reservoir cool. The chiller that I use made a nice commission on Amazon. Those two articles are still ticking away, making a decent amount of affiliate commission. That one activity accounted for a 30% increase in revenue.

How do you decide that 10 million people was the goal? 

One thousand came from Kevin Kelly's essay, “One Thousand True Fans.” The idea is that if you have one thousand people who are true fans, they'll buy and support whatever you put out — you can live off that and support yourself doing whatever you like. Then I multiplied that by ten because one thousand is not that many people in the grand scheme of things.

I went to 10,000 when my blog traffic hit one thousand. I went to 100,000when I hit 10,000 subscribers on YouTube and one million once I hit 100,000on YouTube. I went up again, to 100 million, so I should update the website.

How did you clone yourself? You're able to manage multiple social media channels, sell physical products, write a book and travel the world.

I wish I could do that. I was writing probably 12 hours a day for months to get the blog up and running. At a certain point, I had enough stuff on the blog, which wasn’t the best use of my time. I needed people to read it, so I hired my first writer, trained her to do what I was doing and focused on promoting the content. When promotion stopped being the best use of time, I moved over to YouTube. I leave a trail of systems and people in my wake that help me keep everything going.  

As we sit here today, you have over 60 million views on YouTube and over one million subscribers. How did you get there?

That was a long journey. I was bad at YouTube and I don't really consider myself a YouTuber. The blog existed already and I asked, "What are the most popular blog articles that I have on a search traffic basis?" Then I made videos to better illustrate those concepts. Next, I started to make videos specifically for that audience. Before, I would only green-light a video if it could make sense within the whole ecosystem of Epic Gardening. If it does, that's a bonus. I try to create every piece of content contextual to the platform it's on and the people that are on it.  That makes it a lot harder, but obviously, your results are a lot better.

If you’re truly passionate about the content you’re creating, chances are there’s an online community that shares your interests and enthusiasm. So how do you develop a loyal following eager to check out your content? We asked successful web creators, bloggers and influencers for their tips on creating content that engages and resonates with their audiences — and helps them build their brands. 
   

Find your niche.

With millions of web content creators publishing on every topic under the sun (and beyond), it’s easy to get lost in the mix. Successful web creators like personal trainer and nutrition coachBrittany Noelle recommend finding a niche where you can focus your content development. “I love to teach people how to fit fitness into their lives,” says Brittany, who blogs about fitness, wellness, nutrition, lifestyle and travel. 

“Take time to interact with your audience and stick with a specific niche in the beginning,” Brittany  recommends. Her blog posts, such as Exercises to do at your office to help relieve low back pain, focus on her niche of helping regular people find easy ways to incorporate fitness into their daily routines.

Provide valuable content.

The most successful websites, blogs and social media channels provide something of value to their audiences. This can take the form of hints and tips, recommendations or suggestions, how-to advice and even witty insights and observations.

“Make sure you really care about the topics you’re talking about,” suggests fitness coach and life trainer Ana Snyder ofGet Buff with Ana, who blogs about fitness training and emotional wellness. Valuable content helps people improve their lives, gives them something to think about, teaches them something new or just makes their day a little brighter. “If you’re just posting hot photos of yourself,” notes Ana, “you won’t influence people as much as if you were providing them with knowledge.”

Men’s style, fashion and lifestyle bloggerCarlos Roberto notes you should know the audience you’re trying to reach. “Recognize how they speak and how to grab their attention, and make sure your posts are aligned to their interests,” he says. “Never make a post just to post. Quality content only!”

Ask your audience what they want.

Want to know what type of content your audience most wants from you? Ask them! You can invite comments in a blog post, an email blast, a social media posting — wherever you are publishing content, you can ask your audience to chime in with feedback and topics they’d like to learn more about.

“By running polls and asking questions, I get to understand my audience,” says self-described “millennial mom” Neha Malhotra, whose musings on parenting, fashion, travel and lifestyle appear in her Nehulicious blog. 

Fashion and beauty influencer Nikki Apostolou, who publishesThe Cosmeholic blog, would agree. “Take the time to personally reach out to them,” Nikki suggests. “See what they are up to. Go to their pages. Show an interest in them as they show in you. This mutual appreciation will create a more loyal and connected audience.”

Be authentic and relatable.

Your audience members want to feel like they can relate to you and the content you are sharing.    

Whatever type of content you choose to create, experts say you should bring your own unique perspective and invite your audience to participate, and share theirs. That’s a great foundation for developing a successful web presence. Influencer Carlos Roberto puts it this way: “Engage with all of your audience. Send a dedicated newsletter, respond to their questions, but make them feel special, because they are the ones who make your platform.”

Publishers and creators of all sizes are adopting Web Stories to create compelling narrative experiences for readers. As more people and publishers use the format, the Web Creator community will continue to be there to answer questions and provide guidance.  If you've been wondering whether you should add Web Stories to your own website, and how, then I have great news: We have a new playbook and design kit in Figma for you to help incorporate Web Stories into your website.

Web Stories are immersive, visually-driven narratives, designed to be highly engaging and easy to consume. Once a story is created, it’s important to help your readers discover your Web Stories through various entry points.  A key entrypoint is your own website, where Web Stories can enable you to create rich modern user experiences for your users. The  playbook comes with illustrative examples to inspire you to build great experiences on your site. These entry point designs are flexible and can work to showcase both one Web Story or multiple.

You can take the experience one step further by integrating  the Web Story Player into your site. The Web Story Player makes it easy for users to swipe between multiple Stories and even enables you to personalize what story to show next. When Stories are easy to discover, views and engagement can increase — offering more opportunities to monetize your content.

In addition, Web Stories can be embedded on any page of your site. This allows readers to view the Web Stories in context with the rest of your article or page. 

Learn more by visiting stories.google for resources, best practices and inspiration. Technical resources and tools to build these experiences can be found in this downloadable PDF here.  Also, if you want a crash course to learn the ins and outs of Web Story-telling, check out our educational YouTube series, Storytime, with a new episode arriving every week.

If you run a website, YouTube channel or blog, chances are you’ve produced a video for it. And you can easily reuse that content by converting it into a Web Story, which offers a few key advantages. As a Web Story, your video can be consumed at the viewers’ own pace, page by page, and they can navigate forward and backward. This makes it ideal for content like recipes or other instructional materials. Web Stories are also more flexible than videos because they can include links, quizzes and other interactive elements. In addition, Web Stories may appear in a carousel on Google Discover which can help you reach a new audience. 

In the video below, I share how to convert a video into a Web Story in three steps. This process is also useful for turning text-based content like blogs into Web Stories.

Here are the three steps:

1. Revisit the original video.

Videos and Web Stories are different formats. Don’t just aim to cut your video into Web Story-sized clips. You’d end up with way too many pages and the Story would lose its focus. Instead, revisit the original content and find sections where you can boil down the content to the core messages you want to convey. Each page of a Web Story should feature a single, contained thought to ensure a smooth flow. You’ll also want to start your story strong as most readers will decide to keep reading or quit within the first three pages.

2. Write a script for your Web Story.

Once you have identified the key points of your original video, you’re ready to build your Web Story’s script. It helps to include a summary of each page; any video, animation or photo assets that will be included and any text you’ll want to show on the screen. The Storytime team has this script template you can use to structure your script. It helps you maintain a balance between pages with video and pages with text. It also prompts you to decide if you want to dress up a page with gifs, quizzes, polls or other Web Story features. 

3. Create your Story.

The final step is to prepare your assets, trim your video clips to the desired length and jump into your favorite visual editor. We’ve listed some of the most popular ones on stories.google.   With the script as guidance, you can build your Web Story page by page. To optimize your workflow, use placeholders for videos and photos and import your assets once the design is finished. Also, be sure to add important metadata like alternative text and captions before you publish. 

Everyone has a different creative process. Some people create mock-up pages while scripting, while other people allow these steps to overlap as they work. You are the author of your own Web Story, so free to write, design and create in whatever way works best for you. 

Like any savvy entrepreneur, Marisa Moore first launched a website to promote her brand and attract more business. “It was back in 2008,” recalls Marisa, an Atlanta-based registered dietitian and nutritionist. “I was making regular appearances on CNN and different media outlets. And I wanted a way for people to be able to easily find me. So, I put up marisamoore.com and started sharing nutrition tips.”

Since then, Marisa’s website has grown to become a key ingredient in her recipe for success — leading to more consulting work, media appearances and most recently, a cookbook-writing opportunity. She uses her blog to “to share (mostly) vegetarian recipes, credible nutrition information and a peek into my Southern roots and travels!” Popular posts promote Marisa’s brand of healthy and delicious nutrition, such as recipes for Mediterranean chickpea pasta salad and peanut butter banana breakfast cookies. 

Here are a few tasty highlights from our recent conversation with Marisa. 

Tell us about how you went from having zero online presence to becoming a content creator. 

It was a natural transition from sharing things with people one-to-one or in groups or in classes offline, to sharing that information online. Eventually, people started taking pictures of food with their phones. And I got wrapped up in that, [as well as] writing. So those two things came together and led me to putting up nutrition tips and recipes, to progressively getting better with my photography. Because I was appearing on CNN, I was also used to doing video. So eventually, I started to translate that into  doingmy own videos and putting them on my blog. 

How is your community involved?

I've learned so much from other bloggers. We support each other because we're in this alternate universe where our families don't really understand everything we do and if something goes viral, we're the only ones who really care.

I'm also a part of the registered dietitian community, and I also have my [consumer] audience. So I have several different communities that I move about in, and it's all online and all fantastic.

How do you stay in touch with your audience?

Of course, social media —Instagram,Facebook and others. There are several groups that cater specifically to bloggers, and it's a great way to meet people. People can DM me and ask questions. Also, the comments on my blog provides important information from my community. I know the kinds of questions they have and the things they're looking for. I also use a newsletter to stay in touch. And now we're doing lots of virtual events such as live cooking demos. 

How do you monetize your blog or website?

I didn't add any ads to my blog until 2019. Then, I became part of an ad network, and that's worked out really well.  I also have partnerships and ambassadorships where I have some sponsored content and represent clients as a media spokesperson. I do a lot of public speaking and writing for other platforms. I also do a lot of consulting work with restaurants and food companies, separate from my blog. It’s really important to diversify your income if you’re self-employed. 

In my work as a registered dietitian, I speak to different groups as well. As a business owner, it’s also important to have a blog, because that's often how people find me. I've gotten some of the best consulting gigs just because someone Googled "registered dietitian in Atlanta,"  found me and hired me for a job. 

Exactly. It’s like the face you have on the web.

It's the one place that you own. And I think that's what's so important, because all of our social media could disappear tomorrow, which would be tragic … but it's really important that we own a piece of the web, and marisamoore.com is my little piece.

Building an audience for your brand takes time, commitment and a lot of content.

Most successful web creators have been publishing consistently for years. That can seem daunting to new creators and it’s easy to panic when the well runs empty, but there is no reason to worry. We recently spoke with eight creators about the habits, tools and inspirations that help them spark fresh content ideas.

Record your thoughts when the thoughts come.

Over the last six years, Amy Jay used her site Go Fast Mommy to share how she balances “healthy living, working out, motherhood and life.” As a busy mom, it can be difficult to make time to brainstorm content. When asked how she comes up with ideas, Amy shares, “I usually get my best ideas when out for a run, so I will often stop to open notes on my iPhone or record a voice message when an idea hits.” This ensures that she shows up for her muses when they show up for her.

Track new developments in your niche.

San Francisco-based blogger Carlos Roberto refers to himself as “#JustABlokeInTheWild” and writes about men’s fashion, decor and design. He often uses Google Trends to see what men are searching for most. Google Trends helps Carlos identify popular search queries across time and for the categories he’s interested in. 

Look around yourself and to others.

Kevin Espiritu founded Epic Gardening to “help teach 10 million people how to grow anything, no matter where they live in the world.” He says that in addition to following the trends sprouting online, many ideas for his content “stem from my own garden.” He asks himself, “What am I growing that we haven’t written about yet?” and also creates content based on what his followers ask him about.  

Fitness instructor Brittany Noelle of Brittany Noelle Fitness takes a similar approach to generating new content. “I get inspiration from similar accounts, suggestions from my audience, inspiration from being outside or around certain people,” she shares. Once a week she hosts an interactive Q&A with her followers on Instagram Live. She also frequently leads conversations on Clubhouse, the audio-based social networking app.

Create a collage of inspiring images.

Many of the creators we surveyed said that collecting images is the main way they come up with ideas for content.

Tiffany Williams is a model and lifestyle blogger from San Diego, California. While working on runways, TV sets and photoshoots, she started Glitz and Glam by Tiff to show what goes on behind the scenes. “I often gather photos that I like and save them for style idea posts or videos,” she told us. “I save video clips of fashion shows that I like and may want to create looks from. I have a library of ideas.” 

 Likewise, Alexi Gleaves, the blogger behind House Gleaves, says, “My bookmarks folders on Instagram look like a Pinterest account, and my Pinterest account looks insane.”  A clothing designer, stylist and photographer, Alexi shares, “When I’ve pulled an outfit to shoot or have decided on a concept for a video or Reels, I go through all of my folders and pull out ideas to incorporate.” She adds, “If it’s a brand sponsorship, I try to incorporate the aesthetic and feel of the brand, but if it’s filler content for my Grid, Stories or a TikTok video, I have a lot more freedom to play.”

Keep a content calendar.

Among the most helpful strategies our creators suggested was to keep a content calendar. “When I have that creative block,” Neha Malhotra, the fashionista behind Nehulicious, says, “I get over it by organizing my content. I plan my posts/Reels that need to go live in a particular month. I make sure I curate content for national and international holidays. I also create content that is valuable to my audience and from which they can get inspired to create something on their own.”

Even if you don’t plan your content out very far ahead, every bit of preparation helps. Musician and lifestyle writer Rigel Gemini says, “It’s always easiest to be committed to content if you don’t have to force it….I often shoot content around things I am already planning.”

 Writer’s block can happen to anyone, but know that content ideas can come at any time — and from anywhere. When an idea strikes, write it down and put it into a content calendar to use later. And if you’re still stuck, turn to imagery, trends, and conversations with others to inspire a visit from your muses.

Web Stories are a great way for content creators to bring enhanced experiences to their users  and thousands of creators and publishers are using them. Tools for creating stories are available to a global audience, and Google products such as Search and Discover are incorporating Web Stories as a first-class content format. And if you are using WordPress we have good news for you! With the release of v1.5 of the Stories Editor for WordPress, you can easily embed Web Stories into your existing site.

Embedding Web Stories in your site

Integrating Web Stories into your content strategy allows you to:

1. Take advantage of both original and third-party story experiences to enhance the quality of your content strategy. You can embed your own Web Stories or Web Stories created by other publishers into your content. 

2. Diversify your traffic sources by combining organic traffic from search results and Discover, with direct traffic from origin, and social sharing. 

The Web Stories block

To embed stories on your WordPress-powered content site , you start by inserting a Web Stories block:

The Web Stories block provides three options for embedding stories into a post or page: 

1. Latest Stories: Display your most recent stories, with filtering and sorting options. The list automatically updates as you publish new stories. 

2. Selected Stories: Display a list of handpicked stories. 

3. Single Story: Embed a single story given its URL. This is a simple option but combined with other blocks, stories can be embedded and displayed in many creative ways.

For the Latest Stories and Selected Stories embedding options, you can specify which Web Stories you want to show, as well as some layout options to control how they are displayed:

1. Carousel: Carousel of web stories as rectangular cards or circular items.

2. Grid: Grid view (up to four columns).

3. List: Stacked list of stories.

Each layout option provides additional settings to give you fine-grained control over how embedded stories appear.

Availability

If you are using any of the following themes, you can start bringing the power of storytelling to your site today:

• The makers of the popular Astra theme announced their integration of stories.

• The Neve theme also provides integration of Web Stories into their theme.

• The Newspack project provides native stories support to the Newspack theme and the new capabilities will be released soon.

• The Web Stories WordPress plugin provides built-in integrations for all WordPress core default themes so that they have this opt-in functionality out-of-the-box.

Below you can take a look at some demo sites using these themes to get a glimpse of what is possible. Can’t wait to see what you would do on your site!

Astra

The Astra theme provides native integration with Web Stories. Check out the Astra theme demo site. In the screenshots below you can again see a selected stories embed using a circle carousel at the top of the theme, a selected stories embed using a box carousel displaying the members of the team, a selected stories embed using a box carousel displaying stories for the menu items, and a selected stories embed using a list layout.

Newspack

Newspack is an all-in-one publishing platform that incorporates industry best practices to help small and medium-sized news organizations produce great journalism. Integration of Web Stories into the Newspack flagship theme is available as of v1.33.0. Take a look at the Newspack theme demo site showcasing embedded stories in different ways. 

What’s next

With the creation capabilities of the Web Stories editor for WordPress and the completely revamped and versatile Gutenberg block, you have everything you need to unleash your creativity and bring the power of the Stories format to your content strategy. And this is just the beginning. Stay tuned and share your stories with the world!