---
title: "How to Enable Web Stories on Google: Quick Guide"
description: "## **What are Web Stories?** Web Stories are visually rich, tappable stories made from a mix of video, audio, images, animation, and text — kind of like Instagram or Snapchat Stories but fully web-based and discoverable on Google Search and…"
url: "https://fsidm.in/knowledge/seo/web-stories/"
updated: "2025-10-11"
category: SEO
---
# How to Enable Web Stories on Google: Quick Guide
## **What are Web Stories?**
Web Stories are visually rich, tappable stories made from a mix of video, audio, images, animation, and text — kind of like Instagram or Snapchat Stories but fully web-based and discoverable on Google Search and Discover.
### **Steps to Get Your Web Stories Showing on Google**
1. **Create Your Web Story**
- Use no-code Story editor tools like Google Web Stories plugin (for WordPress), MakeStories, or others.
- Or build manually using AMP story format if you have developer support.
- Make sure your story follows Best Practices for Creating Web Stories.
2. **Validate Your Web Story as Valid AMP**
- Use the Web Stories Google Test Tool to confirm your story meets AMP specs.
- Use Chrome DevTools to preview responsiveness and experience on different devices.
- Optional: Use AMP Linter in development for command line validation.
3. **Verify Metadata** Your Web Story must include required metadata to appear in Google previews:
- publisher-logo-src (your logo)
- poster-portrait-src (story cover image)
- title
- publisher (name of your site or brand)
4. Use the Google Test Tool to confirm metadata is correct.
5. **Check Indexing Status**
- Use Google Search Console’s **URL Inspection Tool** to check if your Web Story is indexed.
- If not indexed:
- Link to your Web Story from your website.
- Add your Web Story URLs to your sitemap.
- Make sure the Web Story URL is canonical to itself ().
- For multiple languages, implement hreflang tags to indicate localized versions.
- Ensure URLs are not blocked by robots.txt or noindex meta tags.
6. **Follow Web Story Content Policies**
- Avoid restricted content to stay eligible for appearance in Google Discover and Search.
### **Where Can Web Stories Appear?**
- **Google Search:** As single, tappable story results in all regions and languages.
- **Google Discover:** Especially in the US, India, Brazil — shown as tappable story cards.
### **Bonus Tips**
- Use engaging visuals and concise text to keep users tapping through.
- Ensure fast load time — AMP stories load quickly by design.
- Monitor performance and indexing in Google Search Console regularly.
## Best Practices for Creating Web Stories
### **Storytelling: Keep Your Audience Hooked**
- **Video first**: Use video as much as possible. It’s more engaging than text or images. Use images and text to support video, not replace it.
- **Short & sweet**: Avoid long text blocks. Keep text concise to maintain flow and interest.
### **Design: Make It Beautiful & Readable**
- **Reduce text**: Limit text to about **280 characters per page** (like a tweet).
- **Avoid blocking text**: Don’t put text behind other content or use burned-in text. Burned-in text can get cut off or unreadable on different devices.
- **Keep text visible**: Make sure all text fits within the viewport on all devices (no overflow).
- **Use animations carefully**: Animations should enhance the story but avoid distracting or repetitive ones that cause fatigue.
### **SEO: Help Google Find & Show Your Story**
- **High-quality content**: Make your story useful, interesting, and complete to engage readers fully.
- **Short titles**: Keep titles under **70 characters** (max 90 chars). Clear and descriptive wins.
- **Indexing**:
- Don’t use noindex tag; this blocks Google from indexing your story.
- Add Web Stories to your sitemap for easier discovery.
- Ensure each story is **self-canonical** with .
- For multilingual stories, use hreflang tags to specify language versions.
- **Metadata**:
- Include meta title and description tags.
- Use structured data (VideoObject, Article, etc.).
- Implement Open Graph Protocol (OGP) and Twitter Card tags for social sharing.
### **Technical: Make It Work Perfectly**
- **Valid AMP**: Your Web Story must be a valid AMP page. Use the AMP Validator and fix any errors.
- **No text in poster image**: The poster image (preview thumbnail) shouldn’t have burned-in text that could hide your story’s title.
- **Poster image specs**:
- Minimum size: **640 x 853 px** (aspect ratio 3:4).
- **Logo specs**:
- Minimum size: **96 x 96 px** (aspect ratio 1:1).
- **Accessibility**: Follow accessibility tips so everyone can enjoy your story.
## Web Story Content Policies on Google
### **1. Copyrighted Content**
- Only use original content or content you have explicit permission to use.
- No copyright infringement allowed.
- Google may block Web Stories that violate copyrights.
- You are responsible for securing rights; Google doesn’t handle this for you.
**2. Text-Heavy Web Stories**
- Avoid stories with mostly text.
- Pages with more than **180 characters of text** risk being disqualified.
- Use short, bite-sized videos (under 60 seconds per page) wherever possible.
### **3. Low-Quality Assets**
- Don’t use pixelated or stretched images/videos.
- Visual quality must not negatively impact viewer experience.
### **4. Lack of Narrative**
- Each Web Story should have a clear, cohesive theme or narrative connecting all pages.
- No random or disconnected content slides.
### **5. Incomplete Stories**
- Stories must be complete on their own.
- Don’t force users to click external links or apps to get essential information.
### **6. Overly Commercial Content**
- Stories primarily aimed at advertising products or services are not allowed.
- Affiliate links are allowed but should only be a small part of the story.
- Display ads can be included if they follow Google’s Story Ad Guidelines.
- Avoid spammy or aggressive marketing content.
**Bottom line:** Your Web Story should offer original, high-quality, engaging, and complete content — not just ads or heavy text — to get the best visibility on Google.