What’s different about Web Stories

Stories have become a popular format for digital content and social media. It seems that most social apps have their own take on stories, but what about Web Stories? On the surface, all story variations may appear to be the same. For example, they all allow you to tap to go forward and backward, swipe up to open an attachment, or swipe right to go to the next story. That said, let’s check out some features that distinguish Web Stories from other story formats.  You can also see a full breakdown in the video above.

Web Stories:

1. Are designed for high-quality editorial or journalistic content. You write a full Story on your topic before publishing it instead of posting one page at a time. 

2. Have no expiration date. You can publish a Story, and it will stay up as long as you like.

3. Are published by you and hosted on your servers.  You host and own your Web Stories and content instead of posting them to an app or other platform. Your copyright, your content, your rules.

4. Have no editorial restrictions. Create what you want, not what’s defined in someone else’s terms of service.

5. Let you earn money from ads or sponsored content. Unlike stories on other apps and platforms, when you include ads in your Web Stories, you get to keep the revenue.

6. Are accessible like any other webpage. They can be accessed on any browser or device you use to access the web — instead of just in one app. They can also be created in a number of ways, including the tools listed on stories.google. 

7. Are indexed by search engines. People can find your Web Stories through search and they can be linked to from your other pages.

8. Are highly customizable. You can use any web font and can add custom animations or even modify the underlying CSS.

9. Can have embedded links. There’s no friction in getting to the content you need or to say “link in bio.”

10. Act like standard web pages. This means you can view them in different browsers, on different devices, and use tools like Google Analytics to measure their performance.

11. Are responsive. A Web Story can automatically resize and adapt to fit different screen sizes, like those for desktop computers, mobile phones, and tablets. (Not yet supported by all Story creation tools.)

12. Can feature interactive elements. You can run quizzes and polls from inside your Web Stories.  (Not yet supported by all Story creation tools.)

13. Can include new content. New pages can be added in real-time to your Web Stories, and users will be notified of them and able to view them without having to refresh their screen.

To learn more about Web Stories check out our Web Stories site, and the “Storytime” videos on our YouTube channel.