Google’s tools now recognize “Web Story”

Google announced that its testing tools and the Google Search Console Performance report will recognize if your AMP document is a Web Story.

Google said, “In our testing tools and Performance report we’ll use the term Web Story to identify this format.”

What is a Web Story? In its developer document, Google said that “a Web Story is a visual storytelling format in Google Search results that immerses the user in a tap-through full-screen experience. Web Stories can also appear in Google Images, Discover, and the Google app. This guide explains how Web Stories appear on Google, and how to enable a Web Story on Google.”

What a Web Story looks like. They come in many variations and Google is testing multiple layouts. They can show in web search, Google Discover, Google Images and many other places. Here is one example of what it looks like.

Testing tools. The AMP testing tool and the other testing tools will now label these as a “Web Story.” Here is a screen shot from the AMP testing tool that shows a “valid web story”:

Performance report. In Google Search Console, the Performance report, Google will also show how much of that traffic is from a Web Story. So you can filter it out even more:

Why we care. Google is now giving SEOs and site owners even more refined breakdowns of how a Web Story published on your site can send you traffic from Google Search and Google Discover. Google will also properly document in its testing tools if it is a Web Story, how those web stories previews may show up in search and more ways to debug your web stories.