What are Web Stories and who can use them?
Google Web Stories are short, visual, slideshow-style AMP embeds, similar to Facebook or Instagram stories. You can read more about how Web Stories work in this blog post!
Anyone running WordPress version 5.3 and up can install the Web Stories plugin and start making them for their site!
Here's the official Google Web Stories site, where you can see examples, get Web Stories support, and learn how to install the Web Stories plugin!
What's the benefit of having them?
Driving traffic from a new audience to your site! Web Stories are eligible to appear in Google Discover and can be a great way to draw attention to your high-performing posts!
Can they be monetized with ads?
YES, but there are a few things to keep in mind!
As with other AMP ads, Web Stories will run on Google’s domain and are largely outside of our control. We can’t provide the full Mediavine ad auction or use things such as first-party data, etc.
These are specialized, full-screen ads. There is currently low demand for them, and that means a significantly lower fill rate.
Google, not Mediavine or the publisher, controls the placement of these ads, and they only appear after 6-8 slides, which means typically only one ad per story.
Note: If you participated in Mediavine's Web Stories Alpha test prior to the release of MCP 2.6, we sent you a separate plugin to run ads on web stories. You no longer need this plugin, and should remove it if you're running the Mediavine Control Panel Plugin v2.6+.
Web Stories will not monetize as well as posts on your website. They should be previews of your posts, not something to drive traffic to. But they should still tell a good story that encourages readers to click through to your full content.
How to enable Web Stories Ads
Web Stories Ads are automatically enabled within your Mediavine Control Panel since version 2.6 was released in May 2021! If you have Web Stories already, you're likely already showing ads there!
Ads are displayed after the first 6-8 slides, and the GDPR notice will also display correctly when browsing from locations that require it. We recommend making your stories at least 7 slides long for advertising purposes, and Google recommends a length of 10-20 slides for adequate storytelling!
If you don't want ads on your Web Stories, it's easy to disable. In WordPress, just go to Settings > Mediavine Control Panel and uncheck this box:
Tracking Web Stories Traffic
Traffic to your Web Stories is not the same as traffic to your site. This audience doesn't really create a "session" worth measuring for your site until they click over to the real thing.
For that reason, we recommend setting up a separate Web Stories Profile ID with Google Analytics to record your Web Stories traffic.
Since these aren't yet readers scrolling your posts and seeing ads, if you count these sessions in the dashboard it can skew your RPM calculation and lead to inaccurate dashboard reporting because Web Stories monetize at a much lower rate.
Here is our guide on How to Make a new Google Analytics Profile ID for your Web Stories.
Tracking Web Stories Revenue
Web Stories ads are controlled by Google and are served through the same method as AMP ads, so all of your Web Stories revenue will populate under the 'Amp' category in your Mediavine Display by Ad Unit:
Please keep in mind, the goal is to use Web Stories to augment your blog posts and make readers want to visit your site while creating an enjoyable Web Story.
You do not want to divert traffic from the blog post to its Web Story.
From the Blog:
Still have questions? Feel free to email us at publishers@mediavine.com!