After the announcement of Google Web Stories, Google has now introduced guidelines that warn publishers of six mistakes to avoid to keep their web stories from being blocked. Although Google Web Stories are a great way to drive more traffic to your website, it is essential to understand the guidelines.

What are Google Web Stories?

Google web stories are a new kind of content with a new format introduced for website owners so that they can drive more traffic to the site.

Here are six reasons why your Web Stories could disqualify and be blocked from appearing in search results:

Copyrighted Content

Google stated that if the content infringes copyrights it will be prohibited from participating in web stories. Google stated that it will remove the content and also the links to their web pages. Google is relying on publishers to alert them when someone infringes their content.

Too many words – too much video content

The web stories are limited to 180 words. Google also encourages publishers to use video content but it should be less than 60 seconds in length.

Low quality images and video

Google strongly asserts that low quality images and videos are prohibited for Google Web Stories. Low quality includes pixilation and the lack of distortion in the image or video.

Lack of Narrative

There is an emphasis on ‘stories’ which means that they should have a narrative.  Lack of a narrative will disqualify the story and Google will not publish it.

Incomplete stories

The narrative should be complete in itself. Google prohibits content that users need to click through and then see the entire content on the website. A web story should complete the narrative.

Overly commercial

Although affiliate advertising and display ads are allowed in web stories the content of the web story should not be too commercial. If it is – Google will not show it.

Similar to AdSense, publishers will discover ways to increase clicks and revenues. Some people use PPC and others use web pages with ads. Google now ensures that user experience matches what they wish to create – web stories is one way to help the online community to build their brand and get the word out – by following the right publishing guidelines.