SEO 101 for VC-Backed Startups – a Google Web Stories Experiment

Google has recently launched a beta version of a pretty cool WordPress plugin that they suggest may be a way to create content that ranks well in organic search – especially on mobile searches – while creating engaging user experiences on WordPress-based sites.

To experiment with Google Web Stories, I have created a simple overview of “SEO for VC-backed startups” – a very, very rudimentary Web Story that uses the beta interface to create multiple auto-playing slides.

The Google Web Story linked below took about 25 minutes to put together using only content and assets I had on hand. So it does not take advantage of some of the more immersive capabilities like portrait-oriented video, for example (update: I shot a quick 1-minute video, converted the .mov file created on my iPhone to a .mp4 and added it to the Story).

That all said, the beta version is interesting – and it will be fascinating to play with on behalf of our clients to see if we can gain some traction with them over time.

Capturing Google Web Stories in Google Analytics

Pro Tip: After installing and playing around with Google Web Stories in this post, I was having some trouble tracking the Stories in Google Analytics on the site. After much poking around, I found a very simple solution that is actually baked into another Google Plugin that I already had installed (and use on most client sites already as well): Google Site Kit. When you allow Google Site Kit to manage the placement of your Google Analytics on your WordPress site, it automatically installs the tracking code in your Google Stories (along with tracking all AMP pages, posts, etc.) – so you’re all set!