Web Stories — tap-through video stories

Short vertical videos and photos your readers tap through like a WhatsApp status — on your website, under your news stories and on Google.

5 min readUpdated 3 Oct 2026

In this guide

Web Stories are short, full-screen stories your readers tap through on their phone — the way they already watch a WhatsApp or Instagram status. Make one from a few vertical videos and photos, add a line of words on each page and a "Read more" button, and publish. It shows on your website straight away, and Google can show it too.

What your readers see

On your website, live stories appear as a row of story circles or portrait cards. A reader taps one and it opens full screen:

Tap the right side for the next page, the left side to go back.
Hold anywhere to pause; let go to carry on.
Swipe sideways for the next or previous story, swipe down to close.
Swipe up (or tap the button) to open the page's "Read more" link.
Sound plays after the tap that opened the story; the speaker button mutes it, and the choice is remembered.
The share button opens the phone's share sheet (WhatsApp and the rest), or copies the link on a computer.
On a computer the story plays in a phone-shaped card with arrows; the keyboard works too (← → space, M, Esc).
A circle turns grey once the reader has watched that story, just like a status.
Captions show on video pages that have them; the CC button (or the C key) turns them off and the choice is remembered.
A page with a poll or quiz waits for the reader to answer, shows the result for a few seconds, then carries on.
Every button and message is in the story's language — Hindi, Marathi, Gujarati, Bengali, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam, Punjabi, Odia, Urdu or English.

Tap a circleopens full screen
Pages playtap to skip, hold to pause
Read moreswipe up to your news story
Next storystarts by itself

One story, start to finish

Make a web story

Open Web Stories

In your sidebar open Web Stories (on a phone: News Desk → Web Stories), then tap + New web story.

Add pages

Tap + Video, + Photos or + Text. You can pick several photos at once — each one becomes a page. A video page can be up to 60 seconds; vertical videos fill the phone screen best. Picked a longer clip? You choose the part to keep — where it starts and how long it runs — and only that part becomes the page. While a video uploads you will see its progress on the page; we turn it into one phone-ready copy before it goes on your site.

Put words on each page

Give the story a title (it shows on the first page and on Google). On each page you can add a heading, a line or two of words (up to 280 letters), a photo credit, and choose whether the words sit at the Top, Middle or Bottom. Photos and text pages stay on screen for the seconds you choose; a video page plays its whole clip.

Add a Read more button (optional)

Switch on 'Read more' button on this page and pick one of your news stories or paste any link. If you link the whole web story to a news story in Story settings, the last page gets a "Read the full story" button by itself — and that news story shows a "Watch this as a web story" button.

Preview, then publish

▶ Preview plays your draft in the same player your readers get. When it looks right, tap Publish — or Schedule it for a time you choose. Changes to a live story go up when you tap Update live story.

Already wrote the news report? Tap Make from a news story · AI and pick it. Its own pictures + summary builds a draft at once from that story's video, photos and summary. Write it with AIreads the report and writes 4 to 8 short pages in the story's language, puts its photos on the right pages and can add a quiz. Both end with a "Read the full story" button, and nothing goes live until you publish — read every page first.

Captions on a video

Most people watch stories with the sound off, so a line of words over the video keeps them reading. On a video page open Captions on the video:

Play the clip, pause where a line starts and tap Now next to From; do the same for To, then type the words (two short lines at most).
Already have captions from your editing app or YouTube? Tap Bring a caption file (.srt / .vtt) and every line comes in with its timing.
Captions also show on your Google Web Story page.

Polls and quizzes

On a photo or text page, switch on Ask readers a question. A poll asks what readers think (no right answer); a quiz has one right answer — tick it, and add one line that explains it. Give 2 to 4 short answers.

Example · A city daily in Pune

After the rain story, the desk adds a text page with the poll "Should schools close on heavy-rain days?" — Yes / No / Only primary. Readers tap an answer and see the split at once; the Studio shows the votes so far under the poll. Changing the question or the answers later starts a fresh count.

Paid partnership

If a business paid for a story, switch on Paid partnership in Story settingsand type who paid. Readers then see "Paid partnership with …" on the story, and the story's card says "Sponsored" — advertising rules ask for this, and it keeps your readers' trust.

Earn from your stories

In News Desk → Ads the Web Stories group has two places for ads:

Between stories — a full-screen page with a Visit button after every few stories a reader watches (you choose 2 to 10). Fill it with a sponsor banner you sold, or with your own promo (e-paper, app, subscription).
Google's story ads — Google places its ads inside your Google Web Story pages (stories of 7 or more pages) and pays you through AdSense. Add your AdSense publisher ID and a display ad unit.

Where your stories show

Home pageYour design's Web Stories band shows your live stories

Any page, anywhereWebsite editor → Add section → News → Web Stories

Under every news storyA Web Stories row, your story's section first

One page with all of them/web-stories/ (also linked in your menu)

Google SearchEach story has its own Google Web Story page

The Web Stories section can be placed at the top of a page, between any two sections or at the bottom. Choose how it looks — Circles (like WhatsApp status), Portrait cards or Big cards— and, if you like, show only one section's stories (for example, only Sports).

Story settings

Cover — the picture in the circles, cards and on Google. Automatic uses the first picture.
Section and Language — for filtering and for Google.
Show for 24 hours only — like a WhatsApp status: it leaves your website 24 hours after it goes live. You can publish it again any time.
Play the next story automatically — when this story ends, the reader's next story starts.
Pin to the front — pinned stories lead every row.
Paid partnership — see above.

When a 24-hour story ends (under your stories in Web Stories): keep it under Ended, where you can put it live again, or delete it — it then moves to Deleted and is gone for good 30 days later, its videos cleared to keep your storage small.

What makes a good web story

Do this

Shoot vertical (phone held upright).
Keep each page short — under 15 seconds of video, two lines of words.
Use 5 to 10 pages that tell one thing well.
End with a Read more button to your full report.
Write what is in each photo in "What is in the picture".

Not this

Don't put long paragraphs on a page — readers tap on in seconds.
Don't use blurry or tiny pictures — they fill the whole screen.
Don't bake the words into the video; type them on the page so they stay sharp.
Don't upload a 5-minute clip — split it into pages of up to 60 seconds.

Example · A district daily in Nashik

At 7 am the reporter films three 12-second clips at the onion mandi. In Web Stories she taps + Video three times, types "Onion down ₹4 a kilo" on the first page, adds a text page "What it means for your kitchen", links the story to the full mandi report and turns on Show for 24 hours only. The circles on the home page show it within a minute, and by the next morning it has left by itself.

Views, how many watched to the end, and where readers left

Each story card in Web Stories shows how many readers opened it and what share watched it to the last page. Open a live story and How it is doing shows readers on each page — a big drop after a page means readers left there, so try a stronger picture or fewer words on it. A reader is counted once every six hours — even if their phone switches between Wi-Fi and mobile data while they read — and the numbers update about every 30 minutes.

Taking a story down or deleting it

More → Take off the website turns a live story back into a draft. Delete removes it from your website straight away; it stays in Deleted for 30 days, where Restore brings it back. After 30 days it is removed for good, and videos it no longer uses are cleared out so they stop using space.

A story that breaks the content rules can be taken down: it leaves your website at once, the Studio shows the reason, and it cannot be published again. You can still open it or delete it.

Why is my video refused?

A video file can be at most 300 MB. A longer clip is fine — you pick the 60 seconds to keep. A 1080p recording fits easily; a 4K recording may be too large — switch your camera to 1080p for stories. Whatever you upload, your website stores a small, phone-ready copy.

Is the AI draft safe to publish as it is?

Read it first. The AI is told to use only facts from your report and the pictures that came with it, but it can still word something badly or miss a detail. A members-only report is never read in full — only its headline and summary.

Does a web story slow my website down?

No. The rows are light pictures; the story player loads only when a reader is about to open a story, and videos start streaming only for the page being watched. The next page's video starts loading only once the current page is well under way, so it plays without waiting.

Will my readers' mobile data run out?

A story uses data only while it plays. Nothing loads until a reader opens a story; a reader who leaves early never downloads the next video; on a phone with Data Saver or a slow network nothing is loaded ahead at all; and closing the story stops every download. A one-minute video page is about 3 to 15 MB — the same as a short status on WhatsApp.

Will Google show my stories?

Every live story gets a Google Web Story page that follows Google's rules and is listed for Google to find. Google decides what it shows; stories with real video, a clear title under 70 characters and a good cover do best.

Can my staff make stories?

Yes — anyone on your team who can manage news stories can make, edit and publish web stories.