In February, Google told us they stopped showing Web Stories in Google Image search results. Well, last night, Google issued a correction saying Google has been showing Web Stories in Google Images but the Web Stories icon does not show. To make things worse, Search Console had a bug where it was not reporting these impressions or clicks making us think that Web Stories were really not showing in Google Image Search.
Google wrote, "Web Stories continue to appear in Google Images, just as other web content may appear, but Web Stories no longer appear with the Web Stories icon in Google Images. Also, a bug that was blocking Search Console reporting for these URLs in Google Images is now resolved."
Google posted in the Search Console data anomalies section saying:
A logging error prevented Search Console from reporting on Web Stories in Google Images from August 28, 2023 until March 26, 2024. As a result, you may notice a decrease in clicks and impressions during this period for your Web Stories in the Search Console Performance report. This has been resolved and you may start to notice an increase in clicks and impressions, as the data returns to Search Console. This did not reflect a change in actual clicks or impressions, only an issue with data logging.
Here is what that report looks like when you limited it to show Image results with Web Stories - you get nothing:
So between the incorrect communication and the Search Console bug, we all kind of thought that Google really was not showing Web Stories in Google Images but they were...
Here is what it looks like before and after with/out the web stories icon:
Also, Google now clarified that Web Stories *can* still rank in Google Images, but they won't receive the Stories icon anymore. Here is a before/after. And the reporting error is now resolved, so you will see that data show up again in the Performance reporting for Google Images. pic.twitter.com/dRM6XiOaEt
— Glenn Gabe (@glenngabe) March 29, 2024
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