it is possible to make my story maps available in google search??

[AliAzzouhri1]

Is there a way to bolster my story map's metadata so that people can find it with a google search?

[OwenGeo]

If you are using one of the classic story map templates, the only way to affect the searchability of the story is to download the code from GitHub and self-host the story on your own server. You can then edit the index.html file and add tags and other things helpful for SEO. Here's some more info about that:

https://medium.com/story-maps-developers-corner/an-introduction-to-hosting-your-own-story-map-e24501... 

https://medium.com/story-maps-developers-corner/grow-your-story-maps-audience-with-open-graph-tags-b...

If you use the new ArcGIS StoryMaps, that's all handled for you. Stories published with everyone are registered and searchable in web search engines. You can also add your own Google Analytics key for stories to measure traffic to your story without having to host anything yourself.

Track your story map performance using Google Analytics (beta) 

[JamesAnderson11]

This is not true! All new stories now are attributed by "noindex,nofollow" meta tag. So you can't index your stories. How to solve this? I see that other stories are allowed to be crawled by Google.

[StalinEspinal]

This is not my experience with new StoryMap builder. It does not seem to pick-up tags/text/language in google search engine. Has there been any updates on this issue?   

[OwenGeo]

Stories created with ArcGIS StoryMaps using a subscription/organization account are indexed by search engines. Stories created with free public accounts are not indexed.

If you do not have access to an ArcGIS organization subscription and are interested in a more approachable option, please check out our new personal storytelling offering StoryMaps.com. For a comparison between the professional ArcGIS StoryMaps and personal StoryMaps.com, see Storytelling Solutions for Professional or Personal Use (esri.com).

[StalinEspinal]

Hi Owen,

we have an organizational Non-profit account. Is there resources to improve search on google search engine of new StoryMaps builder? 

[LizTodd]

Hi, that's a great question! Making use of best practices like ensuring that keywords are in your title, subtitle, as well as first 100 words of your story will help with search engine optimization. Here's a guide from Google that breaks down these best practices in more detail:  https://developers.google.com/search/docs/beginner/seo-starter-guide 

[ManolisKoutlis]

Hi 

I have an GIS Professional Advanced license but still my stories are published with the "noindex,nofollow" meta tags, so the content is not searchable from the web. 
I have successfully added Google analytics to my stories, but their content is not exposed to the wold due to the above.
What should I need to do?

Regards

Manolis Koutlis

[ManolisKoutlis]

I would appreciate a response to this question... 

Thanks 

Manolis Koutlis

[OwenGeo]

@ManolisKoutlis -- If you are using ArcGIS StoryMaps and have published you story and shared it with Everyone then it should be indexed with search engines. If you are not seeing this with any specific stories, please contact Esri Technical Support and they can help you troubleshoot.

Please note that if you used one of the classic story map templates (Cascade, Journal, etc.) those stories are not indexed.