Uploading your Google Docs file to WordPress used to be a chore.
It’s hard enough to come up with good blog post ideas, have them written, and then edit every detail.
But while it’s easy to think you can just copy and paste your Google Doc text to the WordPress visual editor, you shouldn’t.
Fret not, though, because there IS a solution.
This post will outline how you can save 6-100 hours per week on your WordPress publishing process and reliably upload your Google Doc to WordPress in a few simple steps.
Let’s dive in.
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If you’re looking for ways to upload Google documents directly to WordPress, chances are you’ve already suffered at the hands of a less-than-perfect WordPress publishing workflow.
Let me guess what that process might look like for you:
The problem with all this is that it obviously adds a lot of unnecessary labor to the process. And to make matters worse, it’s usually a highly-skilled employee or even a manager who ends up doing all these menial tasks.
And if there’s anyone you don’t want to spend multiple hours a week on adding line breaks, metadata, and more menial stuff, it’s one of your best writers or editors. Unfortunately, you can’t really outsource it to a VA who could end up messing up the final blog post, either.
Luckily, there’s a better way (more on this in the next section).
There’s no inherent functionality in either Google Docs or WordPress that lets you effectively upload a Google Docs document into your CMS, but luckily, you can use a third-party tool and WordPress plugin to achieve this with a few clicks.
And that’s exactly what Wordable is. Our platform integrates with Google Drive directly, and by using our WordPress plugin, you can upload Google Docs documents directly, without any of the formatting issues you get with a copy-and-paste workflow.
Wondering what this process looks like? We’ll walk you through it step-by-step (and you can follow through with our free trial if you want to see it in action for yourself.)
Wordable is a publishing platform that helps you automatically convert Google Docs to perfectly-formatted posts or pages on WordPress (or another CMS like Hubspot).
To turn any Google Docs document into a WordPress post with a single click, you first need to set up Wordable following this simple three-step process.
First things first, you need to sign up for our free trial if you’re going to be using our software.
Input your name, email, and password, and you’re ready to go. (We don’t require any credit card information before you can start the trial.) It doesn’t get much simpler than that.
So sign-up should only take a few seconds.
Once you’re logged in, you’ll be asked to authenticate a connection with your Google Account (make sure it’s the one where you store your articles).
This should look something like this:
Once Wordable is connected to your Google account, it’s time to set up the missing link: Wordable to WordPress.
To connect your WordPress site with Wordable (and through us Google Docs), you first need to create a new connection within Wordable (named, for example, “my WordPress Site) and select WordPress as your CMS.
Then, you need to download our WordPress plugin and add it to your website.
You can search for it in the WordPress plugin directory inside your WordPress site’s dashboard, or download our WordPress plugin with this link. To upload it, log into your WordPress dashboard, head to the plugins section, click “Add New,” and then click the “Upload Plugin” button.
Next, click the “Select File” button, select the “Wordable.zip” file, and click “Install Now.”
Then, all you have to do is activate the plugin, head to the settings page, and click “Connect Now.”
If you’re logged into your Wordable account, this will automatically link your WordPress site to Wordable and take you to the process of importing and exporting your first document:
If you finished the onboarding wizard already, you should be able to see the live connection in your Wordable dashboard under “Export Connections” like this:
And that’s it for the setup. You’re now ready to turn any document from Google Docs into a full-fledged WordPress post or page with a few clicks.
Here’s how it works:
Once you’ve got things set up, you should be able to see all your Google Docs drafts in the “Imports” section of the Wordable dashboard. For the purposes of this demonstration, let’s use the top post, “Creating content for every stage of the sales funnel.”
Once you click import on a specific file, it will add it to internal Wordable documents that you can select and export to your WordPress site.
Before you do anything regarding uploading your Google Doc file to the WordPress site, you’ll want to give it a final sweep over in your Google Docs account. Make sure it’s fully formatted and edited in Google Docs before moving forward.
If you make any changes, make sure you import the document again.
Once you’re ready, find the right imported document using our search function and click the export button.
Add every document you want to turn into a blog post or article to the export queue (if you’re on a free trial, up to five, maximum, or you’ll need to upgrade your account).
Once you’ve selected the documents, click “Manual Export.”
This opens a new tab with export options, which is where the real magic happens. Here, you can select bulk options for what to do with your images, links, and more, to cut down on manual optimization work.
For example, you can apply the “nofollow” attribute to all links included on a page, or generate a functioning table of contents complete with jumplinks automatically.
You can also automatically compress images, set image attributes, and choose which images to feature.
Once you decide on the specific settings and click export, not only will you export your document, but you will also create a template with these export settings so you can speed up future exports.
So click the export button, and then click the button to “Enable One-Click Exports” in the future.
Once you do that, you should be taken back to the Wordable dashboard, where you can see your first export.
Click the link symbol (similar to a lowercase “i”) to go straight to the WordPress dashboard for editing the specific post you exported and take a look at your handiwork.
The great part is that it keeps all your original formatting, including the header tag, bold, and bullet points. Even the images will be saved to your WordPress media library.
Just to be sure, make sure that everything looks good by checking it out inside the WordPress editor of your choice before publishing.
Do a final sweep for any potential issues before you take your blog post or page live. Wordable lets you upload the Google Doc to WordPress and converts it into a perfectly-formatted blog post, but you still may want to tweak some HTML or add a category or a tag.
You can do any minor edits like this in a few minutes within the WYSIWYG or Gutenberg editor.
If you use a tool like Yoast to add meta tags to improve your SEO, you’ll also need to add that information in as well.
No matter what, it always helps to measure twice and cut once. Do a QA check before you click “publish.” You’re live! That was easy, right?
And this is a complex process compared to what taking your next Google Doc live will look like: three clicks — find the right Google doc, click import, add it to the export queue, and press export.
This works because Wordable automatically creates an export template based on the first doc you export. But don’t worry; you can edit these settings at any time, or even create multiple templates for different blogs or post types.
Yes, you can embed a Google Docs document on any page on your website by using HTML, or inputting that HTML into the CMS you use.
The finished product will look something like this on your live site:
If you instead want to preview a Doc embed, not a live published page that looks like a website, you can use a Google Drive embed plugin.
In either case, if you’re looking for a quick workaround to avoid the copy-and-paste process, embedding might seem like the easiest option, but be aware that this doesn’t create an easily browsable blog post or in any way benefit your SEO (quite the opposite).
The best use case for embedding a Google Doc is if you want to share a template or formula within a blog post where you’re explaining a complex topic, like how to calculate content marketing ROI.
If you want to create a blog post or page from a Google Doc, the best way to do it is to export it to WordPress using a tool like Wordable.
If you’re tired of the clunky process of copying Google Docs into WordPress, then Wordable is perfect for you and your team. No more manually adding back line breaks and paragraphs, manually editing link settings, or creating tables of contents from scratch.
Go from a Google Docs document to a perfect blog post with a single click (once you’ve set up your template). Take advantage of our free trial, export up to five articles and experience how much easier (and faster) it is for yourself.
Wordable can save your company anywhere from 6-100+ work hours per week, depending on how many blog posts you publish and what your current processes look like. If you want to know exactly how much $ you can save, use our ROI calculator.