How Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP) Can Create Value For Your Website
11.6% of websites had adopted Accelerated Mobile Pages by June 2016, according to research conducted by Searchmetrics. Curious to know how Accelerated Mobile Pages can benefit your website content?
What is AMP?
AMP is essentially an open source project that allows publisher to create mobile friendly content once and have it loaded in an instant no matter the device. This is achieved through running the content on a simpler version of HTML during your website development process, with code known as AMP HTML, that strips out elements that cause web pages to load slower on mobile, such as JavaScript during your web development.
“We want webpages with rich content like video, animations and graphics to work alongside smart ads, and to load instantaneously” Google, October 2015
With Google focused on providing the best possible results for its users, AMP has changed the search engine’s mindset slightly. Previously, Google acted as a hub to point users to other websites whereas AMP shows their intention to keep users on the search engine for as long as possible by amassing their own content.
What are the Stats behind AMP?
- Recently Google stated that there were 75,000 indexed publishers in Google News with many having already adopted AMP. Partners included LinkedIn, Pinterest, BBC amongst many others.
- According to Rudy Galfi, Google’s AMP product manager, the median load time for AMPs is 0.7 seconds whereas non-AMPs is 22.0 seconds.
- In February 2016, Google officially integrated AMP-powered pages into its mobile search results.
What are the Advantages of AMP?
So how can Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP) offer value for webmasters and publishers when it comes to their content? Below are a few advantages:
- Site Speed
Content loads quicker. This offers users a better experience when browsing the news. Stories appear cleaner in organic search results as well as being easier to read. When you combine the on-page content, Analytics scripts and banners/pop-ups, some web pages can often take a while to load even if the publishers don’t mean to. AMP-formatted stories remove these interruptions.
- Content Monetisation
Despite AMP making the content the focus when it comes to user experience, this doesn’t remove the opportunity for publishers to monetise it. Native adverts and videos are not impacted due to the flexibility of AMP.
- Visibility for Publishers
As well as having their very own green AMP signal, these pages will also become popular for search engine users over time due to their quick loading times.
- AMP Visitor Analytics
The project gives publishers the options to place one of two tags on to their sites to track visitor behaviour when it comes to AMP content. Google added a AMP report to the Search Console in January this year, giving best practices to publishers looking to fix issues related to these pages.
- Contribution towards Organic performance
Although it does not act as a ranking factor, AMP still contributes towards mobile friendliness and page speed – two essential aspects of Google’s search algorithm. Think about it, if you’re creating AMP content that generates clicks and does not raise your website’s bounce rate, Google is going to favour this over non-AMP content.
Which Websites have Adopted AMP?
Despite the project initially being targeted at publishers, it is still applicable for e-commerce organisations whom wish to showcase their website content via carousels on search engine results pages.
eBay announced at the end of June that they had launched their AMP browse experience in mobile web with the desktop version to follow. The e-commerce giant offers some of their most popular search queries as examples of how they have implemented AMP, in the form of Camera Drones and Sony Playstation.
The Guardian also announced in February that they had been working on the AMP project with Google, making their news articles and features compatible with AMP as well as simplifying their main navigation bar to ensure site visitors are taken to the relevant page.
Is AMP the Future?
This all depends on the adoption of it across websites, even though the stats read well after a few months. According to Jim Robinson, founder and CEO of ClickSeed, AMP can provide value in terms of SEO as “it’s less proprietary than alternatives, like Facebook Instant Articles or Apple News”, signalling that it could play a big part in the future of the mobile web.
Have you implemented AMP? Has it left your website visitors more engaged and willing to convert? Say hello@minttwist.com today if you feel that your website needs a hand with preparing your content for AMP.
Original Article