SEO 101: Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP)
Google changes the layout of its desktop and mobile SERP (search engine results page) periodically. You may or may not notice these changes, but even the most seemingly mundane SERP calibration can influence website rankings (directly or indirectly).
One of the most significant recent SERP changes involved Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP), which Google added to the main SERP in August, 2016. In its announcement about the change, Google lamented the mobile experience of the time:
"It's 2016 and it's hard to believe that browsing the web on a mobile phone can still feel so slow with users abandoning sites that just don't load quickly. To us — and many in the industry — it was clear that something needed to change."
This is why, Google said, it partnered with AMP, an open-source initiative that empowers website to create pages that "render fast." As the AMP site says:
"For many, reading on the mobile web is a slow, clunky and frustrating experience - but it doesn’t have to be that way. The Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP) Project is an open source initiative that embodies the vision that publishers can create mobile optimized content once and have it load instantly everywhere."
With AMP, sites strip down pages to their essential content: "AMP is based on lighter coding that let your content be hosted on Google AMP Cache. This cached version actually lets AMP pages to be preloaded and can be then instantly delivered to users for a search results. It also ensures that all AMP pages are actually valid AMP" (Source).
In highlighting AMPs, Google was trying to advance its perennial goal: to improve the browser experience, or as Google's vice president of news, Richard Gingras, put it, "to drive the ecosystem forward."
Should You Optimize for AMP?
In the recent past, Google affixed a "Mobile-Friendly" tag to sites that offered a quality mobile experience. At the time, many sites optimized for mobile friendliness, which was noted as a definitive ranking signal. The AMP tag does not add an additional ranking signal. As Jennifer Slegg writes or Moz:
"It's important to note that AMP pages in the mobile search results do not receive an additional ranking boost. Google currently has the mobile-friendly ranking boost, and because AMP pages are mobile-friendly, they receive the same ranking boost."
However, as Slegg notes, "there are indirect benefits" to optimizing for AMP, like potentially higher click-through rates (CTR) which will only grow with increased consumer knowledge about the advantages of AMP sites.
So should you optimize for AMP?
In the early stages of AMP adoption the style proved to offer certain disadvantages. News sites, the first to use AMP, for example, noticed a loss in ad revenue. As The Wall Street Journal reported:
"For some publishers...AMP pages do not currently generate advertising revenue at the same rate as their full mobile sites. Multiple publishers said an AMP pageview currently generates around half as much revenue as a pageview on their full mobile websites. That’s largely because of limitations related to the types of ad units AMP pages will allow and the ad technology providers that are currently integrated with the platform."
In simplifying the browser experience, Google seemed to "advanced the ecosystem" at the expense of certain types of revenue-generating content, like ads, which can be clunky.
But this no longer seems to be an issue. A new AMP-compatible app enables much faster load speeds for ads:
"Speed has resulted in an increase of revenue, with publishers on AMP earning three times more revenue per day in the past year alone. There are now 100 ad tech platforms supporting AMP. Google attributes the success of ads on AMP pages in large part to the release of Fast Fetch, which is a technology that allows ads to load 2.7 seconds faster. One of Google’s top priorities now is to make sure all AMP partners are utilizing Fast Fetch" (Source).
Today, when people search on mobile device, Google defaults to the AMP version of a page, (if available). The new SERP feature translates to new exposure for AMP pages--and, reasonably, more traffic, clicks, and potentially, revenue.
The key here for your business is the parentheses: if available. Again, AMP is an open source code, available to any web developer. AMP optimization is not automatic for your site. You'll need to create new AMP pages to take advantage of this new change to the SERP.
As always, our advice is simple. If your site is dependent on mobile visits for income, you must adapt to compete.
If you have a developer in-house who can code AMP pages, you're a step ahead of the game.
If not, now is the time to partner with an enterprising developer, preferably with SEO knowledge.
Website Optimization AMP Coding with Stepman's SEO
To create a fully-optimized website, with AMP pages, you'll need the help of a savvy web developer that understands SEO. Stepman's SEO is the rare company that offers a host of development, SEO, and marketing professionals to optimize your website. Contact Stepman's SEO today to learn how you can improve your website's mobile performance: 215-900-9398.
One of the most significant recent SERP changes involved Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP), which Google added to the main SERP in August, 2016. In its announcement about the change, Google lamented the mobile experience of the time:
"It's 2016 and it's hard to believe that browsing the web on a mobile phone can still feel so slow with users abandoning sites that just don't load quickly. To us — and many in the industry — it was clear that something needed to change."
This is why, Google said, it partnered with AMP, an open-source initiative that empowers website to create pages that "render fast." As the AMP site says:
"For many, reading on the mobile web is a slow, clunky and frustrating experience - but it doesn’t have to be that way. The Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP) Project is an open source initiative that embodies the vision that publishers can create mobile optimized content once and have it load instantly everywhere."
With AMP, sites strip down pages to their essential content: "AMP is based on lighter coding that let your content be hosted on Google AMP Cache. This cached version actually lets AMP pages to be preloaded and can be then instantly delivered to users for a search results. It also ensures that all AMP pages are actually valid AMP" (Source).
In highlighting AMPs, Google was trying to advance its perennial goal: to improve the browser experience, or as Google's vice president of news, Richard Gingras, put it, "to drive the ecosystem forward."
 |
| The AMP "lightening bolt" translates to a speedy mobile experience. |
Should You Optimize for AMP?
In the recent past, Google affixed a "Mobile-Friendly" tag to sites that offered a quality mobile experience. At the time, many sites optimized for mobile friendliness, which was noted as a definitive ranking signal. The AMP tag does not add an additional ranking signal. As Jennifer Slegg writes or Moz:
"It's important to note that AMP pages in the mobile search results do not receive an additional ranking boost. Google currently has the mobile-friendly ranking boost, and because AMP pages are mobile-friendly, they receive the same ranking boost."
However, as Slegg notes, "there are indirect benefits" to optimizing for AMP, like potentially higher click-through rates (CTR) which will only grow with increased consumer knowledge about the advantages of AMP sites.
So should you optimize for AMP?
In the early stages of AMP adoption the style proved to offer certain disadvantages. News sites, the first to use AMP, for example, noticed a loss in ad revenue. As The Wall Street Journal reported:
"For some publishers...AMP pages do not currently generate advertising revenue at the same rate as their full mobile sites. Multiple publishers said an AMP pageview currently generates around half as much revenue as a pageview on their full mobile websites. That’s largely because of limitations related to the types of ad units AMP pages will allow and the ad technology providers that are currently integrated with the platform."
In simplifying the browser experience, Google seemed to "advanced the ecosystem" at the expense of certain types of revenue-generating content, like ads, which can be clunky.
But this no longer seems to be an issue. A new AMP-compatible app enables much faster load speeds for ads:
"Speed has resulted in an increase of revenue, with publishers on AMP earning three times more revenue per day in the past year alone. There are now 100 ad tech platforms supporting AMP. Google attributes the success of ads on AMP pages in large part to the release of Fast Fetch, which is a technology that allows ads to load 2.7 seconds faster. One of Google’s top priorities now is to make sure all AMP partners are utilizing Fast Fetch" (Source).
Today, when people search on mobile device, Google defaults to the AMP version of a page, (if available). The new SERP feature translates to new exposure for AMP pages--and, reasonably, more traffic, clicks, and potentially, revenue.
The key here for your business is the parentheses: if available. Again, AMP is an open source code, available to any web developer. AMP optimization is not automatic for your site. You'll need to create new AMP pages to take advantage of this new change to the SERP.
As always, our advice is simple. If your site is dependent on mobile visits for income, you must adapt to compete.
If you have a developer in-house who can code AMP pages, you're a step ahead of the game.
If not, now is the time to partner with an enterprising developer, preferably with SEO knowledge.
Website Optimization AMP Coding with Stepman's SEO
To create a fully-optimized website, with AMP pages, you'll need the help of a savvy web developer that understands SEO. Stepman's SEO is the rare company that offers a host of development, SEO, and marketing professionals to optimize your website. Contact Stepman's SEO today to learn how you can improve your website's mobile performance: 215-900-9398.
SEO 101: Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP)
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