AMP was launched back in 2016 by Google and favoured by website giants including WordPress, Facebook and LinkedIn. Quite simply, AMP stands for the loading of accelerated mobile pages and refers to the speed of which the page loads. In using stripped down HTML code, it will deliver reliable content to mobile fast. It’s all about speedy pages.
It can be difficult to know whether using AMP HTML is still essential for your content plan. It certainly has plenty of benefits. And, with all things content related, good mobile features are always part of our forward thinking. This article looks at its relevance now.
AMP Technology
AMP was launched as a HTML project to create super-fast and engaging mobile pages. It’s able to deliver these aspects because regular HTML elements like JavaScript and CSS are absent. Then regular HTML tags are replaced by AMP HTML tags. When it originally launched it was present on Google with the use of a lightening icon, though this is no longer a feature now and it’s no longer prioritised in SERP results.
Mobile speed is crucial since over half of all mobile pages will be abandoned if they take longer than 3 seconds to load. Websites should load within 1-2 seconds in order to keep consumers interested. Whenever possible, JavaScript should be avoided as it may use external ads and social widgets that contact a third-party server before they load the page, wasting valuable time. If you have a fast-loading website on mobile then you will have a lower bounce back rate. Customers are not going to return if you’ve lost them through this initial meeting.
Benefits
When we click on a website and its super instant we will notice. This is a benefit. An AMP page will load in 0.7 seconds. A consumer will also appreciate the loading of a page that’s instant and smooth. As a business that uses AMP pages, you’ll be able to maintain and grow KPI’s (key performance indicators). W3techs share some strong statistics on websites that use AMP and its high growth rate. AMP also helps with search visibility and does provide an advantage in terms of Core Web Vitals. AMP will keep conversation rates up, which is great for eCommerce platforms including ads. Website leaders such as the BBC, Twitter, LinkedIn all use AMP. As a rule of thumb, mobile-friendly websites rank higher and pages built with AMP rank higher than those not built with AMP in organic mobile search results.
Limitations
Google have published guidelines on how to implement AMP pages but in honesty it’s not an easy process. The good news if you use WordPress is that there is a plug-in tool that can assist and make the whole transition easier. Search AMP in new plugins. If you’re already using Yoast for SEO, it features AMP integration, it also outputs correct metadata, structured markup, and other SEO elements.
Nonetheless, you should also be aware that in using AMP pages (without going down the plugin route) some key website features including opt-in forms, social media share buttons and sidebar widgets will be lost as cannot run alongside, which may result in losing leads and possibly new members.
It’s a tough one to weigh up as AMPs will probably not add that much value to a site that is small and limited in content and already loads quickly. But, if lots of your traffic comes from mobile it’s a bigger consideration. The smartphone is pretty much how we interact with everything, so ensuring a smooth user experience is paramount. No matter which direction you choose, your website should be mobile friendly and incorporate WordPress plugins that will help you get AMP up and running as a minimum.
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