If you’ve been researching ways to optimize your mobile website, you may have come across Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP). There are some key benefits and it’s important to understand what they are. Therefore, I’ve put together a crash course on AMP to get you up to speed.
What’s AMP?
The AMP project, which was developed by Google and launched in early 2016, is an open-source framework for creating mobile webpages that load fast. You can think of it as an ultra-lightweight version of HTML and it has even been described as “diet HTML.”
But HTML isn’t the only web technology that gets stripped down to meet AMP specifications. The framework also optimizes load times by placing certain restrictions on CSS usage and by not allowing author-written JavaScript. Some of AMP’s biggest gains in speed, however, come from its caching system. The Google AMP Cache acts as a content delivery system, caching your AMP-enabled pages and serving them up more efficiently than if they had been served from your own domain.
The Need for Speed
Because today’s mobile users have shorter attention spans than ever and are quick to give up on a page if it doesn’t load quickly enough for them, it’s critical to make sure your page load quickly. Research from Google indicates that 53% of users will abandon a website if it takes more than three seconds to load. An AMP-enabled page is designed to load in far less than those dreaded three seconds, with a median load time of under one second.
These faster-loading pages have delivered big results for websites that use them. For example, Slate.com saw a 44% increase in monthly unique visitors after implementing AMP and the Washington Post experienced a 23% jump in the number of mobile search users who returned to the site within 7 days.
Understanding the Benefits of AMPs
There’s no doubt that faster-loading pages are a good thing, but the benefits of AMP-enabled pages are more far-reaching:
- Improved user experience: When your pages load more quickly, users are more likely to stay on your site and return to it in the future. A positive user experience is also likely to increase conversions.
- Higher ranking in search results: While AMP isn’t necessarily a ranking factor on its own, there’s no doubt that Google looks more kindly on fast-loading mobile pages.
- Better visibility: AMP pages are displayed in search results with a lightning bolt symbol. Not only does this help your search results stand out from the crowd, but it may also boost click-through rates as more and more users look for quicker-loading pages.
How to “AMP Up” Your Content
If you have a WordPress site, you’re in luck– a plugin by Automatic is available that creates dynamically-generated AMP-enabled pages for you. These pages are accessed by adding /amp to the URLs of your existing posts. If you’re not using WordPress, you’ll have to create and maintain two versions of your web pages: the regular version and the AMP-ready version. Don’t be intimidated by this task, there are plenty of tutorials, templates and boilerplates online to get you started on the right track.
AMP + Quality Content = Success
AMP is a powerful addition to your current content toolbox, but it won’t deliver success on its own. Even the world’s speediest load times can’t make up for boring content. To get the most out of AMP, you need to ensure that your content is fresh, engaging and well-written. With a steady supply of quality content and the fast load times that come with AMP-enabled pages, you’re sure to see a boost in your search rankings, traffic and overall engagement.