The Relevance Of AMP For Your Business

Mobile devices are now preferred over desktops for web browsing. This is something experts already anticipated with users of mobile web browsing steadily rising since 2009 and eventually, taking over users of desktop browsing in 2015. This shift from desktop browsing to mobile browsing, specifically the challenge that came with it, is what gave birth to AMP.

What Is AMP?

AMP is short for Accelerated Mobile Pages. It is a Google-led initiative that was made possible through existing web technologies in collaboration with several partners. AMP aims to enhance user experience on mobile devices by improving website loading speed without sacrificing readability.

What prompted Google to launch this initiative is the observation that mobile web browsing experience was not up to par. It was plagued with several issues – website loading time was slow and pages weren’t displaying properly. Given consumers’ impatience and short attention span, this matter needed to be addressed. AMP became Google’s answer.

How does AMP improve page loading time? It removes all the “fat” which causes web pages to load very slowly. This means: CSS is streamlined, custom Javascript is not available and tags are limited. Simply put, AMP is a stripped down version of your website designed purely for readability and speed. Since it is much lighter than your regular web page, it loads faster. Additionally, the trimmed down version of the web pages are cached by Google. So when the AMP page is accessed, it loads instantaneously onto your device.

The Impact Of AMP On SEO

Previously, AMP pages automatically had their own scrollable carousel when you do a search using your mobile device. Nowadays, AMP pages appear alongside traditional organic search result listings on the search engine results page. A lightning bolt sign appears next to links to indicate that it’s an AMP.

The decision to combine AMP search listings with organic search results makes stakeholders wonder about the current state of website ranking. As per Google, it has no effect on SERP ranking. However, SEO experts and website owners are sceptical about this pronouncement. The speculation is, given that page speed is an essential factor that determines ranking and AMP makes a website load faster, that this update may be indirectly affecting overall rankings. On the other hand, if it really has no impact, it doesn’t mean this is not going to change soon. If Google’s predilection for mobile-friendliness is any indication, AMP may soon be a ranking factor.

Is AMP Beneficial To Your Business?

It doesn’t hurt to make your website mobile-friendly, especially with the current behaviour of customers. According to research, 47% of internet users want the websites they visit to load in 2 seconds or less. In addition, 48% of mobile device users express that they would not revisit a website that loads slowly.

If you implement AMP, you’d be able to satisfy users’ demand for a fast loading website. At the same time, provide them with valuable content. Putting this two together, excellent page load speed and high quality content, paves the way for increased visibility and better user experience. Eventually, this could translate to higher website traffic and improved revenues. News outlets, which were the initial users of AMP, are already reaping these benefits now.

Taking into consideration the future direction of search engine rankings, implementing AMP now may prove to be profitable later on. This proactive mindset is already being seen with entertainment, travel and e-commerce sites like Ebay publishing AMPs.

Do you want to learn more about AMP and SEO? Give us a call now at 019609023.