Your Go-To Guide to Accelerated mobile pages (AMP)

The thought of a website with a low loading speed is off-putting. When we are surfing the internet, we expect websites to load promptly. It’s a fact, right? Google realizes that too and that is why the term “Accelerated Mobile Pages” exists. These pages demonstrate great loading speed, rank high and experience low bounce rates. Precisely that is why there are several tools and programs to improve this trait and keep it steady. Accelerate Mobile Page is one of these programs/tools.

What Is AMP, Or Accelerate Mobile Page?

There’s a good reason to Accelerate Mobile Page’s efficiency. By removing JavaScript from the page, AMP makes it possible for content to load almost instantly. The open-source code initiative started by Google carries a purpose to help websites load more quickly on mobile devices. AMP pages are not included in desktop search results because the project was made to speed up the loading and browsing of internet information on mobile devices, exclusively. However, that isn’t an excuse to ignore the significance of these pages given that mobile devices are now used for Google searches more frequently than desktop PCs.

While viewing content on your smartphone, certain heavy features like videos, animations and advertisements are removed. This contributes to better loading speed and you are left with majority of the content and its respective images. AMP websites used to use lightning bolts as their logo, signifying their lightning-fast loading speed.Since the icon isn’t seen anymore, it is okay to assume that it isn’t relevant anymore.And this brings us to the next discussion: AMP’s relevancy.

In a nutshell, AMP SEO can bring forth the following results:

• Faster loading speed
• Limited usage of the internet
• Better visibility

Is AMP Still Relevant?

At its inception, AMP used to be the talk of the town, but as we entered 2021, people began to notice that the symbol for AMP had been disappearing on websites. It came off as a surprise then, as Google had assured it was here to stay for long. Following that, we are left with a huge question: Is AMP still relevant; especially in 2022?The answer to this question would include some facts and statements to prove it.

Google AMP has faced suspicion since its inception. Many think the initiative was only a retort to Facebook Instant Articles and Apple News. Additionally, some users worry that Google will have too much influence over the web, which resulted in the form of AMPs. However, Google made it clear and stated that using its tool has no impact on the rankings of your website. Here is a link to Google’s Search Central’s official statement.

Google Core Web Vital And AMP

Although AMP is not a ranking factor or a guarantee that a page will rank higher than others, it can assist site owners in achieving the suggested performance goals listed by Google Core Web Vitals. In comparison to standard mobile pages, AMP Pages have a lot more chance of passing Core Web Vitals. Let’s see how each Core Web Vital performance criteria is naturally complemented by AMP through the following points:

• AMP only supports asynchronous JavaScript by design. As a result, when the page loads, the browser’s main thread is not consumed with time-consuming activities that prevent user-interaction. When a user interacts with the page, AMP often responds in less than 100ms.
• Long tasks freeze the page until they are finished, delaying user interactions. AMP uses process chunking to divide any lengthy tasks which last more than 150ms into manageable pieces. Because there are so many little jobs running, if the load is stopped by user input, the browser can handle the new work relatively immediately rather than having to wait for a lengthy task to complete. This again proves AMP’s commendable responsiveness.
• The first viewport impression is typically covered by core web essential scoring. When a user begins to interact with the page, measurement is over. This is typically when a person begins to scroll. As a result, AMP uses a delayed layout to delay the rendering of components lower on the page to save time loading elements that aren’t immediately needed.

Pros And Cons Of AMP

The pros and cons of AMP can be understood under the following points:

PROS:

• To increase download speeds, AMP removes all the extra components which might improve the mobile user experience. Download speed is a helpful ranking criterion even though AMP itself is not.
• Due to its speedy load speeds, AMP can have a favorable impact on user behavior. As more users stay on the website, AMP may also help to lower bounce rates. But doing so can also require giving up user-friendly functionality which additionally, negatively influences user engagement.
• Destination URLs for Google AdWords can employ AMP landing pages. As a result, increased download speeds may benefit text ad quality ratings, lower costs per click and increase conversion rates.

CONS:

• Some components that can negatively affect the mobile user experience must be removed to support AMP. Negative AMP user experiences can have an impact on SEO signals and can hamper aspects like lower user engagement, poorer conversion rates and higher bounce rates.
• To pass Google’s AMP verification tool, specific parts must be stripped out, which requires development abilities. On the AMP Project website, you can obtain a boilerplate that contains the necessary AMP markup to get you started.
• Given that Google utilizes mobile-first indexing, it’s unlikely that they will fully give up on AMP. But there is always a chance, and increasingly, the advantages are getting fewer.

Should You Use AMP?

Well in today’s time, to use or not to use AMP, is genuinely the real question to ask. Although it is a useful technique for speeding-up pages, some developers and companies may find the privacy issues and Google’s lack of control to be a major hindrance. AMP-certified pages naturally have the best Core Web Vital scores, but due to their limitations, their adoption may negatively impact the user experience. So, the bitter truth is that we don’t see too much of AMP’s existence in the future.

Conclusion

No doubt that AMP is an efficient way of saving time and carrying out optimization. But it is always better to stay on course when it comes to technology and the advancements it follows. AdLift is one such agency that keeps up with time and follows constant technological advancement for your business to begin. Make sure you drop a hello today!