Google AMP stands for Accelerated Mobile Pages.
That cryptic definition begs the question: what are Accelerated Mobile Pages?
Some of the best information about Google AMP and its implications on search engine optimization comes from SEO experts.
What Will Be The Impact Of Google’s AMP?
One such person is Kenny Chung and in an October 2015 on Search Engine Watch, he discussed AMP in this post: Google’s AMP Project: What Will Be The Impact On Publishers?
So that’s a great post check out, but here are some key points about Google’s AMP:
- AMP-associated content will load faster on mobile devices
- AMP-associated content will get a ranking boost from Google
- AMP-associated content will get caching infrastructure from Google to further speed content delivery
Those are big deals, and for many websites those types of improvements could mean a boost in rankings, traffic and conversions.
AMP and WordPress
Martin Beck gave some pretty good insight in a Marketing Land post in October 2015 called WordPress Launches Plugin To Support Google’s Accelerated Mobile Pages.
In that post, he quotes WordPress about AMP and accelerating the web:
“We believe that open source is one of the most powerful ideas of our generation. We strongly and actively support a free, open internet. We’re very happy to support an open source initiative like AMP, which brings publishers and technology companies together to make a better mobile experience for everyone.”
One of the most powerful ideas of our generation. Wow. Pretty bold statement when it comes to SEO and SEO-friendly WordPress web design.
When Will Google Rollout Accelerated Mobile Pages?
Google AMP is supposed to launch sometime early this year, though no one is really sure when.
Considering we just had a major core ranking algorithm update confirmed on January 8 2016 (and possibly another Google update on January 16th 2016) it could be rolling out already.
The whole point of Google AMP is to increase your site’s speed while also keeping users on the larger Google platform.
This is probably due to the pressures from social channels like Facebook, which are putting forth programs the ensure users get all the information they need on that network.
That’s bad for Google, because it means people have less need to go to the search engine when they can get breaking news, make purchases, and keep up to date with contacts all on that network.
Will AMP Improve The Mobile Search Experience?
In terms of site speed, yes.
We know that a typical user will only wait about 3 seconds before clicking the ‘back’ button on a slow-loading site. In fact, 40% of users will leave a site if the content doesn’t appear in 3 seconds.
Google AMP will significantly improve content delivery by simplifying the cumbersome HTML, CSS and Javascript elements, resulting in a stripped down page that only includes the most vital content.
We also know that surfing the net on mobile can be a slow and tiring experience. A big cause of this problem are all the external scripts that publishers are putting on their sites.
For vital content, we’re talking about your text, video, images, and advertising.
Why is this important?
Because when you do those changes you could increase your site’s speed by 85%.
Now, what about the problem of users not finding you…perhaps because they spend all their time on Facebook?
With Google AMP, the search giant is trying to bump certain results up the rankings.
Surprise, surprise – those results are going to lean heavily toward AMP-associated sites.
Expect to see more AMP content above the fold and pushing up against paid posts. For those using AdWords, this could be problematic, though probably not as problematic as it’ll be for non-Google advertisers.
Mainly, Google is using its existing infrastructure to try and peel away more traffic from the strong social networks and from the search challengers like Yahoo and Bing.
Sites that implement AMP specific changes will do better in the long run, both in global and more localized searches. For content with general term keywords, AMP will treat you even better because you don’t have as much competition from advertising.
How Do You Implement Google AMP On Your Website?
Check back for any update on this as we will explain in detail and feel free to sign up for our newsletter so that you can get detailed instructions on how to make sure you get a Google AMP compliant website.
