It has been almost 2 years since Google announced a new project designed to create a faster mobile web presence. This project is know as AMP (Accelerated Mobile Pages).
Whilst there are certainly significant benefits offered by AMP, they are not suitable for every website and we have written this article to help highlight some of the pros and cons. First of all the we need to explain about AMP.
What is AMP?
The AMP Project is an open-source initiative aiming to make the web better for all. The project enables the creation of websites and ads that are consistently fast, beautiful and high-performing across devices and distribution platforms.
The Benefits of AMP
- The use of AMP HTML to construct pages will help to create a better, faster loading experience for users.
- Faster loading speeds can result in improved mobile rankings*
- Your server will be put under less strain as Google serves these pages from its cache.
- You will receive the opportunity to tap into Googleโs AMP carousel (for relevant pages).
* Please Note –ย When Google launches its mobile first index this will become even more important and there are even some suggestions thatย AMP could become a ranking factorย in the future.
The Disadvantages of AMP
- The tracking of visitors to your website can become trickier because Google serves a cached version of AMP pages to users as opposed to accessing your servers.
- Creating a website using AMP can be time consuming due to the need for some pages to be developed for both desktop and AMP.
- Because the primary goal of AMP is increasing loading speed, the HTML from pages will be stripped down. This means that some designs built using standard HTML will not be possible and discrepancies between desktop and mobile versions of a page may appear.
How Does It Work?
AMP works by requiring web developers such as ourselves to use a narrow set of web technologies to create pages. The majority of JavaScript is forbidden and as a result, web pages can now load significantly faster.
To use AMP, we will create an alternate version of your site which conforms to all of the relevant specifications which have been outlined by the AMP project.ย These standards share a lot of similarities with traditional HTML but are essentially stripped down to what Google considers to be the bare minimum.
For example โ You will give your AMP-optimized site a separate address, for example: yoursite.com/yourpage/amp.
Sites that follow these specifications to the letter will are believed to receive special treatment from Google. Starting recently, AMP-optimised news stories now appear at the top of Googleโs mobile search results and there are an increasing number of reports stating that AMP optimised sites are receiving preferable search engine rankings when compared to non-AMP optimised sites on mobile search results.
Further Information
Footprint specialise in creating bespoke websites, designed to help take your business to another level. If youโd like to speak to us regarding any of our services, give us a call on 01883 372488 or contact us viaย Facebookย and weโll be happy to talk you through your options.
