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Our Quick and Simple Guide to Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMPs)

Author: Tom Cottrill | Date Posted: Jun 18, 2020

Are you ready to get AMP’d up? Yep, we said it. Yep, we know how lame it was. It doesn’t seem all that long ago that Google launched it’s mobile-friendly update which eventually became a ranking factor for search engines.

And that’s when accelerated mobile pages came into play.

What Are Accelerated Mobile Pages or AMPs?

In the most basic terms, Accelerated Mobile Pages are a Google and Twitter initiative designed to provide a very lightweight version of webpages, optimized specifically for delivery. By stripping pages down to the basics, loading time can be greatly impacted. In Google tests, these pages have been shown to reduce download time by 15-85%.

Most importantly, AMPs are faster and provide more readable content, making for a better user experience. A win-win situation for everyone.

Are AMPs Right For Your Website

The important thing to remember about AMPs is that they are SUPER simple pages. We mean bare bones. These limited pages can fully load in less than a second. And in a lot of instances, with Google’s mobile-first index, they might not make sense. So, it’s your job to evaluate your goals, needs, and expectations for your webpages before deciding if an AMP is the way to go.

Where we most often see these pages as beneficial is for basic pages that are just meant to be read. Think blogs, case studies, news pages, press releases, etc. If you are willing to make some sacrifices on functionality, we fully believe blogs should be served over AMP.

Until recently, Accelerated Mobile Pages didn’t even allow for forms. And, validation is still a struggle as these are still largely untested. So, if lead conversion is your main priority, then an AMP is maybe not quite right for your brand at this time.

So here are the key takeaways on AMPs we think you should know:

• If speed is important for your site, AMPs are great.
• If you are serving up basic content, AMPs are great.
• If you are struggling with low bounce rates on mobile, AMPs are great.
• If the majority of your traffic is from mobile devices, AMPs are great.
• If you are serving up personalized or dynamic content, AMPs aren’t for you.
• If you are hung up on your branding and overall design, AMPs aren’t for you.

At the end of the day, your mobile users want a fast, enjoyable user experience on your site. And if that means adding a more effective mobile strategy using AMPs, then we support it. And we can help. Reach out to talk to us about your specific project.