What is Google AMP & Why It Matters to You

If you’re concerned about SEO on your company’s website, Dreamscape Marketing recommends that you pay close attention to Google AMP. All signs suggest that 2017 could be the year when Google AMP becomes truly important.  

What exactly is Google AMP? AMP stands for Accelerated Mobile Pages, which is a system that enables websites to load faster—much faster actually—than they ever could have before. However, with all of that speed come certain conditions.

The greatly accelerated speed is due to two important requirements:

  • Web developers need to use narrowly defined technologies to build web pages. For example, most JavaScript is disallowed.
  • Pages are viewed from Google’s own servers when you land on an AMP page using Google search.

To take advantage of Google AMP, companies need to build an alternate version of their website that meets specifications created by Google. Generally, this requires the AMP-optimized site to go by a different address. Simply adding “amp” to the end of the address will do the trick. To ease the process, WordPress has a plugin that automatically creates your alternate pages and helps Google to locate them.

Google AMP: Will It Define 2017?

Many SEO firms and website owners have been dubious about Google AMP, fearing it’s too new and perhaps too drastic of a change. However, Google AMP is a new mobile innovation that actually solves many old mobile issues. As you plan your SEO strategy, consider the following points about Google AMP:

1. It’s a Question of Speed

The need to increase mobile performance will be very important this year. Because of this, Google AMP’s ability to load websites in about 0.7 seconds is incredibly beneficial. Fewer people sit at computers in their homes. Instead, they are on the move with their mobile devices. As a result, they research products and services wherever they go, using mobile data. Consumers make purchases on their phones more than ever, and they absolutely won’t tolerate websites that don’t respond quickly.

Anyone who used the internet 20 years ago remembers just how long it could take to load some web pages. Even then, people were impatient and faster pages wound up getting most of the visits, which left slow-loading pages in the dust. Similarly, mobile users today have no patience for websites if they aren’t mobile-friendly and don’t load immediately. If a site doesn’t pop up instantly (or nearly instantly), people just move on to another website. Now more than ever, speed is everything.

2. There’s a Need to Prioritize Mobile

Google AMP becomes increasingly important when you consider the way Google handles its mobile searches. The company now gives more weight to mobile searches than it does for desktop searches, a situation that most people would never have imagined as recently as a few years ago. There’s no denying that mobile searches have now outpaced desktop searches. That fact brings with it an all-too-obvious consequence—companies must upgrade their pages for mobile viewing to achieve a better ranking. With AMP providing an easy way to do that, why resist moving forward?

With Google running AMP on its own servers, some problems you probably had with mobile may actually go away. Although being dependent on Google’s servers may seem questionable at first glance, the integrity of Google means you’re trusting your pages to a tested and reliable platform.

3. Minimalistic Is the New Normal

AMP standards are different from how web developers typically design websites. It’s actually quite stripped down, which means no third-party JavaScript, inline styles, input elements, external style sheets and other tools that developers usually deal with. As any auto mechanic will tell you, the more parts a car has, the greater the chance of something breaking down. The minimalist approach of AMP pages means fewer ways to develop things like coding errors. Clearly, that’s to your advantage.

While it may seem new and strange, an AMP page means a clean, minimal mobile page that only includes what is necessary for easy viewing. AMP standards basically give you a blueprint for how to design the kind of slick and professional mobile pages that users are demanding. The uncompromising nature of the AMP standards may mean a bit dictatorial but in the end, you wind up benefitting by adhering to them.

Embracing the Future Means Embracing AMP

Here are two things to consider as the year begins:

  • AMP is open source. This is exactly what you want. While other types of mobile style sheets are out there, most of them are proprietary and only good for certain widgets, which isn’t very beneficial to you. Google’s open source AMP means no restrictions on usage, and that translates into greater refinement and the development of more tools and options as time goes on. If AMP were a train leaving the station, you would do well taking it rather than being left behind.
  • 2107 will intensify the focus on mobile. Far from a fad, this trend won’t go away. Mobile is the next logical step to how people use the internet. Whether you’re talking about voice searches, local searches or mobile ads, mobile is now king. Every business must accept this fact and move forward. Fortunately, Google AMP empowers you to do this very easily.

If you’re interested in learning more about Google AMP and SEO for your business, Dreamscape Marketing can help. We’re an official Google partner with more than 15 staff members possessing Google certifications. Our industry expertise and leading-edge digital marketing strategies can help take your business to the next level of success. Call us today at 877-958-9180.