Should I Add Accelerated Mobile Page Capabilities To My Website

Since Google made an announcement about Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP) in October 2015, they have consistently been selling developers and the online marketing community on the idea. There is no doubt Google is making efforts to see how AMP can improve mobile search since it has already overtaken search from desktops (percentage based searches). They made clear their intentions with the Mobilegeddon back in April 2015, triggering a huge migration to mobile sites as well as responsive sites. But Google hasn’t been satisfied with the experience mobile users are getting from most sites even after introducing the mobile friendly ranking signal. They think their open source framework, based on AMP HTML, will help make the web lighter once again and make mobile users happy.

Mobile search optimization still needed to improve user experience

Most sites haven’t been optimized enough to make their page weights lighter for mobile users. The poor speed at which most pages load on mobile browsers has been disappointing users, to an extent that ad blockers are increasingly becoming popular and largely defeating monetization efforts. Even if we protested against AMP because of some obvious challenges, or rather difficulties related to its implementation, we may be forced to jump onto the bandwagon soon or later. Google isn’t likely going to drop its AMP moves, while many SEOs have already figured out most of the possible benefits of implementing AMP.

But AMP isn’t yet a Google ranking signal?

Gary Illyes in a chat with some SEO experts recently said that’s because of some Google’s policy considerations. At the SEJ Summit in Chicago, Gary made a presentation to explain what AMP is all about, its future and why everyone should start implementing it. Support is soon expected to extend to product pages including the ones for Amazon. When giving a keynote at the most recent Pubcon event in Las Vegas, Gary also didn’t miss an opportunity to talk about the benefits of AMP, including other search optimization issues to consider and the mobile algorithm change expected in January 2017.

Time To Consider Implementing Google AMP? Mobile users Demand 3 Sec Or Faster Page Loading Speeds

But nobody can deny the impact faster loading page speeds can have on Local SEO. It’s also highly likely that in future Google will consider making AMP an official ranking signal. Perhaps those are good reasons to consider making the AMP switch, especially for clients that do not have mobile or responsive sites with pages loading in less than 3 seconds. Research has shown that about 40% of users abandon pages loading for more than 3 seconds. Some sites that have switched to AMP have reported an increase in their page views. If the switch is not carefully made though, it could attract the duplicate content penalty. To prevent that from happening, the rel=canonical tag must be used in the HTML head parts, to transfer link juice in between the original page and the AMP page.

Conclusion:Catch The Wave Before It Drowns You

Although some people consider AMP to be Google’s response to Facebook Instant Articles, it could be the best solution over the long-term preventing mobile users from taking extreme measures like installing ad blockers. If the mobile search experience improves, site owners will benefit from increased site traffic. Monetization will still be possible and so is the opportunity to invest in great content. So everyone might be a winner if AMP is widely adopted, perhaps the reason why Google has preferred the open source framework.  

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