An Intro to Google’s Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP)

Since Google came out with Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP) a few years ago, it hasn’t always been widely understood. If you’re new to the idea of ‘AMP’, then you’ve come to the right place. Google currently has over 200 ranking factors, puts out resources constantly for best practices for your website, and is now leading with its ‘mobile first initiative’. In today’s world, many consumers and prospective customers utilize their smart phones and even tablets to read, research, browse, and buy products and services. So Google decided to take it one step further and place emphasis on websites that are very mobile friendly, load fast, offers unique and original content, has strong social signals, some domain authority, and the list goes on. Although Google has not come out and said AMP is a ranking signal or not, it can dramatically increase site speed and allow you to place above your competitors for some search results.

So let’s start off with some basics:

What Is Amp?

AMP stands for Accelerated Mobile Pages. It is essentially, an HTML web page that is stripped of the fluff. The mobile phone user gets a better user experience, because the content is faster, easier to read, and can be more engaging.

How Does AMP Work?

Google’s search initiative over the past few years has placed more and more emphasis on mobile first. AMP has specific AMP HTML code & guidelines. It also requires validation to pass Google’s requirements.

Why It’s Important & Who Is It Good For?

Although it isn’t an official Google Ranking Factor, Accelerated Mobile Pages get served to the user on mobile devices above the carousel. Often, these are seen as the ‘top stories’ section on Google’s SERPs (Search Engine Results Page). These are displayed below ads if there are any. This is a huge opportunity for those who have AMP created content. Pages that are blogs or news sections can benefit from utilizing AMP to deliver unique, high-quality content to users. If your competitors are using AMP and you are not, then you could be missing out on precious organic rankings at the top of the SERPs. If you’re wondering if AMP (Accelerated Mobile Pages) might be best for you company, check out our frequently asked questions about AMP. Or reach out to Maltese Marketing via our contact form or call us at 734-306-6430!