Google is at it again – coming up with different ways to innovate the way that we access information and content across the multitude of devices that are constantly glued to our hands.
What is AMP?
Earlier this year Google announced that it is incorporating an open source initiative called AMP which stands for Accelerated Mobile Pages into search results. The premise behind AMP is to load page content as quickly as possible while adhering to user friendly standards so that the content is easy for the user to consume and can more quickly be downloaded/rendered in limited bandwidth scenarios. Think of HTML in a very minimalist form with gadgets that enable additional functionality versus a full-blown responsive experience.
To paint a better picture, if you own an iPhone, when visiting a website notice in the address bar three thin lines on the left hand side (Reader View). When you tap this with your finger, the page you are visiting changes instantly to a much more simplistic view, focusing largely on page verbiage rather than including all the bells and whistles such as images and videos. Google’s AMP focuses on the same concept but allows developers to use the framework to their particular advantage.
AMP Website Design Isn’t a Ranking Boost
Unlike Google’s “stick” approach to responsive website design (check out this article if you need a refresh), serving pages that offer AMP support does not have imply any direct negative or positive weight on search engine results. As a top St Louis web design company, we’ve received a number of questions from website owners about the benefits of adopting (or the risks of not) AMP in their websites.
So what if a website is both responsive and has AMP pages? No, you won’t see both versions appear in search results (bah to double dipping). Google has stated that should a website have both, then it may show the AMP result instead of the responsive result. Test results in Google search pages show that that AMP pages are displayed as blue links within the results (again, you will not receive a bump in SEO although the thought of a blue link seems to differentiate an AMP page from normal results).
While interesting, it’s only a matter of time before we see if this idea gains traction or suffers the chopping block of Google’s enormous search power. If you are curious about learning more, please contact the IQComputing team by calling 636-594-5552!