When and Where Should I Use Google AMP?

Google AMP is a developer's tool that optimizes webpages for speed performance, content delivery and mobile responsiveness. You may have already noticed that your news articles pop up instantly on your Facebook news feed or other mobile browsers. If you have wondered how you can achieve this for your own website read on.

Google AMP allows websites to build light-weight web pages using an open source framework built on HTML. This additional speed and optimization should give your website an SEO boost in the search rankings. Even though it sounds like Google AMP would be ideal for every page on your website, that isn't always the case. This blog looks into the best ways to use Google AMP and how to build this tool into your content strategy.

What is Google AMP?

Google AMP stands for Google Accelerated Mobile pages (AMP) and is an open source standard that allows website owners to deliver their content fast and mobile optimized to devices.. The AMP standard is an HTML page that blocks certain HTML, CSS and Javascript to speed up the page load. Think with Google claims that 40% of people will wait no more than 3 seconds before abandoning a website, so enabling your website with AMP helps to keep users engaged for longer.

How do AMP'ed pages work?

The greatest thing about the AMP pages is they make things faster and easier for users. The first thing you need to know about AMP pages is that they will only serve in SERPs on mobile devices. It has also been rumored that AMP pages will be given priority in search results. The way you can recognise AMP'ed pages is by the green lightning icon displayed below the listing in the search results. They also appear in a carousel format above the paid ads in search results. Lastly, the URL of your AMP'ed page will also contain /?amp=1 or /amp appended to it (You can specify your amp URL in the meta tags, though these are typically used).

What types of Websites use Google AMP?

Currently publisher websites with a high density of content have gone crazy for AMPing their content. But AMP doesn't just have to be for the news websites; companies can AMP select parts of their website that also have heavy content, such as the blog. AMP is focused on delivering static content right now, so now is the time to optimize your blog posts using Google AMP. We also recommend that your AMPed blog posts, that are likely to rank higher in the search results, contain a powerful CTA directing users towards a specific landing page. This way you are driving traffic to your fully optimized blog pages but also pushing them towards a sales funnel to drive conversions and results for your business.

The different ways that marketers will take advantage of AMP is yet to be seen, but we advise you to be as creative as you can with this nifty addition to the Google toolbox. Due to the optimization involved in AMP-ing your pages, forms aren't an option, however this doesn't mean you can't get creative with how you approach this. For example, you could include a link to a form or include a strong call to action that transitions your visitor to the next stage in their journey.

The more you can optimize the content on your site, the happier Google will be and the higher you will rank. Share some of your ideas over with us on Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter.

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