What is AMP (Accelerated Mobile Pages)?

What is AMP (Accelerated Mobile Pages)?

AMP stands for Accelerated Mobile Pages, a framework developed in order to offer websites a clean, fast-loading structure for their mobile versions. AMP pages follow a set of specific standards and they can be loaded from the Google AMP Cache, which makes content loading almost instantaneous. AMP are exact replicas of the canonical page they are based on, with the user not being able to tell the difference between the two. Yet, the AMP will load faster and will be easier to crawl and understand by bots. You can start using the framework at https://amp.dev/.

About AMP

AMP stands for Accelerated Mobile Pages, a web component framework developed in order to create pages designed to load instantaneously on mobile devices. The loading speed of a page is a critical aspect for meeting user expectations and SEO standards. Most users do not have the patience to wait for a page to load for more than a few seconds. This is the main reason why AMP was developed. Another reason would be to offer a standardized approach to building webpages, which could bring order to the chaotic world of internet pages. 

AMP is open source, but has been strongly backed by Google. These special pages follow a standard set of elements in order to ensure every page created with this system meets speed standards. The framework also uses a Google AMP Cache system, which basically means that these pages can be served by Google, instead of a website’s own hosting environment. Developers can create AMP only if they stay within the limitations created by the platform and as long as the AMP page is an exact replica of the canonical page it was built from. So users should not be able to tell the difference between the initial page and the AMP. Yet, the AMP will load faster and will be easier to crawl and be understood by bots. 

Although using AMP is not, as of now, a compulsory condition for websites, it can be assumed that it will become an important element in the Google algorithm and is already a good opportunity for websites to showcase their content in another way. With the launch of AMP stories, websites get an extra chance to be featured in a new SERP section for mobile.

How does AMP work?

As a website owner or developer, you can go to amp.dev and start using the framework. You can create HTML pages from scratch or based on the canonical page you are trying to adapt to mobile. The AMP can be later managed within your Google Search Console account. If there are problems with the way you set up AMP, you will receive notifications from Google.

Why is AMP important?

Not only is this change important for the obvious benefits it brings to users and developers (load speed, clean code, better crawlability, better UX), but also for the way it is set to change the world wide web landscape. It can potentially strengthen the position of Google, as the company goes from offering guidelines to web developers, to actually offering them a platform where these guidelines are already implemented and standardized, making life easier for their crawlers and scanners.

up-arrow.svg