What is Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP) means for Marketers ?
AMP is a new open-source initiative aiming to dramatically improve the performance of the mobile web.
Simply put, Accelerated Mobile Pages is a stripped-down version of the mobile web which runs on a reinvented version of the language used to create web pages: HTML.
This reimagined version of HTML, known as AMP HTML, strips out most of the elements which cause web pages to load slower on mobile, like JavaScript and third-party scripts.
What does Google’s Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP) mean for marketers?
Google’s Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP) project has launched, taking a huge stride towards Google’s stated goal of a “better, faster mobile internet.”
But just what does AMP consist of, and what will it mean for the marketing industry?
Last October, Google announced the introduction of its Accelerated Mobile Pages project, a new open-source initiative aiming to “dramatically improve the performance of the mobile web.”
This latest move towards a more mobile-friendly web is Google’s answer to Facebook’s Instant Articles and Apple News. But while both of those initiatives require entering into a dedicated partnership with Facebook or Apple, anyone can get on board with Google’s AMP and use it to create web pages.
In the months since the announcement, we’ve seen a lot more information released about what AMP will consist of, its key features and how it will alter the experience of the mobile web. So what is the significance of AMP, and how you make it work to your advantage in a marketing context?
What is AMP, and what does it do?
Simply put, Accelerated Mobile Pages is a stripped-down version of the mobile web which runs on a reinvented version of the language used to create web pages: HTML.
This reimagined version of HTML, known as AMP HTML, strips out most of the elements which cause web pages to load slower on mobile, like JavaScript and third-party scripts.
Two screenshots comparing the regular mobile web version of The Guardian news site with the Accelerated Mobile Pages version. The AMP version of the site is on the left. The URL bar at the top of the AMP version displays “Google.co.uk” and shows slightly better visual quality. The non-AMP version has extra sharing buttons and slightly more visual clutter.
The AMP version of a Guardian news article (left) vs. the regular mobile version (right)
Google boasts that a page created with AMP HTML can load anywhere from 15 to 85% faster than the non-AMP version of that page. They’ve also made it easy for web publishers to get started in AMP with a tutorial that walks you through the creation of an AMP page.
Sounds good so far. However, by stripping down the experience of using the mobile web, Google is stripping out a lot of the infrastructure advertisers and marketers currently depend on to deliver impactful brand messages to users.
But don’t despair just yet.
While some aspects of AMP will require a new approach to advertising on mobile, there are a number of other reasons why getting on board with AMP could be a good idea.
Accelerated Mobile Pages get a boost in search rankings
Since the advent of Google’s ‘Mobilegeddon’ algorithm last year, we’ve known that mobile-friendliness is a factor in search rankings, with sites that pass Google’s Mobile-Friendly Test appearing higher up the search results, and ‘unfriendly’ pages banished to the bleak wastelands of the second and third results pages.
So it follows that Accelerated Mobile Pages, which are specifically designed to load quickly and provide a great user experience on mobile, would get a serious search ranking boost. We can also see from Google search results that AMP sites are highlighted with a little green lightning-bolt, inviting users in to experience these lightning-fast mobile pages.
The Resource : searchenginewatch.com
