Accelerated Mobile Pages

What is AMP

AMP stands for “Accelerated Mobile Pages.” It is an Open Source Framework that was launched as a joint initiative by Google and several other technology and publishing companies. With AMP, it is possible to create simple mobile websites that load almost instantly. Characteristic features of AMP are reducing JavaScript and CSS elements, and the use of a Content Delivery Network.

Limitations of AMP

AMP HTML is designed to improve both the speed and readability of content, meaning the code used is heavily stripped-down. Thus, there are some visual limitations to this approach, which are as follows:

• No JavaScript will be allowed other than an off-the-shelf AMP library

• Images will only load when you scroll down to them (lazy load functionality)

• A streamlined version of your CSS will be required

You can read more about the technical requirements for AMP HTML here.

Pros Of Accelerated Mobile Pages

• Improves Website Loading Time

  The AMP Project is created to help developers build fast, statically contented smartphone sites. AMP eliminates all of the non-essential elements for better functionality and speed. Thus, Google can pre-render and load Web pages instantly. AMP helps to reduce mobile abandonment rate and increase conversions. Essentially, AMP does slim down web pages, saving them in Google’s CDN, which helps in rendering load times significantly faster.

• Increases Mobile Ranking

  Although AMP has not established itself as an independent ranking factor, it can be judged concerning its mobile-friendliness and faster page load speed times. Site speed and conversion rate are strongly related. As AMP improves page loading speed, it is evident that AMP pages will be rewarded with higher rankings than others. Mobile-friendly websites are rewarded with higher rankings and pages built with AMP will most likely rank higher than non-AMP pages, in the mobile search results.

• Improves Server Responses

  Besides providing great user efficiency, the web framework also helps in improving server performance by reducing the load on the server. If your site generates immense traffic from mobile, AMP can help in reducing the load on servers and boost performance. AMP material is pre-fetched, which reduces the load from your servers.

• Boost CTR (Click Through Rates)

  You can build a website with AMP that is stable, user-friendly and easily accessible across all browsers imaginable. As a result, you can get more clicks, drive more revenue and positive ROI. As per the Forrester economic-impact study, the pages which have higher load speed increase conversions and page visits.

• More Ads Viewing

  AMP offers a diverse variety of ad networks with a hospitable environment. In reality, one of AMP’s primary goal is to provide a faster-loading ad experience. When ads are loaded quickly, the chances of people seeing them increase, and ad messaging can reach its full potential. Therefore each ad’s overall effectiveness and revenue increase.

Cons Of Accelerated Mobile Pages

• Decrease In Ad Revenue

  The AMP Project officially supports ads and installing them on AMP pages is not an easy task. This means that there is still a little limited potential to bring in revenue. You won’t get a lot of ad revenue from your AMP page because it gets rid of all the extra things you don’t need on the website, meaningful advertising will also be taken off.

• Not Easy To Implement (Excluding Word Press)

  AMP is a restrictive framework, and the implementation effort is tough. Yes, the gains can be good, but the performance boost of HTML web pages can be prioritized more. Those implementing AMP pages need to follow Google’s guidelines.

• Analytics Is Stripped Down

  The most important thing you need to know is that your AMP page isn’t the same as your original page. AMP supports Google Analytics under different tags and hence takes a lot of time and hassle to place these tags to collect and analyze data. For the tracking, you need special resources and efforts that may take the time and are not immediately available to access.

• Google Cache Server

  One reason that AMP makes the loading of pages so fast is by enabling Google to serve users with a cached version of an AMP-enabled page. Google holds the information of the pages that appeared in the search results, so you don’t even represent the content you created– it’s just a copy that’s cached and stored somewhere else.

  This means that publishers fear that they might lose control over distribution; hence, they may lose part of their ads revenue. So, are you sure to depend completely on Google through the cache?

• No Leads and Subscribers

  AMP pages will not show email popups and opt-in forms, any sidebar widgets, strategically placed social share buttons, posts and much more. One might lose email subscribers and leads in the process too.