Why are Accelerated Mobile Pages important?
Table of content
Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP) is a spearheading invention of Google that addresses the slow-loading issues of web pages on mobile devices. It’s an open-source framework for creating and optimising web pages with ideal speed and performance, regardless of any smartphone, tablet, or network condition. Streamlining the HTML, CSS, and JavaScript web page development, AMP implements mobile optimisation and eliminates unnecessary elements. Thus, it ensures better page load times and responsiveness, providing a hassle-free experience for the users and keeping them engaged.
In our current article we will discuss why Google AMP benefits SEO and user experience.
Are Accelerated Mobile Pages worth it?
Google had commissioned Forrester Consulting to conduct a study across numerous e-commerce websites and publishers to understand the Total Economic Impact of using AMP. The study highlighted 4 web companies that have been using Google AMP. After analysing the results of these 4 companies Forrester created a model of expected return by utilising AMP over 3 years.
Integrating this model, a site with 4 million monthly visits and a 10% profit margin can expect profits in less than 6 months and also collect the cost of the AMP implementation.
Now, look a glance of the results of the above research –
A few success stories of Google AMP
Here are some success stories of AMP which are the solid evidence supporting the above section!
As of September 2016, Gizmodo published 24000+ AMP pages, receiving 100k visits daily. Additionally, this initiative resulted in 3x faster mobile pages for the organisation. As a result, they have gained 80% traffic from the new readers.
Using AMP-enabled email solutions from Mailmodo, Razorpay has achieved a 257% increase in email performance. Then, they won an 87% increment in lead generation and a 45% enhancement in engagement rate by conducting other email campaigns.
U.S. Xpress experienced difficulties filling up 7000 vacancies for drivers in 2021 due to their slow landing pages. Thus they adopted the Accelerated mobile pages Google technology for their landing pages. As a result, their page load speed became 5x faster than the previous which converted 3.412% of visitors to complete their applications for driver’s jobs. This way, U.S. Xpress increased 62% of applications and brought a cost saving of 1M+ USD per year.
India Today integrated AMP technology in 2016 in their mobile site. Then, they found 23% more revenue on AMP pages than on non-AMP pages. Also, they achieved 3x more ad viewability rates and 2x more CTR.
Benefits of AMP on SEO and user experience
These are the reasons why every business including digital marketing agency should adopt AMP –
Increase page loading speed
The primary benefit of AMP is that it delivers lightning-fast page load speed. Thus, the best AMP websites, such as eBay, Myntra, Gizmodo, etc, have experienced a rapid increment in website traffic. Removing annoying and unnecessary elements, AMP ensures the mobile sites load instantly, even with a slow network connection. This helps to reduce the bounce rate and boost the conversion rate.
Charge up visibility in SERPs
AMP pages not only improve the appearance in the SERPs but also ensure visibility in the rich results with features like ‘Top Stories’. As a result, the audience can easily find the content through search results. This way, the AMP-enabled sites get more traffic and clicks. This results in a powerful online presence for the sites.
Improve user engagement
Ideally, the page loading time for a site is between 1-3s. By incorporating AMP, the sites quickly grab this page loading time. Thus, the users experience smooth access to the site, encouraging them to spend more time there. Finally, it leads users to complete their desired actions such as purchasing a product, signing up for a newsletter, buying premium membership, etc. As a result, the site bags more retention and conversion.
Decrease data usage
AMP uses cache content to deliver a better user experience and delight speed. But what does it mean by cache content? It means a copy of the content (which the user is looking for) is being stored in a temporary location. Thus, when the user downloads the content, they get the cached version instead of the original copy from the server. So, the users need to spend less data and can access the content even with low network connectivity while downloading it.
Enhance security
Google AMP pages are more secure than traditional mobile pages because these are only accessible within their online server. Cloudflare’s internet security company maintains the security using its own AMP caches for these AMP pages. Thus, it helps organisations secure their content and protects them from any third-party attack.
How do you create AMP pages for mobile sites?
Create an AMP page template
First, create an AMP template. So, follow the Quickstart guide of AMP. You can build it from scratch or with the help of a content management system. If you have any existing HTML pages, you can convert them into AMP format.
Now follow these tips to get the best result:
Ensure your AMP template meets the AMP specifications. So, go to the AMP HTML specification page for more information.
Add enough custom <amp*> tags to make your site layouts visually appealing. Also, use responsive elements like videos, images, and audios while styling the pages.
You must incorporate navigation on every page of your domain. Also, you can link from your logo, text, or any image. This link is mandatory to keep your users on your site, as AMP pages are part of the Google cache.
If you want to keep ads on your pages, you must migrate them and don’t forget to append <amp-ad>.
Validate your AMP pages at the final stage.
Test your AMP pages
At this step, you should check whether Google delivers the AMP versions of your pages for mobile search. It will take a few days for Google to discover your AMP pages. Then the Google bots will crawl and index your pages. So, let your page roll out at least for 1 month. It will provide better results if it goes longer than this time frame.
Track the result
Use AMP analytics to track the performance of your AMP pages. Also you can track your pages through third-party or in-house analytics. But you should follow these technical requirements to set up the tools:
Ensure you’re using canonical URL and other variables. These are necessary to record the insights and increment or decrement of traffic.
Use extraUrlParams attributes to add a query string parameter to the canonical URL. It helps the AMP analytics to differentiate the general web pages from the AMP pages. This way, you can understand the differences in traffic between the two types of pages.
How do accelerated mobile pages load faster?
The AMPs are optimised differently than a general webpage. Here, you will learn how AMP reduces load from a browser by implementing specific strategies.
AMP uses asynchronous JavaScript and other techniques to prevent the large files from blocking rendering of the rest of the part of a page.
AMPs prevent the extensions to block rendering of the actual content. This way, AMPs ensure faster page load.
They only allow running GPU-accelerated animations to reduce the burden of the CPU.
Third-party JavaScript is restricted from the critical path of the AMPs. For instance, ads are not permitted to sandbox iframes.
These pages prioritise valuable resources. So, they support loading the valuable resources first.
No HTTP request is made before the fonts start downloading to keep the fonts effective. It reduces layout shifts and helps to download and display the fonts quickly.
As AMP focuses on critical CSS, it utilises the inline CSS files that use HTML files or the CSS files that load extremely fast.
It helps the browser to determine the size of the resources such as images, iframes, and ads before loading the content from these resources. It helps the browser to create a flawless layout for the page.
Conclusion
As smartphone users rapidly increase worldwide, businesses are focusing on developing mobile-friendly sites. AMP is a top-notch solution to accelerate and optimise your web pages for mobile search. This way, it delivers a better experience for the mobile users. So, by implementing AMP, you can strategically foster your online presence.
