For webmasters and SEO marketers, this is fantastic news. A study by Forrester Consulting found that nearly 40% of visitors will wait no more than 3 seconds before abandoning a site.[2] Bringing the load time down to fraction of a second ensures that your site isn’t missing out on potential visitors.

How does AMP work?

AMP works by streamlining HTML and removing the majority of CSS code, enabling the platform to focus on readability and speed. Content like images and video won’t load with the rest of the page until the user scrolls them onto the visible screen. That’s because all of the readable content is cached through Google’s AMP CDN (Content Delivery Network) for quick delivery.

This would mean that webmasters will need two different versions of their webpages: one for regular search and one for AMP. However, the payoff is a superior user-experience that may impact your bounce rate, engagement, and overall site’s mobile search ranking. With the majority of Google searches taking place on mobile devices in the countries like the United States and Japan, any leg up over the competition is welcomed.[3]

Things to consider when working with AMP

Where AMP excels is in its flexibility. Visitors get access to the content and information they want in an easy-to-read format on mobile. However, AMP doesn’t support all pages or content that heavily uses HTML and CSS. As it stands, AMP is designed to support the needs of publishing sites.

For sites with pages that use dense HTML and CSS, all is not lost. Google has been making strides in optimizing AMP for e-Commerce with related product pages, purchase supporting buttons. These pages will still need to be cached, which may result in a notable decrease in traffic to your site. It is important to keep this in mind when analyzing web traffic and page engagement.

It’s an exciting time to get involved with Google AMP as many of its functions are still being developed. Other major platforms are changing the way published content is being consumed with their own distribution channels like Facebook’s Instant Articles and Apple’s Apple News application. As Google continues to refine AMP for a larger, non-publishing user-base, the race for higher placement on mobile will move to the top of SEO’s list.  

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[1] Jon P. “Building a faster mobile web experience with AMP”. Pinterest. https://engineering.pinterest.com/blog/building-faster-mobile-web-experience-amp

[2]“Speed Is Key”. Think with Google. https://www.thinkwithgoogle.com/articles/speed-is-key-optimize-your-mobile-experience.html

[3] “Building for the next moment”. Google Adwords Blog. https://adwords.googleblog.com/2015/05/building-for-next-moment.html