The trend towards mobile browsing has ramped up heavily in the past five years or so, with people of all ages attached to their smartphones more than ever.
Messaging and social media are just a part of the mobile experience now. Users want to replicate the desktop experience on their phones to the greatest possible degree.
While many marketers have heard about the benefits of Google AMP (Accelerated Mobile Pages), not everyone is on board. Questions still surround the technology and brands wonder if making the upgrade is worth the investment.
Today we’re going to look at whether Google AMP is important for your brand’s digital presence, what you need to know about the technology, and the best way to implement AMP if you do choose to adopt it for your website.
Most Important: Speed and Search
As you’ve probably noticed, speed is crucial when it comes to mobile browsing.
Since people are already on the go and pressed for time, there’s an even greater emphasis on pages loading fast and smooth navigation between pages and links.
As its name suggests, the aim of AMP is to accelerate the speed at which mobile pages load on smartphones and tablets, thanks to the unique optimization of web pages for these formats.
In essence, AMP pages are seriously slimmed-down versions of the traditional desktop pages that load countless HTML5, JavaScript, and CSS elements at once.
All of these various components put a heavy strain on a mobile device, as well as the servers that communicate with those devices in order to procure and deliver the data.
According to Search Engine Land, AMP-enhanced web pages can reduce the strain on servers by 77%, simply by removing clunky or unnecessary parts of the code.
Without getting overly technical, here are some of the cool ways AMP streamlines your pages:
- In-line, size bound CSS limits the number of server requests
- Minimized style and layout recalculations ensure fast downloads
- Content is loaded simultaneously instead of bit-by-bit
- All AMP pages have a similar layout, known to browsers before loading
- Graphics processor units load AMP sites rather than CPUs, boosting speeds
All of these factors have tangible effects on the speed and fluidity of your mobile pages.
Improved User Experience
Remember the old days of the internet when you would consistently see how a page loaded due to a slow connection and lack of processing power?
While this still happens occasionally, it definitely isn’t the norm.
However, many mobile users, especially in parts of the world with a less robust infrastructure, experience this choppy browsing experience and groan-worthy load times regularly.
This is where AMP is a lifesaver for a brand looking to stand out in a mobile commerce marketplace where the expression “time is money” means more than ever.
Researchers have shown jaw-dropping data on how just a one-second delay in page load time can have devastating effects on your key mobile commerce metrics.
Bounce rate, for example, sees an 8.3% increase from this short delay, while conversion rates dropped by 3.5%. Why wait around to buy if your pages are taking too long to load.
The one-second delay in this study also resulted in a 2.1% drop in cart size and a whopping 9.4% drop in page views, meaning users didn’t have the patience to shop around or learn more about the products. Those seemingly small delays can add up to serious losses.
On top of that, users tend not to forget their bad experience on a site, even if the pages took less than two seconds to load. Another study found that 30% of people will not return to a site if they previously had a bad experience. Second chances aren’t a guarantee!
Keep in mind that most pages now feature multimedia assets like images, videos, and surveys powered by other platforms, and these need to load fast to get the intended effect.
Google AMP allows your site to ensure way faster load times and cut down on bounce rate while boosting the likelihood users will stick around to see more, and possibly buy.
Better Results in Search
Marketers will be glad to hear that faster load times and smoother browsing experience help keep users engaged on-site, but the SEO crowd is rightfully focused on search.
Is Google AMP important for search engine results and does it help your page rank higher?
The answer is yes, but the reasons for this are many.
First off, consider the fundamental ranking factors Google still uses to this day – security, accessibility, user-friendliness, backlinks, and optimized content.
Additionally, Google has introduced mobile-first indexing, which places even greater emphasis on how pages are structured for mobile user experience and fast load times.
Marketers should also remember that key indicators like time-on-page, low bounce rate, and overall engagement can signal your pages are on the rise in the rankings.
Since AMP has a proven track record at ramping up many of these metrics, it should be a no-brainer to enhance at least a portion of your site with the framework.
Less Important: Design and Features
Not to downplay the importance of design when it comes to creating mobile pages, but the truth is when you make the switch over to AMP, your site is going to lose a bit of flare.
This isn’t to say that your mobile site can’t still pack a ton of great information and multimedia content into an AMP format, it just won’t look as full-fleshed as the desktop version.
Google has done a fine job of adding more features to the AMP code, allowing your mobile sites to run fast while still looking more like the original.
The aesthetics of your AMP sites will largely depend on your team’s ability to articulate design within the limited palate of the format, but skilled technicians can deliver the goods.
Still, marketers should recognize that mobile users do expect a complete desktop browsing experience when on the go, and should accept some of these shortcomings.
Sacrificing some Functionality
There are some features you may miss out on if you opt for an AMP overhaul, at least at first.
For instance, the checkout experience is still relatively slow on mobile compared to desktop, and some users are still hesitant to make purchases on their phones in general.
Developers are already working to improve shopping cart pages and data entry forms to make checkout a faster, more secure process via AMP.
Another area that needs some work is analytics features on AMP sites, which are not nearly as robust as the original desktop versions.
Major players like Google and Adobe are working to bring more analytics capabilities to AMP publishers, offering in-depth insights on how users engage and interact with the pages.
I expect serious enhancements to be made to the AMP code, evidenced by weekly updates from GitHub and other open-source gurus.
Sooner than later, we’ll be able to see granular measurements like scroll patterns, on-page timers, and common browsing trends that will inform future design choices.
While it’s currently challenging to integrate chat, web apps, maps, and social posts, AMP will soon be able to embed these resource-heavy features without much added effort.
I don’t think it will take much longer until the average mobile browser will be unable to distinguish between and AMP page and a traditional mobile-ready site.
Efficiency is the Priority
For marketers still skeptical of AMP, I get it. Cutting code from your web pages can feel like hard work gone to waste.
But it’s clear to me that maximizing the efficiency and speed of your mobile pages takes precedence over style and full-featured code at this point.
Of course, it’s up to you and your team whether you want to hold off until AMP becomes more comprehensive, but I think it’s smarter to get ahead of the curve now.
Don’t forget that AMP is just one version of your page – the originals still remain in your directories and don’t need to be altered.
You’ve already likely put a good deal of time and money toward improving the speed and search visibility of your mobile pages. AMP is a relatively minor tweak that can deliver big results while being virtually risk-free.
What’s Next for AMP?
I’ve hinted at some of the enhancements that we can expect from AMP in the near future, but looking further down the line, it’s likely to be the new gold standard for mobile site building.
Since Google is at the wheel for determining rank factors, it’s hard to imagine the search engine will prioritize any mobile framework apart from its own.
I recommend to all brands not yet on board with AMP to plan for at least some degree of implementation over the next 12 months.
The beauty of this technology is that you can pick and choose which assets to amplify while leaving others untouched.
If you connect IT, marketing, and sales teams on the project, you can see how a new approach to mobile search can help or hinder each department.
Plus, you can always make ongoing tweaks to your AMP blueprint and see how specific sites, features, and content types benefit. There is nothing to lose from mapping out a plan.
Whether you decide to begin in-house or opt for outsourcing to an agency, the last thing you want is to wait until your brand is the only page in the SERPs without that AMP lightning bolt.
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