Accelerated Mobile Pages: What is AMP and Why Should You Care?

Accelerated mobile pages have been around since 2015. They were originally designed for news publishing websites but now any type of website can use AMP technology.

The question is, is using AMP for websites still a good idea? Here, we look at what AMP is, how it works and what you need to consider before using accelerated mobile pages in 2024.

What is AMP?

AMP stands for accelerated mobile pages. It’s a technology that strips down mobile website pages to make them faster. And it was developed by Google back in 2015. All types of web pages can be built using AMP, including news and publisher sites, lead-generation sites and ecommerce.

How does AMP work?

Without getting too techy, we can break the AMP framework down into:

• AMP HTML: AMP HTML differs from regular HTML because it has more restrictions. This is so you avoid elements and attributes that slow a page down.
• AMP JavaScript: Using AMP’s JavaScript library, your web development agency can build pages without writing JavaScript and without using third-party libraries. This helps improve page speed.
• AMP Cache: AMP Cache is a content delivery network (CDN) that pre-loads AMP pages before a user even makes a request. This is another way to achieve an ideal website speed.

Accelerated mobile pages in 2024: is AMP still a thing?

There was a lot of buzz about AMP in the mid to late-2010s. But the hype has long since died down. Lots of big news publishers — the types of businesses that AMP was aimed at — have now stopped using AMP technology.

The AMP symbol (a little lightning bolt that used to appear next to AMP pages in search results) has also disappeared from the internet.

Google makes much less distinction between accelerated mobile pages and regular web pages than it used to. And today, as long as you have a fast, mobile responsive website, you can get away without using AMP for websites at all.

Considerations for AMP website development

Wondering whether to invest in AMP website development? Or whether to phase AMP out of your website? Here’s what you need to consider.

Mobile web development has evolved

Many web developers (the Radical team included) would argue that you now can achieve fast mobile website speeds without using AMP. You can make a speedy, mobile responsive site without navigating the design restrictions AMP imposes.

AMP pages are still super-fast. But — if you work with a good web dev — you’re no longer gaining seconds of load speed. More like fractions of seconds. If your website is already performing well in Google’s Core Web Vitals, it’s unlikely that AMP would provide much benefit.

Usability, design and branding

Because AMP uses a library of elements, you have less design flexibility. Want a burger menu for your navigation? A contact form? A product showcase? Fine. But you’ll get the one you’re given. Every element is created with speed in mind, which means limited customisation.

This makes website branding difficult. You can change colours and add a logo. But the layout of accelerated mobile pages tends to look very similar across different sites. So it can be hard to create a distinctive brand and a memorable user experience.

Speed across the whole of a website

AMP is only used for the first page visited on your site. It aims to improve the user experience (UX) when clicking from search results to a web page. But it doesn’t improve the user experience across your whole website.

When a user clicks from your AMP to another page on your website, they revert to a regular, non-AMP web page. And if this page is slow and clunky, it can harm UX. Ideally, every page should be fast. And it’s worth considering that AMP is by no means the only way to improve page speed.

To speed up every webpage on every device, you can use other methods. Things like caching, CDNs, updating to a dedicated server and other speed optimisations. You could even consider PWA development, which takes mobile speed and usability to new levels.

Coding and maintenance time

You need to consider the technical requirements of using AMP for websites. And the risks of getting it wrong.

The most obvious consideration is the time it takes to code your AMP themes and plug them in with your content. You’re essentially re-coding all the pages on your website, albeit using simpler code.

Some platforms offer one-click conversions and plugins or extensions, but they’re far from perfect. Some areas of AMP can be a bit buggy. Ultimately, AMP takes time and resources to get right and to maintain.

AMP and SEO

While AMP itself is not a ranking factor in Google, the gains made in speed from AMP can boost a site’s SEO results. We used to see a lot of AMP websites on the first page of Google. But — as we mentioned earlier — fast, mobile responsive sites that don’t use AMP can be just as successful.

AMP technology also brings a couple of SEO risks. Poor AMP implementation can send your site tumbling down search engine result pages.

The most common pitfall is incorrect canonicalization. This is because, with AMP, you have to build a second, duplicate version of every page and index it in Google. There’s a right way to manage this. You have to make sure that Google understands your set-up and the relation between AMP and web pages. You also have to match AMP to the relevant website content.

To make AMP work for SEO, you need to put in a fair bit of effort. And pay close attention to detail.

Should you use AMP for your website?

It used to be that news sites and blogs saw huge benefits from using AMP. But even back in the mid-2010s, AMP wasn’t necessarily the best option for other types of websites.

Today, we don’t tend to use AMP for websites. It’s all about picking the right solution for you and your website users. And there are other, more effective ways to ensure fast page speeds while also achieving the best possible user experience.

Need help making sense of AMP? Or want to know whether to phase out AMP pages on your website? Then get in touch and chat with our friendly team today.