AMP
Optional mobile framework; not required for good mobile SEO.
AMP in plain English
AMP, originally Accelerated Mobile Pages, is an open-source framework for building fast, lightweight web pages. It was promoted heavily for mobile news in the late 2010s. Since 2021, AMP hasn't been required to appear in Google's Top Stories, and Google's AMP documentation says AMP pages rank like any other page.
How to check AMP on your site
View the source of a page and look for a link with rel="amphtml", or add "/amp" to a URL and see whether a separate version loads. Search Console used to have an AMP report for sites using it. If you have AMP pages, decide whether they still serve a purpose.
A worked example
A local news and events site still runs AMP versions of every article from an old plugin, and they often show outdated layouts. After checking its main pages are fast without AMP, it removes the plugin and redirects the AMP URLs to the standard versions. Maintenance gets easier.
Where it usually goes wrong
- Adding AMP because an old guide said it was needed.
- Removing AMP without redirecting the AMP URLs.
- Letting AMP and standard pages show different content.
- Assuming AMP alone fixes speed problems.
Why a small site should care
Most small business sites have no reason to use AMP. A well-built responsive site that loads quickly gives you the same benefits without maintaining a second version of every page. If an old theme or plugin added AMP pages, they may now be more trouble than they're worth.
It's worth checking because AMP versions are easy to forget. Old AMP pages can show outdated prices, layouts or contact details long after the main site has been updated.
Connected technical terms
- Mobile-first indexing: Google predominantly uses the mobile version of content for indexing.
- Core Web Vitals: Google user-experience metrics: LCP, INP and CLS.
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