Google Rolls Out Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP) in Mobile Search Results

Accelerated Mobile Pages, or AMP pages, are rolling out globally across Google’s mobile search results. Google has stated that the global rollout will be complete by the end of 2016. Back in August, Google announced it was taking Accelerated Mobile Pages outside of just the “Top Stories” within the search results, and into the main organic search results on mobile devices. “In August, we previewed linking to AMPs across the entire mobile search results page. Today we’re excited to announce that we’re rolling out that faster experience to users across the world. Now when you search on your mobile device, you’ll see a label that indicates a page is AMP’d. This doesn’t change Search results but will show you which sites have pages that are ready to load lightning fast.” However, Google has made sure to state that AMP pages rolling out does not represent a change in rankings.

What are Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP)?

The Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP) Project is an open source initiative to create optimised content that is mobile-friendly, and loads instantly on any mobile device. Google denotes AMP content with a small “bolt” icon, and this content loads in under one second. In February, Google introduced AMP content into the carousel consisting of “Top Stories” that is displayed at the top of mobile search results. AMP was initially used by news publishers, but since then many non-news publishers have adopted AMP. Big names include eBay, TripAdvisor, Disney, and others. When there are two versions of a particular page, Google will link to the AMP version for the superior mobile user experience. These AMP pages are opened within the AMP viewer.

Benefits of AMP pages

Overall, AMP pages are here to improve the mobile user experience. The main benefits include:

• 4x faster than non-AMP pages
• 10x less data usage compared to non-AMP pages
• 90% of AMP publishers have experienced higher click-through rates
• 80% of AMP publishers experience higher ad viewability rates

Google are pushing for more people to adopt AMP, stating: “Today, the median time it takes for an AMP page to load from Google Search is less than one second. Beyond just saving you time with fast loading pages, AMP will also save you data — AMP pages on Search use 10 times less data than the equivalent non-AMP page.”

Why opt for AMP?

Many mobile users experience a poor mobile user experience, whether it’s pages taking too long to load, or displaying advertisements in a frustrating manner. As AMP is open source, it can help boost the mobile web, alongside Google’s own mobile search. AMP is going head-to-head with Facebook’s own Instant Articles, and Apple News. But now Google is taking AMP beyond the news, and into the main search results to provide an instant mobile experience to everyone. There are now over 600 million AMP documents, up from 150 million in summer. Google is looking to expand AMP pages into ecommerce, travel, entertainment, and other categories. With many users spending time in apps, this is encouraging to bring an app-like experience to the web. Overall, Google is pushing to make the web more mobile-friendly, as it’s other ventures and preferences show. By encouraging AMP pages, it also encourages users to get online via mobile devices.