Google, the leading search engine, places great importance on the page speed of websites and content, as clearly stated in
Google’s 10 facts
that “faster is better than slower.” AMP (Accelerated Mobile Pages) is useful for increasing page speed.
When you implement AMP, a “⚡” (lightning) will appear in search results, and mobile pages will display faster. Therefore, in this article, we will explain the overview of AMP, the advantages and disadvantages of implementing it, and also introduce the content that is suitable for AMP. We will also explain how to implement AMP, so please refer to it if you are looking to improve your page speed.
What does AMP mean?
AMP
is an abbreviation for “Accelerated Mobile Pages”, which literally means a method to speed up mobile pages. AMP was launched by Google and Twitter as an open source project in October 2015 for the purpose of user experience optimization (SXO).
As of October 2021, web content with AMP implemented has become more prominent at the top of search results, indicating that search engines such as Google are attaching importance to it. However, AMP is not officially recommended by Google, so you need to decide whether to implement it depending on the situation.
Why AMP pages load fast
AMP stipulates the resource size of all content statically and only allows asynchronous JavaScript. In other words, these reduce the load of drawing, etc., resulting in faster page speeds.
Additionally, AMP is
cached
by a CDN called “AMP Cache”. Normally, a web page is displayed by the browser loading HTML text etc. each time, but with AMP, the content of the web page is returned from the cache stored in the CDN, so there is no need to load the content each time. Therefore, the page is returned without the steps required to display the original web page, which speeds up the display of AMP pages.
Google places importance on page speed
Nowadays, Google places particular emphasis on page speed, and it plays a major role as a determining factor in search rankings. In fact, in January 2018, a “speed update” was implemented, adding mobile as a target for page speed evaluation, and pages that users perceive as slow tend to receive lower ratings.
In other words, when it comes to
SEO
measures, the days when you could get higher rankings by simply improving the quality of your content are over, and from now on, it is changing to a comprehensive battle that also includes page speed. It can be said that it is worth considering implementing AMP as one measure to speed up the process.
Advantages and disadvantages of implementing AMP
Up to this point, we have provided an overview of AMP. From here, I will explain the advantages and disadvantages of implementing AMP, divided into the following sections.
Let’s look at each in turn.
Advantage 1: Can increase display speed
The first and biggest benefit of AMP is that it can speed up the display speed. Since browsing speed will improve, if you implement AMP, even if you measure the display speed with “PageSpeed Insights” provided by Google for free, the score of 70 points or higher (reference value), which is borderline on both mobile and PC, will be It will come out.
Faster display speeds will improve content exit and bounce rates. It also increases the possibility that users will navigate the website via internal links, which will lead to an increase in conversions (CV) such as inquiries and purchases.
Advantage 2: Possibility of improving search rankings
Content with a low exit rate and bounce rate tends to be evaluated more highly by Google.
Additionally, the “⚡” mark will be displayed in search results, so you can expect your CTR (click-through rate) to increase. As a result, Google will determine that your content is high-quality and meets user needs, which will increase your chances of ranking higher in search rankings.
As of October 2021, Google has not included the implementation of AMP as a ranking factor, but there is no doubt that it will have a secondary effect on rankings.
Advantage 3: The number of inflows may increase
Although this overlaps somewhat with the above, another benefit is that it may increase the number of search traffic. In addition to the title and description tags, a ⚡ mark will be displayed in the search results, and the page speed will be faster, which will improve the exit rate.
If the number of traffic to your customer attraction content increases, you will be able to move users to the CV page where you can get inquiries, which will lead to an increase in overall website sales.
Disadvantage ①: Requires man-hours
Although there are several advantages to implementing AMP, it is also true that there is a disadvantage that it requires a lot of man-hours. Google has strict guidelines for implementing AMP, and incorrect coding can drastically change the design of your content.
Also, if the coding is incorrect, AMP cannot of course be officially implemented. In addition, since JavaScript cannot be used when implementing AMP, it is necessary to gather engineers who are knowledgeable about it. Although it is very important to strive to improve display speed, always check whether you are getting results such as sales that are commensurate with the amount of man-hours you put in.
Disadvantage ②: There are some advertisements that cannot be displayed.
There are some ads that cannot be displayed on websites that support AMP. This is not a problem that you should be concerned about with owned media, where you put content just to send customers to your company, but it can be said to be a disadvantage that you should be careful about with affiliate media.
However, with regard to Google AdSense, which charges on a per-click basis, supporting AMP does not cause any particular problems.
Content suitable for AMP
So far, we have explained the advantages and disadvantages of AMP. Here, we will explain the characteristics of content suitable for AMP. In conclusion, it is suitable for websites created with
WordPress
that want to achieve high speed, as well as portal sites and e-commerce sites with complex functions.
For example, on e-commerce sites, it is necessary to promote each product with a large number of images, which has a negative impact on display speed. In addition, you may need a carousel, which can be a major cause of slow display speed. However, implementing AMP in such cases will speed up the display speed and improve user convenience. As a result, it will lead to higher CTR and purchase rate of the product.
Content not suitable for AMP
AMP is not suitable for websites or content where information is frequently updated, such as real estate information sites. This is because there is little cache remaining in the AMP Cache and information changes frequently, resulting in the browser having to read the content directly.
Also, even if you implement it, there is a risk that content such as real estate photos will be corrupted, so it is important to consider ways to increase the display speed with something other than AMP.
How to support AMP
From here, we will explain how to support AMP by dividing it into the following cases.
Let’s look at each in turn.
For WordPress
First, in the case of WordPress, it is convenient to use the official AMP plugin. Choose a plugin whose name is “AMP” and whose creator is “AMP Project Contributors.”
There is no problem if you install and activate the AMP plugin and select “Standard Settings” in the template. However, the layout of the content may be disrupted, so be sure to check that it is displayed properly after activation.
On the other hand, there is a concern that using the AMP Project Contributors, which is an AMP plug-in, may interfere with some JavaScript functions and may not work.
Please be aware that some websites built using JavaScript may be incorporated without using plugins.
For Wix
If you are using Wix, a tool that allows you to create websites for free, the Wix site has a summary of
how to support AMP
. The content is ready to use even without coding knowledge, so anyone can implement it right away.
However, just like with WordPress, be sure to check to see if the display is corrupted.
When developing your own
It is possible to support AMP even if the website is created without using an existing system such as WordPress or Wix mentioned above. Please refer to ”
Creating your first AMP page
” on the official AMP website. In addition to text explanations, there are also tutorial videos and even instructions on how to check if AMP has been implemented.
summary
In this article, we explained the overview of AMP, the advantages and disadvantages of implementing it, and how to implement it. Google places great importance on page speed, and it plays a role in determining search rankings, so it’s important to make it as fast as possible. One option for that is to try implementing AMP.
However, as explained in this article, there are disadvantages to implementing AMP, such as the amount of man-hours required, so it is important to take these into consideration.