How often do you visit a website on your mobile device and leave it shortly after because it takes too long to load? It’s frustrating, isn’t it? As the world becomes more mobile-oriented, delivering a fast and responsive mobile experience is crucial for online success. That’s why companies use Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP) to improve their mobile ranking and enhance their website’s user experience.

Being an AI language model, I haven’t personally experienced frustrations with web page speed, but I understand why it’s important. In this blog, I will explain why AMP benefits technical SEO, and how you can implement best practices to improve your website’s mobile performance.

What is Accelerated Mobile Pages?

Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP) is an open-source framework that was created by Google back in 2015. It strives to improve the speed and performance of mobile web pages by simplifying the HTML and CSS code and optimizing the content. The result? Pages that load quickly, display correctly, and enhance the user experience.

AMP can be thought of as a stripped-down version of a regular HTML page, where all the unnecessary elements are removed to create a faster-loading version that is optimized for mobile devices.

A person holding a mobile phone with the Google AMP logo displayed on the screen

How Does AMP Affect Technical SEO?

As Google prioritizes user experience, website performance has become one of the most important ranking factors. AMP is a powerful tool in improving website performance, and ultimately improving the ranking of your mobile web pages.

AMP-optimized sites are more visible in Google’s search results, as they are typically highlighted with a lightning bolt icon next to their URL. These pages also load faster and consume less data, which can keep users browsing your site for longer, reduce bounce rates, and improve user engagement.

A mobile search result showing the lightning bolt icon next to the URL indicating it is AMP optimized

Benefits of AMP for Technical SEO

Using AMP can provide several benefits for your website’s technical SEO, including:

Improved Page Speed

Nobody likes a slow website, particularly on mobile devices. AMP simplifies the page code to improve website performance, delivering ultra-fast page load times to keep mobile users engaged.

When users have a good experience on your mobile website, they’re more likely to share it with others, which can increase your website’s backlinks and referral traffic, factors that are important for SEO.

A snail and a lightning bolt icon side-by-side to represent the difference between regular websites and AMP-optimized websites

Better User Experience

AMP delivers a better user experience by optimizing the display of content on a mobile device. With AMP, there are fewer distractions, and the content is easy to read, providing a better user experience.

Users are more likely to stay on your webpages, browse more pages, and return to your website when they have a positive experience. This increases the user engagement with your website, which can be a key factor for SEO improvements.

A happy mobile phone user experiencing fast, clean, and smooth website navigation thanks to AMP optimization

Higher Mobile Rank and Visibility

AMP optimizes mobile web pages which directly affects your website’s ranking. Google’s AMP algorithm prioritizes mobile pages with fast load times, improved usability, and better user experiences for ranking purposes. AMP-optimized mobile pages are more likely to rank higher in search results and be displayed prominently to mobile users.

AMP also makes it easier for Google to discover and index your website’s pages. This leads to better visibility, which can increase the amount of traffic your website gets.

An image of a mobile phone displaying search results with non-AMP websites on the bottom and AMP-optimized websites on the top indicating better visibility and ranking on mobile search results

How to Implement AMP Best Practices

Here are some AMP best practices to help you optimize your website’s mobile experience:

Start with the Right Platform

To implement AMP on your website, you’ll need to start with the right platform. Many platforms support AMP, including WordPress, Drupal, and Joomla. Choose a platform that works best for you and that simplifies the implementation of AMP.

Use Valid Markup

Your AMP pages need to use valid markup, free of errors and warnings. You can use Google’s AMP Validator to check your code for errors and ensure that your AMP pages conform to the latest standards.

Optimize Content

Optimize your content by eliminating unnecessary elements, compressing images, and using minimal styling. By keeping your content clean and simple, you can deliver a fast, user-friendly experience on mobile.

Create Separate AMP Pages

Creating separate AMP pages of your existing content is the best way to ensure fast page load times and good user experience on mobile. These pages should meet specific AMP standards for optimized performance.

After implementing the above strategies, monitor the performance metrics of your site to ensure they are improving.

A person sitting cross-legged and working on a laptop while holding a mobile phone. On the computer screen is a webpage being optimized with the AMP framework.

Conclusion

AMP offers significant benefits for improving mobile web performance, enhancing the user experience, and boosting website rankings, which are crucial factors for SEO success. Implementing AMP best practices will ensure that your website is optimized for improved performance on mobile devices.

So, there you have it. AMP is an essential tool for technical SEO and it’s here to stay. By optimizing your website’s mobile pages with AMP, you will create a faster, more engaging user experience that will benefit your SEO and overall online presence.

A happy mobile phone user browsing an AMP-optimized website with a lightning bolt icon next to the URL and for a final touch, an emoji indicating "success"

I hope you found this blog informative and engaging. If you have any comments, feedback, or further queries, don’t hesitate to drop a comment below!