In 2015, Google unleashed a series of algorithm updates which focused on rewarding mobile friendly websites through higher rankings. During the start, media sites were the focus. But now many website owners are implementing AMP to make content load faster. This post highlights how you can boost mobile SEO with AMP.
Accelerated Mobile Pages or AMP is an open source project which is designed to make mobile pages load faster. It is based on a lighter coding and speeds up the load time even if the web page has videos, PDFs, audio, or infographics. Webpage loading speed can drastically affect traffic and conversions, especially while doing platform migration for e-commerce websites.
Working with accelerated mobile pages (AMPs) results in a significant increase in sales, CTR and a reduction in bounce rates.
Boost mobile seo with amp: See how it works
AMP is one of the best techniques to increase website ranking on mobile searches. As it loads web pages faster, it results in better rankings due to higher CTR and less bounce rates. It simplifies the web pages into 3 core elements:
- HTML: It changes the original HTML of a page into a simplified one. It is essentially HTML which includes custom AMP related commands. These commands are known as AMP HTML tags.
- JS: This JavaScript is particularly made for mobiles and ensures a quick rendering of the web page by loading resources in a controlled proportion.
- CDN: The Google AMP cache is a content delivery network which is used to serves cached pages.
How to set up AMP
On a wordpress site, you can use one of these 6 BEST SEO PLUGINS FOR WORDPRESS to make the task of implementing AMP easier. You have to install the plugin and edit the colours and the backgrounds. A problem with this is that you cannot customise the look and feel of the optimised web pages. If you want to customise how your website looks or you do not use WordPress, there is another way in which you can implement AMP.
You have to follow the AMP project guide to hand code your AMP page. It requires experience in web development so if you are not a developer, it’s better to hire a professional.
Boost mobile seo with amp: Advantages
- Increased mobile search engine ranking: AMP is not an official ranking factor. But because AMP has a positive effect on the load time, the webpage appears higher in the mobile results. So websites with AMP might rank higher than websites with no AMP in the mobile search engine results. However, mobile first indexing is an amazing technique to optimize mobile SEO. Read our blog on ALL YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT MOBILE FIRST INDEXING to get higher mobile search engine rankings.
- Improves load time: AMP speeds up the page loading time. Since the page loading time affects bounce rate, conversion rate and page views, it is essential to have quick loading web pages.
- Higher conversion rate: Loading speed has a direct relation with conversion rates. Better page loading speed means that visitors will subscribe to a newsletter or buy a product.
Disadvantages of boosting mobile seo with amp
- Inability to track website performance: Switching to AMP means that you won’t be able to access information using other analytics tools. The only way you will be able to track your website performance would be by using Google Analytics.
- Ad restrictions: AMP supports ads, but it is quite complicated to insert ads which run on AMP. Moreover, there are lesser ad networks which work on Google AMP.
- Limited customisation: With limited HTML, JavaScript and CSS, a lot of customisation is not possible. You cannot add features or widgets and the insertion of dynamic script is quite limited as well.
In conclusion, AMP is quite effective and can offer some great benefits. These benefits include better user experience, improved page loading time and more revenue. If you drive a lot of mobile traffic, then it is a great idea to boost mobile SEO with AMP.
