According to a recent study online , out of the 80% smartphone users, 48% of these consumers start their search with a search engine. And when we say search engine, we know that majority will reply in unison: Google.
Now, Google is taking mobile search by storm as they had released their newest open source project, Google Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP).
If you use Google to search for any recent news via your mobile phone, you will notice an AMP logo with a little thunderbolt next to a search result.
Source: Search Engine Land
As of today, content publishers mostly benefit from Google AMP, but eBay is in the process of working on their e-commerce site to convert their pages as AMP.
Different case studies show how performance has definitely improved since publishers have used AMP on their content pages.
Here is a list of the results gathered online by VentureBeat :
- 90 percent of AMP traffic to the Daily Dot is from new visitors.
- More than 80 percent of AMP traffic to Gizmodo is from new visitors, while they represent less than 50 percent in all mobile sessions. Plus, the number of impressions per page view on an AMP Gizmodo page is 50 percent higher than on a non-AMP page.
- People visiting AMP pages from the Miami Herald through mobile searches spend 10 percent more time than people who access the newspaper's regular mobile pages.
- Slate has seen a 44 percent jump in monthly unique visitors from Google searches, and visits per monthly unique user are up 73 percent.
- Click-through rates (CTRs) on ads on Wired AMP pages are 63 percent higher than on non-AMP pages, and CTRs from search results are 25 percent higher.
Google AMP: Soon-To-Be Ranking Factor?
When SSL was introduced into the worldwide web, it has become a requirement especially for websites that ask for sensitive information.
Because of the benefits SSL has introduced online, it has become one of the ranking factors of Google. It may be a minor ranking signal, but a majority of the websites complied with this requirement.
Although there are no implications that AMP will be a ranking signal soon, Google's News and Social Products Senior Director said that they are giving "…emphasis to the one with speed because that is what users find compelling."
Google has always considered user experience as a vital key to creating products that will help the users get the information that they need faster, easier, and better.
How Does AMP Work?
Google displays AMP websites on the search results page via carousel and non-carousel results. AMP content has lived up to its promise of performance and speed.
Curious on how it works? There are three factors that make it possible for AMP sites to display content as fast as they can:
- AMP HTML is HTML with some restrictions for reliable performance and some extensions for building rich content beyond basic HTML.
- The AMP JS library ensures the fast rendering of AMP HTML pages.
- The Google AMP Cache can be used to serve cached AMP HTML pages.
Rocketmill has prepared a side-by-side comparison of how AMP has "amped" websites:
How to Install Google AMP
Unlike the other products Google has developed, you can't just sign up and install a tracking code to be able to get your website AMP-ready.
Talk to your developer and share this comprehensive guide on creating your AMP page . Yes, it's per page and not the whole website.
Good news for WordPress users: Here's an official plugin made by the makers of WordPress themselves, Automattic.
AMP Plugin: Enable Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP) on your WordPress Site
Currently, pages and archives are not AMP-ready yet, and "this plugin only creates AMP content but does not automatically display it to your users when they visit from a mobile device. That is handled by AMP consumers such as Google Search. For more details, see the AMP Project FAQ ."
Google AMP: The Future of Mobile Search?
AMP is not only for news websites, but it is readily available for every content publisher. Google has plans to expand AMP to apps, recipe pages, and even e-commerce websites.
We've seen this trend with websites donning the green padlock; SSL has indeed changed the future of our then unsecured transactions online.
Because of the security it provides, it has become an imperative for websites as advised by Google. Again, Google is focused on providing the best user experience for searchers, worldwide.
If AMP proves to be the standard of mobile websites of today, it will definitely be the face of mobile search's future.