Innovations in technology have one goal and that’s to make our lives easier. This means getting things done with the least amount of effort and time, which is why websites that take more than three seconds to load are immediately introduced to the red button. Everything is so fast-paced these days and people rely on their mobile devices for news and updates from all over the world. They browse their devices while on-the-go, and since Internet speed is not always that fast, the best solution is to optimize websites for mobile browsing. This can be done by creating a standardized mobile version of the website through Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP).

The framework, which was launched in October 2015, serves as a coding standard that puts all those jam-packed desktop codes on a diet so websites will load faster on mobile devices and tablets. All those unnecessary desktop elements are removed since the requirements of a mobile device are much different and, well, lighter. AMP is designed so that publishers improve user experience and speed, which will boost their mobile readership without compromising their ad revenues. Truth be told, web developers can achieve the same thing through intense performance optimization but this is often neglected by publishers because of constraints when it comes to resources.

Impact of Accelerated Mobile Pages

The impact that an AMP has gone beyond the loading time. It also improves a site’s search rankings in Google since top AMP results are shown as a carousel, each with a preview of the website. This allows users to navigate between each website by swiping left and right to quickly scan the contents.

What does this mean for content marketers?

When a website appears in the carousel, its engagement rates and click-throughs are higher compared to those that appear in the regular search results. They are given a platform that’s easier to see, that’s why they’re visible to users who are doing the search through their mobile device. Pages that do not have AMP codes are pushed below the carousel which, unfortunately, loses exposure when the user opts not to scroll down the page.

Since high exposure is a load that’s taken off a publisher’s back, he or she can focus more on the generation of quality content for the site visitors. Google has always been clear about prioritizing access to information, and this is one of the reasons why the launched AMPs. This is something that users on their daily commute to and from work will definitely grateful for since aside from speed, they can use one hand to browse the pages.

AMPs also have an impact on mobile marketing because it guarantees positive user experience on tablets and other mobile devices. This reaches a majority of internet users whose medium of choice is their electronic gadgets. Moreover, since this is the time of Mobilegeddon, the inclusion of AMP modifications is essential for a website’s long-term success.

The impact that AMP has on user experience also creates plenty of opportunities for advertising. Mobile page load speeds give visitors more time to browse and look at the ads that appear on each website. Longer engagement boosts an advertiser’s confidence when it comes to using Google Adwords and other online advertising platforms.

Benefits of Accelerated Mobile Pages

Aside from increased loading time and improved ranking in search engines, AMP also has the following benefits:

● Higher visibility or exposure for publishers- AMP symbols are displayed in green (sometimes accompanied by a lightning sign) in the search results. By simply displaying these symbols, the click-through rates are increased especially once users discover that AMP pages load faster. The carousel also grabs the user’s attention effortlessly, which boosts the traffic for the content displayed, and for the search terms linked to the page.

● Ad support- One of the goals of AMP is to support a wide range of ad formats, technologies, and networks. It aims to quickly deliver ads while making it easier for the content to grab the attention of the user. Since this increases the advertiser’s ROI and their influence, they will put more ads on the page (which means more free content for the publisher).

● Visitor analytics- AMP takes into consideration the importance of tracking visitor behavior on the website. By choosing between two tags, publishers can easily keep track of the following information:

– visitor counts
– new visitors
– returning visitors
– clicks & conversions
– link tracking
– video tracking