January 13, 2016: Mobile Internet usage is surging but many site pages remain unacceptably slow. Fortunately, Google has responded to mobile searchers’ need for faster-loading content with AMP (Accelerated Mobile Pages), an open-source project announced this past October.
AMP takes away some of the freedom that webmasters have traditionally enjoyed in terms of running arbitrary Javascript and maintaining massive CSS files. But it’s great news for publishers willing to accept new limits in exchange for better mobile performance — and greater mobile reach.
AMP Impacts Speed, SEO Rankings, and Distribution
AMP is a big deal for content marketers because Google has already indicated that:
1. “AMP-ready” or “AMP-compliant” articles will load faster on mobile devices. If your content marketing niche is competitive, this just might be the edge you need to move ahead of your competition.
2. Google has indicated that AMP-compliant pages will receive ranking boosts in certain use cases. If you’re fighting a competitive war for organic attention (and who isn’t?), making your content AMP-compliant could win you a few battles (until such time that your competition catches up).
3. Google will provide caching infrastructure to AMP-compliant documents, speeding their delivery for all device types. Again, only AMP-ready pages will be eligible for this kind of preferential treatment.
How Does it Work?
AMP’s framework consists of three pieces that work together, including:
1. A new flavor of HTML (dubbed “AMP HTML”) that includes a limited set of new properties and custom styles.
2. A new Javascript file (AMP.JS) that does two things: first, it “enforces” compliance by blocking external scripts, and makes loading of any external resources asynchronous. AMP.JS also provides for DNS pre-fetching and pre-connection, both of which improve perceived page load speed.
3. A new CDN (Content Delivery Network) that will validate, fetch, and cache AMP documents for nearly instantaneous delivery. You can thank Google for providing this caching infrastructure.
Here, AMP developer Paul Bakaus details AMP’s operation:
So How Do I Get Ready for AMP?
Here’s the good news: chances are that getting your web documents AMP-compliant isn’t going to be a huge task. In fact, if you’re running WordPress, making the transition to AMP isn’t much more involved than downloading a plug-in and letting it work its magic. (Note: I’d hold off on installing this plug-in until its feature set is completely frozen).
Google has indicated that it will begin to route users to AMP pages beginning in February, 2016, so now’s the time to get up to speed with it. Here are some helpful links to get your content marketing ready for “life in the fast lane:”
- Create Your First AMP Page : https://www.ampproject.org/docs/get_started/create_page.html
- AMP FAQ :https://www.ampproject.org/docs/get_started/about-amp.html
- AMP Anatomy (video): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hVRkG1CQScA with Malte Ubl
- Official AMP Development Hub on GitHub.com: https://github.com/ampproject/amphtml
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