Accelerated Mobile Pages to appear in Google SERPs

In response to slow loading webpages that cause mobile phone users to abandon viewing them before they load in, Google is about to show Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMPs) on its Search Engine Results Pages (SERPs). These AMPs will crucially be shown on the first page of Google search results and they will replace the listing of both desktop and mobile friendly pages, when an AMP exists. Previously, Google has displayed AMPs in the ‘Top stories’ section in Google Search Results viewed on a mobile phone. But now, non-news website owners will have the opportunity to show their AMPs in Google’s search results. What are Accelerated Mobile Pages AMPs are light versions of a webpages and they load almost instantaneously. Elements that usually cause slow page loading are stripped away, including slow loading ads, cookies and third party JavaScript. In general, AMPs have had a positive reception from both users and site owners, due to the faster and more streamlined experience they offer on mobile devices. Google Video – Intro to AMP (Accelerated Mobile Pages) How Automated Mobile Pages are ranked Google has stated that there will be no additional ranking boost given to AMPs, other than the ranking boosts that mobile friendly pages already receive. If an AMP webpage exists, this will now appear in Google search results instead of the mobile friendly or desktop webpages. Websites that do not have AMPs will not see a ranking change, while websites that do have AMPs will see this page ranked based upon the desktop version of the page. This does however mean that a desktop site with issues such as slow loading pages, will directly affect the ranking of the AMPs. AMPs are highlighted on the results page with an AMP tag and a lightening bolt icon. For the moment, businesses should not drop their mobile friendly and desktop sites, as these are used for ranking and can contain important resources that an AMP cannot. How AMPs will affect your business Certain types of searchers will undoubtedly gravitate towards AMPs. This could be for their loading speed when a slow connection exists, when data usage is limited or simply for a better experience of a site that is ad heavy. For businesses that generate revenue through ads, AMPs already support ad networks, such as AdSense, OpenX and DoubleClick. AMPs can also be shared socially by adding the tag, which generates share buttons for Facebook, Twitter, Google+ and Pinterest. AMPs are already visible in Google Analytics. Sites using WordPress or Joomla can use a plug-in to convert pages into the AMP format. AMPs can be created one page at a time and to give businesses the chance to do this, Google will not begin to show AMPs in SERPs until later this year, although a specific date is yet to be announced. Today it is possible to view AMPs in search results by visiting g.co/ampdemo on a mobile phone. There are now 650,000 domains creating AMPs and 4 million AMPs are indexed by Google every week.

For more information on Accelerated Mobile Pages to appear in Google SERPs talk to Odyssey New Media Ltd