AMP Up Mobile Experience with the Top Trends of 2021

Mobile devices are everywhere. Chances are you’re reading this on a mobile device. The majority of us own at least one, and with that, has access to the mobile Web. It’s no secret that the trend of “mobile first web-design” is continuing its ever-increasing onslaught, requiring websites to be optimized for the mobile web. If you’re not optimizing for mobile, you may as well give up on SEO (search engine optimization) because Google requires a pantheon of optimizations for its mobile first indexing algorithm.

And that’s where Accelerated Mobiles Pages (AMP) comes into the picture. It was originally launched in 2016 as a direct competitor to Facebook’s Instant Articles and used for news carousels on mobile devices. But AMP is so much more than that these days. Since its initial release, Google has continued spearheading the AMP project, releasing Websites, Web Stories, Ads, Email, and an official WordPress plugin that allows users to easily integrate AMP into their existing websites.

That’s a lot of growth for a community-driven framework that now powers more components of the Web than you’ve likely realized. According to the official AMP documentation, “AMP is a free web components library that enables anyone to build feature-rich and engaging websites, while avoiding many of the common challenges that usually come with building a great site.” Let’s break that down by its core modules

AMP Websites

As mentioned previously, AMP is a free web components library. This library contains built-in components and other concepts that allows users to create fast, user-first websites with very little additional programming required.

AMP is developer friendly. One of its main features is AMP HTML, which is just plain old HTML with some restrictions added to guarantee reliable performance. You can think of AMP HTML as a subset of HTML with the additional of AMP-specific tags that create custom components. These are common patterns like carousels, datepickers, accordions, embedded media, and animations. In addition to these user-facing components, AMP HTML also includes tags for ads, analytics, and search engine discoverability.

AMP Websites can be written completely in AMP HTML or use AMP components. Users can even choose to have separate AMP and non-AMP versions of a webpage, or just an AMP version.

The AMP library also provides access to AMP Caches. This allows an AMP Website to be cached on a user’s device for near instantaneous loading on subsequent visits. The cache has a built-in validation system that confirms the page is guaranteed to work with external resources. AMP Caches can dramatically decrease page load times, one of the key metrics for Google’s mobile first search index.

Web Stories

Everyone is familiar with the concept of Web Stories thanks to social media (think Instagram and Facebook Stories, TikTok, etc.). AMP enables developers to easily create engaging content that is visually interactive with animated and tappable components.

Web Stories support images and video content as well as text overlays to create fast-loading full-screen experiences for end users. This can be a fast way to add engaging content to your existing website or landing pages.

Like AMP HTML, Web Stories are part of the AMP library which means the technology is free to use and well-documented. This enables developers to quickly create content that can instantly grab and keep users’ attention.

AMP Ads

AMP Ads are changing the way that ads on the web are built. AMP Ads are fast and minimize disruptions, which leads to increased viewability and ultimately greater click-through rates.

AMP Ads are optimized for mobile and use the built-in components from the AMP library specifically designed to create and track ads with integrated analytics. AMP HTML ads are six times faster than regular ads on AMP pages. Their viewability is measurable using framework components and AMP Ads are quickly becoming a turnkey solution to creating engaging marketing that looks good and can maximize your ROI.

Finally, AMP Ads are safe – they’re verified to be free from malware before being served, ensuring a safe experience for end users.

AMP Email

Like AMP Ads, AMP HTML components can be added by senders to emails to bringing rich, engaging experiences to your customers’ inboxes. AMP is already mobile-optimized, which means AMP Emails will load fast and will retrieve fresh content from remote endpoints, keeping emails up-to-date. AMP Email makes it easy to lead users to take direct actions like responding to polls, doodles, bookings, and managing subscriptions right from their inboxes.

Since AMP Email uses AMP HTML, it allows you to add AMP components such as carousels, accordions, and forms directly to the email. This can increase engagement and encourage users to open your emails and gets their eyes where you want them.

AMP Benefits Everyone

The benefits to integrating AMP into your current web infrastructure are many.

AMP benefits your business:

• Improved user experience
• Mobile web optimizations
• Allows core metrics tracking with built-in analytics components
• Increased performance and decreased load times
• AMP is compatible with many global platforms, including Google, Twitter, and more.

AMP benefits your developers:

• AMP HTML can reduce code complexity
• AMP is well documented, community supported, and sponsored by Google
• AMP components can reduce the time it takes to develop a mobile-friendly website

AMP benefits your customers:

• Fast, engaging content is more likely to be enjoyed
• AMP is built for the devices they already use
• AMP is secure and provides a safe viewing experience, even ads

If we’ve sparked your interest and you want to learn more about AMP trends and how they can work for you, drop us a line. Our developers can help you achieve your AMP dreams.