AMP HTML is fast and that’s a huge reason why it’s great for all. Beyond speed, AMP introduces development accountability and consistency.
This structured and consistent information should help Google and other search engines offer improved results to users.
Faster, more accountable web betters user experience
Each page of a website or progressive web app can now be tested with the /#development=1 placed at the end of the URL and opening the Chrome Dev Tools inspector (CTRL+Shift+I)
Rewards for early AMP adopters?
AMP-enabled Google Search features are now available allowing websites and progressive web apps to show up in rich cards at the top of organic search. Now, non-AMP websites and progressive web apps can also show up in these rich cards but not in the AMP-enabled Google Search features. This is where the following article from Moz may have missed the mark:
Moz on Google rolling out AMP
“Are you ready for AMP? Ready or not, it’s coming to Google search results, and it’s arriving in a big way. Google has announced that they’ll be showing Accelerated Mobile Pages in their search results for the “ten blue links.”
Reference source: Moz on AMP
It’s worth noting that the article claims “Not a ranking boost” but it goes on to suggest there are indirect ranking benefits. Only Google knows their algorithm but those of us who recall the videos of YouTube once shooting to the top of Google remember well how new media elements can improve search rankings.
We’ll let you be the judge. Meanwhile, here is what Google has to say on this very subject with referencing soruce below:
Google says use AMP:
“When you use AMP HTML to build your pages, Google Search results can indicate this to users by displaying the AMP icon. This lets Search users know that content from your site will load quickly on their device or network.”
“AMP for new web content
If you are publishing content previously only available in your mobile app, or have not yet published your content, we recommend exposing it on the web as a standalone AMP. Since AMP pages are valid HTML, you do not need to create both an AMP and non-AMP version of your content. Make sure you do the following for standalone AMP content:
Add a canonical link to the page that refers to itself:
<link rel="canonical" href="http://example.ampproject.org/article.amp.html" />
Ensure you use valid AMP HTML. Only valid AMP HTML files will be shown in Google Search. You can check the AMP Report in Google Search Console for AMP-related errors detected when Google crawls your site, or run the AMP Validator on your pages (available as a web interface).
Once these steps are complete, your creative content should be eligible to surface in AMP-enabled Google Search features. Certain features are in a pilot mode, meaning that they are open to a small list of early testing partners.”
Reference source: Google on AMP