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How Businesses Can Benefit from Google AMP Stories

April 17, 2019

by Rilind Elezaj

Digital Marketing Expert, SEO for X

Make your site accessible for mobile users with Google AMP stories. Your content will become easier to read and quicker to load with Google's new technology. 

Google started the AMP stories project as a better way to open and engage content on devices. With this new technology, users can open content faster and have access to more engaging, mobile, media.

Today’s world is concentrated on mobility. Everyone wants more accessible and quicker ways to accomplish tasks. 

When using a slow website or mobile app, it is easy to become frustrated and leave. Most sites load for about 5 seconds before people receive a no response page. Slow connection is often blamed on old devices or content that have too much data. 

Companies are using a significant number of teams to make their websites or apps run smoothly on computers and phones.

However, businesses cannot always accomplish this efficiency. 

Google’s AMP project is giving solutions to webmasters and developers to simplify their sites and give them a boost. The AMP format allows developers to create products quickly and still keep the original form, design, and content needed for the project. 

Since AMP makes engaging customers easier, many online platforms are accepting AMP and incorporating it into their business strategies. By linking company pages, user experience improves substantially.

What Is AMP Stories? 

Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP) stories is Google’s newest technology. AMP stories’ primary purpose is to allow publishers to post their stories on Google so people can better access and read content on mobile devices. 

The premise is similar to Instagram Stories and Snapchat stories, where users can easily read the news and watch videos on their phone. Google explains AMP as a “visual storytelling format for the open web,” as seen below:

Google Amp Stories

Source

According to Ztorie, the first company to offer an AMP stories creation tool, "AMP stories is currently a completely untapped channel for stories’ monetization and advertising.”

AMP provides a new platform for businesses to create clickable content for users, as well as an additional method for companies to advertise and monetize. 

How Is AMP Structured?

As we have seen, internet usage has switched from computers to smartphones. Most people use their mobile devices as their primary internet interaction tool. 

Unfortunately, most content was originally created for user visits from a computer. As such, many businesses need to convert their content to be mobile-friendly. Google’s AMP solves a lot of these conversion problems. 

Initially, the project was launched in 2015, and users were able to access the software in February 2016. The idea was to create a process that created internet pages that worked better on mobile devices. 

AMP has three main components with a combination of HTML, JavaScript, and Cache. Below, Google explains how AMP is built with these 3 core elements: 

AMP pages are built with three core components

Source

These three components provide the foundation for AMP stories, but how do these three elements work?

AMP HTML works smoothly and has a different function than JavaScript and Cache. It limits the use of unnecessary JavaScript. This means it uses only some JavaScript elements that enable the faster loading of a page

JavaScript AMP is a framework for mobile pages that helps with performance and resources. Also, while using the AMP, any third-party JavaScript is not permitted 

AMP Cache caches pages and improves their performance with simplified operations so only authenticated pages will display. 

Although useful, AMP stories is not as praised as otherwise believed. A study done by SEO Powersuite found out that only 23% of SEO professionals interviewed have actually implemented AMP. As such, AMP is far from the industry standard. People choose not to use AMP because of the limited advertising potential

This limitation does not allow users to see pop-ups or other similar kinds of ads. People choose not to use AMP if they are dependent on revenue generated through ad placement on their websites and mobile applications. 

However, according to a study done by SEO Powersuite to determine the significant effect of AMP on page ranking, Powersuite was able to find that currently, more than 50% of SEO professionals think that AMP is going to have a huge effect on ranking. Some analysts say this SEO increase is because the pages are more stable and don’t crash from all the additional data. 

Listening to customer feedback, Google recently decided to launch new ways to advertise on its platform. Google wants AMP to be the standard format for creating mobile internet pages. 

How Does Google AMP Improve Your Site’s Mobility?

Nowadays, we use mobile devices to browse different content, such as photos, videos, and blogs. Considering this need, AMP opens pages and apps faster with better response times than many other software products. 

Many businesses are having great success using AMP stories. Several online magazines reported that their content opens faster and they can incorporate more images and videos in their posts. 

A research study done by Google found out that pages that have AMP implemented in their websites have a 2X increase in time spent on page and also increase the sales conversions by 20% when compared with non-AMP pages. Below are examples of companies that have used AMP stories to create mobile. 

AMP pages increase time spent on a website
Source

CNN, Mic., SBNation, and The Washington Post have all created visual and highly immersive content that grabs readers’ attention. Like Snapchat stories, the content is easy to tap through and made specifically for videos and photos with large text as an explanation. 

When you see the difference in performance, it is easy to understand why AMP usage is increasing online. 

Besides Google, other search engines are linking their content on AMP. BingYahooBaidu and Sogou (search engines in China) are all linking content on AMP. As large companies recognize the value of using AMP, the success of the platform grows. 

Are Social Media Platforms using AMP?

Social media has a lot of content, and marketers need AMP stories to engage better with their users. Big platforms like Reddit, Pinterest, LinkedIn, and Twitter are all using AMP to link content. 

AMP has reached a global market. Chinese social media networks such as Qzone and Weibo, have also accepted and embraced this new technology. 

As more data, text, images, and videos are being produced online, people want to be able to access that content on their mobile devices, quickly. AMP solves this problem and provides needed stability to pages. 

Evaluating the Success of AMP Stories

Mobile user experience is essential in today’s market. Most of people’s activities are conducted online via smartphones.

AMP offers a platform that creates mobile pages efficiently and quickly for publishers. Companies use to be concerned that their content wouldn’t stream well on mobile devices because of the poor development quality and slow load speed. As such, some articles were accessible only by computer.

With AMP, we have faster, smoother performance possibilities that are opening every day. 

Luckily, Google has partners to help develop this technology, which means AMP stories will continue to grow. The technology will cover a more extensive implementation on the web with unique improvements. 

Further, the content you experience on your mobile device should not match other material online. AMP stories will create one of a kind content that allows different forms of writing and media.  

AMP has grown a lot since it was launched. It has undergone significant improvements and incorporated better designs and expanded to more platforms. Digital marketers should consider investing in this tool to build their company's presence online.

Some of the largest companies in the world are using AMP stories for their needs, which demonstrates the quality of the system. AMP provides a needed solution that improves the design and speed of mobile content. 


About the Author

Rilind Elezaj HeadshotRilind Elezaj is a thought leader in digital marketing, with extensive experience in the field of SEO and SMM. He has supported the growth of numerous major organizations in the U.S. and Europe through bespoke marketing solutions and also writes regularly in his blog SEO for X. Rilind has a strong entrepreneurial mindset and has devoted his career to enhancing the sphere of digital marketing.

 

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