AMP Do’s & Don’ts for Superhero Results #SearchCamp

#ampsuccess by @aleyda from @orainti at #searchcamp
AMP
Do’s & Don’ts for Superhero Results

I’m Aleyda Solis

I help companies to connect with them through
organic search results

Some are brands you likely know

Having a fast mobile Website is one of the
fundamental aspects to achieve this goal

Which will be even more critical with  
Google’s upcoming mobile ﬁrst index too

Users have minimum speed expectations

Probably because of this

But this is our speed reality
https://www.thinkwithgoogle.com/marketing-resources/data-measurement/mobile-page-speed-new-industry-benchmarks/

Let’s see: How much time the BBC  
mobile home page takes to load?

Ouch
https://testmysite.thinkwithgoogle.com

And the Asos one?

Yup

And the House of Fraser?

I think I’ve made my point

The solution is to implement WPO principles  
to make Mobile sites to load fast
https://developers.google.com/speed/docs/insights/rules

But big sites have restrictive legacy platforms  
& small ones little resources to improve them

This is why Google launched AMP

It uses a “simpliﬁed” HTML version with optimised
resources & cache to serve faster in Mobile SERPs
https://www.ampproject.org/learn/overview/

AMP is published “parallely” and canonicalized  
to your current (slower) Mobile Web pages
https://www.forbes.com/sites/alanwolk/2017/09/07/apple-is-
losing-its-cool-factor-and-thats-a-problem-if-they-want-to-break-
into-tv/#4707740c71f8
https://www.forbes.com/sites/alanwolk/2017/09/07/apple-
is-losing-its-cool-factor-and-thats-a-problem-if-they-want-to-
break-into-tv/amp/
Canonical URL AMP URL

It’s also cached and pre-rendered  
by Google when shown in Mobile SERPs
Google AMP
Viewer URL 
that is pre-
rendered
Canonical URL
of the Page
Content served
from AMP Cache
URL

Canonical URL AMP URL
Making it certainly much faster
https://www.forbes.com/sites/alanwolk/2017/09/07/apple-is-
losing-its-cool-factor-and-thats-a-problem-if-they-want-to-break-
into-tv/#4707740c71f8
https://www.forbes.com/sites/alanwolk/2017/09/07/apple-
is-losing-its-cool-factor-and-thats-a-problem-if-they-want-to-
break-into-tv/amp/

AMP usage is not a ranking factor though

But Google made it a requirement to be
included in the News Carrousel

as well as shown in organic results
AMP article rich results 
Can be free-standing in the results
page, or embedded in a carousel of
similar result types. All AMP article rich
results are also rich results.
AMP non-rich results 
A basic, non-graphical search result
pointing to the AMP page.

Which has given it an impressive SERP visibility
https://www.rankranger.com/amp-on-google-serp

As well as trafﬁc to the sites using it
AMP Rich Results
AMP Non-Rich Results
Non-AMP Results
More Mobile organic
visibility and traffic from
AMP than non-AMP
results

Especially media sites  
that were the ﬁrst to adopt it
Data by Sistrix

More transactional sites use now AMP though
thanks to added functionality, like dynamic content
https://www.ampproject.org/learn/showcases/

However, AMP is not a replacement  
of your Mobile site

AMP is a fast “add-on”
to your already existing  
(but still slow) mobile
Website
Just what happens with
Batman as a super hero

No real super-power,
just added gadgets that
improve him
Non-Canonical AMP A fast Mobile site
Natural superpowers, he
doesn’t need add-ons  
to be improved
AMP is to a fast Mobile site  
what Batman is to Superman

Google representatives agree that is not  
a “bullet-proof” solution for all sites
“It wouldn’t be
reasonable for us to
expect that a group of
limited functionalities
replace all what you can
do at the moment in the
mobile environment…
AMP its meant to serve in
certain use cases”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wtOjUwGnrVY

But due to the way it is presented and  
its expansion efforts it might look like it

That’s why there are reservations about it: “AMP  
has a good intentions… but sacriﬁce the open Web”

Which has been also addressed  
in the past by Google
https://medium.com/@pbakaus/why-amp-caches-exist-cd7938da2456

As well as clariﬁed over time

The reality is that it does solve a huge  
Web speed problem
https://www.alexkras.com/google-amp-is-winning/

Although the best to avoid these concerns would be
to give fast Mobile pages the same AMP treatment

Realistically, users don’t even know about AMP
https://dejanseo.com.au/amp/

You shouldn’t
then use AMP
as a silver
bullet Mobile
speed solution
but a resource
in certain
scenarios…
Thanks Alfred :)

To avoid situations like this

Use AMP when your Mobile site is too slow + can’t
be improved and /or you need carrousel inclusion
and/or
Too slow and can’t
be improved
Needs to be
included in carrousel

It’s better to avoid AMP with independent mobile
sites, move to Responsive/Dynamic serving ﬁrst
Desktop Web Parallel Mobile Web Version with M subdomain
AMP version under the M subdomain
Google AMP Viewer URL
Canonicalize to
Generates
Why maintaining many non-canonical URLs versions?

Verify if you can
Implement your Mobile
Web UI, functionality &
all existing content
with AMP

Your AMP URLs should replicate your own Mobile
Web UI, content & functionality, instead of this
ORIGINAL MOBILE PAGE AMP VERSION

From Feb 2018 Google will require that AMP URLs
also show the same content than canonical ones
https://webmasters.googleblog.com/2017/11/engaging-users-through-high-quality-amp.html

This means that we cannot use AMP to just show
content “previews” and refer to your Mobile site

If you’re using hreﬂang annotations, you should  
also include them in your AMP URLs too
https://ampbyexample.com/introduction/internationalization/

Which would look like this if you use AMP  
along an independent Mobile Web version
Another reason to avoid having an
independent Mobile site along AMP

Validate that your mobile Web functionality  
can be replicated by using AMP components
https://www.ampproject.org/docs/reference/components

Check with your development team if you  
have the capacity and ﬂexibility to use them
https://ampbyexample.com/

Plan ahead using the roadmap with a  
reference of the functionalities to come
https://www.ampproject.org/roadmap/

You can even test while validating your  
code directly in the AMP Playground editor
https://ampbyexample.com/playground/

As well as to use the templates and pre-built,  
reusable components offered by AMP Start
https://ampstart.com/

There are also free Wordpress plugins  
that highly facilitate the implementation

You can also use freemium and paid  
WP plugins like AMP for WP and weeblrAMP

They will allow you to personalise more, but  
you’ll likely need further development support

There isn’t an “out of the box” solution,  
you still will need design personalisation
<>ORIGINAL MOBILE PAGE AMP VERSION

The goal should be to replicate the UI,
functionality and content
ORIGINAL MOBILE PAGE
= AMP VERSION

Check your
AMP visibility
potential to
prioritise your
implementation
accordingly

Verify the share and type of queries for  
which AMP results are shown in your industry
https://www.sistrix.com/

Identify which of them are shown along SERP
features to prioritise and format your content

Like this

Avoid linking
to your AMP
URLs unless
you’re using
them as your
canonical
mobile Web
pages

There’s an inconsistent mobile user experience  
when accessing to AMP pages from SERPs

Which ends-up causing that users link and share  
the non-canonical Google AMP Viewer URLs

Start avoiding these by making sure to only  
link internally to your canonical URLs from AMP

Remember to redirect based on the user agent to
avoid showing AMP URLs to non-mobile visitors
DON’T DO THIS DO THIS

Validate your AMP
implementation before and
after launch with SEO
crawlers to minimise issues

+70% of top publishers with AMP across 8 countries
(including the UK) have implementation errors
https://www.semrush.com/blog/amp-mistakes-semrush-study/

Most common AMP mistakes are related to usage  
of disallowed and invalid attributes & tags

As well as even more fundamental ones
THIS IS NOT THE AMP VERSION
OF THE ABOVE ARTICLE

Use the AMP validation errors speciﬁcation as a
reference (to avoid) during implementation
https://www.ampproject.org/docs/reference/validation_errors

Go through your main pages to spot issues  
by using the AMP Chrome validator extension
https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/amp-validator/nmoffdblmcmgeicmolmhobpoocbbmknc

Crawl all of your site pages to validate AMP
implementation issues before and after launching
https://sitebulb.com/

SEO crawlers like Sitebulb, Deepcrawl & SEMrush 
already include AMP conﬁguration problems
deepcrawl.com

You’ll be able to obtain and ﬁx quickly those that
would generate critical issues in the Search Console

Monitor AMP
implementation
errors with GSC
AMP report,
where you
should focus on
ﬁxing critical
issues ﬁrst

It’s usual to be overwhelmed by the increase of
AMP issues when launching or updating
SIGH

Prioritise to ﬁx critical issues ﬁrst, which will  
be the ones preventing to be shown in SERPs
THIS

Start with those affecting the highest number  
of pages and check them directly there

Focus on identifying how the non-supported code  
is included to establish a pattern and remove it

YES
Rinse and repeat until you minimise critical errors

Monitor your AMP
visibility impact to
prioritise your
efforts along the on-
going content
development and
optimisation process

Opt-in for Google Analytics AMP Client ID API  
to correctly track AMP on Cache
https://support.google.com/analytics/answer/7486764

This will allow you to correctly track AMP with GA  
in *almost* all scenarios. Check Christian’s preso!
https://www.slideshare.net/christianoliveira/why-your-analytics-tool-may-be-lying-to-you-about-amp-searchmetrics-summit-2017

Beyond the AMP vs. Non-AMP trafﬁc trend,  
what’s the impact of AMP on users behaviour?

Follow-up w/ your own AMP results  
via the Google Search Console too

Verify the top queries per AMP URL to identify
further AMP content opportunities

Use SEOmonitor to track AMP for your targeted
(ranked or unranked) keywords
https://www.seomonitor.com/

You can also spot AMP opportunities vs. your
competitors with SEMrush rank tracking
https://www.semrush.com

Do the same with your News Carrousel  
AMP rankings by using RankRanger
rankranger.com

Sometimes you will ﬁnd “a bit” of repetition  
there too! How much content can you produce?
12 21

Last but not least,
if at some point
things are not
going as expected
and you want to
disable AMP,
follow SEO best
practices to avoid
losing that trafﬁc

Remove the rel=”amphtml” link tag and  
301-redirect AMP URLs to your canonical ones
HANDY
WORDPRESS
PLUGIN
https://developers.google.com/search/docs/guides/remove-amp

However, it’s unlikely that AMP will disappear in  
the near future, at least not until our sites are fast

Here’s a list with all of these do’s and dont’s,  
so you don’t forget
Verify if you can
Implement your current
Mobile Web UI, content &
functionality with AMP
Check your AMP visibility
potential to prioritise your
implementation accordingly
Monitor AMP
implementation errors with
GSC AMP report, where you
should focus on ﬁxing
critical issues ﬁrst
Avoid linking to your AMP
URLs unless you’re using them
as your canonical mobile Web
pages
Validate your AMP
implementation before
and after launch with SEO
crawlers to minimise issues
Monitor your AMP visibility
impact to prioritize your
efforts along the on-going
content development and
optimization process
If you want to disable AMP,
don’t forget SEO best
practices, removing tag to
AMP and redirecting to your
mobile pages

Now is your turn

AMP Do’s & Don’ts for Superhero Results #SearchCamp

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