#AMPvengers: Implementing AMP while saving your SEO #SearchmetricsSummit

#ampvengers at #searchmetricssummit by @aleyda from @orainti
AMPVENGERSImplementing AMP while saving your universe SEO

Sometimes your clients or boss will
request SEO support to try new
things they’ve heard about…

“We’ve heard that AMP can drive
crazy organic search visibility and
we’ve decided to give it a go! We
need your help to optimise it”  
 
-Client

“This job... We try to save
as many people as we can.”
-Captain America An SEO

Aleyda Solis
* International SEO Consultant & Founder at Orainti.
* Conference Speaker in +100 Events in +20 Countries.
* Author “SEO. Las Claves Esenciales.”
* Blogger in Search Engine Land & Search Engine Journal.
I’m not a superhero, but today I’ll help you to assess  
your AMP potential and how to make the most out of it

To achieve this

While avoiding this
https://kinsta.com/blog/disable-google-amp/

Let’s ﬁrst jump off the
bandwagon to assess if
you really need to
implement AMP by
analysing its purpose and
if it can actually help you
to achieve your goals

AMP was initially launched to help ﬁx this
https://testmysite.withgoogle.com/

A fast mobile site is critical for user experience,  
engagement and conversions

Since July this year mobile Web speed will also  
become a mobile search ranking factor too
https://webmasters.googleblog.com/2018/01/using-page-speed-in-mobile-search.html

This is why AMP was created, to facilitate fast Mobile pages
by using components w/ cached pre-optimised resources

Canonical URL AMP URL
http://www.bbc.co.uk/newsround/43949470 https://www.bbc.co.uk/newsround/amp/43949470
Most sites started to use AMP in parallel to their  
original Mobile sites to generate a faster version

Canonical URL AMP URL
However parallel AMP URLs are not indexable since  
they’re canonicalised towards their original Mobile pages
http://www.bbc.co.uk/newsround/43949470 https://www.bbc.co.uk/newsround/amp/43949470

Google has denied using AMP usage as a ranking factor
since the beginning 
https://www.seroundtable.com/google-amp-canonical-ranking-23308.html

But it was made a requirement for Top Stories carousels and
AMP was started to be shown in Mobile organic results
AMP in Top Stories Carousel AMP in Organic Results

All this has incentivised AMP adoption by not only  
news sites but across many industries too
https://www.semrush.com/sensor/
News
Beauty & Fitness

Making some sites to see more organic visibility and trafﬁc
with its AMP results than with their original URLs
AMP Non-Rich Results
Non-AMP Results
AMP Rich Results
AMP Non-Rich Results
Non-AMP Results

AMP now also provides functionalities for most types of
sites through components that are continuously expanded
https://www.ampproject.org/learn/showcases/
Transactional pages User consent

Not kidding 
https://ampbyexample.com/

It has become not only an alternative for faster Mobile sites,
but a technology option to develop sites from scratch
https://developers.googleblog.com/2018/02/amp-stories-bringing-visual.html

The recently launched 0.7 version of the Wordpress AMP
plugin gives native AMP support to create entire sites
https://make.xwp.co/2018/05/03/wordpress-amp-plugin-0-7-release/

The lack of a direct referral to the site’s original AMP URLs  
from Mobile SERPs is now in process of being ﬁxed too
https://amphtml.wordpress.com/2018/05/08/a-first-look-at-using-web-packaging-to-improve-amp-urls/

AMP pages speed will also be also taken into account  
in the upcoming Google’s Mobile speed update
https://www.seroundtable.com/google-speed-update-25094.html

“It’s all beneﬁts? Let’s
implement it NOW”  
 
-Client

#ampvengers at #searchmetricssummit by @aleyda from @orainti#ampvengers at #searchmetricssummit by @aleyda from @orainti
“Not so fast…”  
 
-An SEO with AMP experience

Google won’t use non-canonical AMP in their Mobile First
Index, it’s not a replacement for your own mobile site
https://developers.google.com/search/mobile-sites/mobile-first-indexing

The AMP Project will start allowing instant loading for non-
AMP pages too and the carousel won’t be AMP exclusive
https://amphtml.wordpress.com/2018/01/09/improving-urls-for-amp-pages/amp/

“Wait. Let’s see… when
will AMP be an advantage
with these changes then?”  
 
-Client

AMP will likely be a relevant option in these 3 scenarios 
You’re building a new
site and AMP offers the
best way to implement
your desired
functionality so you will
use it as a canonical
version for your site
Your own mobile site
speed issues can’t and
won’t be fixed in the
mid-long term
You need to be
included in Google’s
Top Stories Carousel
ASAP and can’t wait
any longer
You can replicate your
original mobile Website
look and feel,
functionality and
content with AMP
Ok, use AMP

If AMP is a relevant option for you,  
Here’s how you can implement it to
minimise issues and maximise results

Plan ahead & specify AMP
implementation based on
your site’s functionalities

If you want to use AMP to be included in the carousel,
remember you just need to do it for your news related areas

#ampvengers at #searchmetricssummit by @aleyda from @orainti#ampvengers at #searchmetricssummit by @aleyda from @oraintihttps://www.sistrix.com/
See what your competitors & industry leaders are ranking
for with AMP already to prioritise your content areas

Verify if your required Web functionalities can be
implemented w/ AMP by revising its speciﬁcation
https://www.ampproject.org/docs/reference/components

There might be components that is better to “pass” or use
only for non-sensible content until there’s full search support
https://amphtml.wordpress.com/2018/05/03/dynamic-geo-personalization/

Desktop Web
Independent Mobile Web Version
AMP version
Canonicalize to
Independent Mobile Web in AMP
Canonicalizes to
Desktop Web
vs
Identify the best way to structure AMP within your site,  
assess the options if you have an independent Mobile site

Reusing your independent mobile site structure as your
AMP version might be a good way to simplify

It’s fundamental to redirect desktop visitors to the relevant
version too, as it is done with independent mobile URLs

Ideally your AMP pages should use a responsive Web
design so they also look good on desktop too
Not quite like this

If you’re using hreﬂang annotations for international sites
they should be also included in your AMP versions
https://ampbyexample.com/introduction/internationalization/

Google also requires AMP URLs to include the same  
content than canonical ones to be shown in SERPs
https://webmasters.googleblog.com/2017/11/engaging-users-through-high-quality-amp.html

But you should also avoid an inconsistent UI between the
two that will have a negative impact on user engagement
<>ORIGINAL MOBILE PAGE AMP VERSION

It’s fundamental but most AMP versions have this issue 
ORIGINAL MOBILE PAGE AMP VERSION
<>

It can end-up having this engagement gaps

The goal is to keep the UI, content and functionality
consistent when using non-canonical AMP
=ORIGINAL MOBILE PAGE AMP VERSION

Minimise errors by
effectively validating
AMP implementation
through the process

Generating AMP w/ errors is unfortunately common and
won’t allow you to show them in mobile search results
https://www.semrush.com/blog/amp-mistakes-semrush-study/

For real

Most of AMP errors are caused by using tags,  
attributes and values that are not allowed in it
Name of Mistake % of Affected Sites
Disallowed attribute 45 %
Disallowed tag 44 %
Invalid attribute value 38 %
Invalid URL protocol 36 %
Invalid URL 34 %
Mandatory tag ancestor with hint 26 %
Disallowed style attribute 20 %
Mandatory attribute missing 13 %
Wrong parent tag 12 %
Missing URL 10 %
https://www.semrush.com/blog/amp-mistakes-semrush-study/

Avoid them by sharing not only the required AMP markup
but also the validation errors when starting the development
+
https://www.ampproject.org/docs/reference/validation_errors

And don’t forget to opt-in for Google Analytics AMP  
Client ID API to correctly track AMP on Cache
https://support.google.com/analytics/answer/7486764

Actively check your top AMP pages templates compliance as
soon as they are released for testing with the AMP validator
https://validator.ampproject.org/

You can also use ngrok tunneling to test pages  
when they are not yet publicly available
https://developers.google.com/search/docs/guides/debug#testing-firewalled-pages

Crawl the whole site before launching it, simulating the
mobile googlebot to look for remaining issues
https://www.deepcrawl.com/

Prioritise to ﬁx the critical issues before launching,  
to be able to show AMP in Mobile SERPs
https://sitebulb.com/

Monitor AMP impact
after launch to ﬁx any
remaining issues and
identify opportunities

After releasing AMP look for the remaining errors  
in the new Google Search Console AMP report

Select critical errors in the report and start  
checking those affecting more pages

This is now made easier by the new search console, by
allowing to revise the code and linking to live validation

If the errors still exist you can share directly the report  
with the development team so they can revise them
#ampoptimization by @aleyda from @orainti at #ampconf

Anyone with the link will be able to have a limited  
public view of the speciﬁc shared report
#ampoptimization by @aleyda from @orainti at #ampconf

Once errors are ﬁxed you can verify again and if valid, you
can inform about the change w/ the “validate ﬁx” option

This new Google Search Console option will submit the ﬁxes
to be updated which will be usually done in 2 or 3 days

You’ll be able to see the validation progress  
in the overall view from the AMP report too

As well as the AMP impressions increase  
while the errors decrease…

Rinse and repeat with the critical errors until there is none

Monitor your top AMP pages and the queries giving visibility
to each to optimise further or expand your content

Use rank trackers to monitor AMP impact on rankings &
trafﬁc of targeted queries & identify further opportunities
https://www.seomonitor.com/

Do the same with your competitors to see which relevant
queries they’re already targeting w/ AMP that you’re not yet
https://www.seomonitor.com/

This will allow to improve your AMP content performance  
and to continuously expand it in a cost-effective way

But what will
happen if at some
point you don’t
want to continue
and decide to
disable AMP?

Just eliminate the amphtml tags, update the cache &  
301-redirect each AMP page to their canonical URLs
https://developers.google.com/search/docs/guides/remove-amp

You now have all what you need to win AMP 

It’s time for some AMPﬁnity Wars 

#AMPvengers: Implementing AMP while saving your SEO #SearchmetricsSummit

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