As of July 2021, Google no longer displays the AMP lightning bolt icon for AMP pages in mobile search results.
The Google AMP label vanishing is kind of a big deal. Maybe not to the average searcher who probably hasn’t even noticed they’re missing, but this is a huge deal to SEO agencies like totalsurf. This change could also affect you, especially if you’ve had to rely on AMP for your site and supporting SEO strategy.
We’ve outlined why AMP is disappearing and what you can do to ensure you still rank high on Google now that it’s not visible.
AMP stands for Accelerated Mobile Page. It was an open-source project by Google designed to help web developers create mobile optimised content which loads instantly on mobile devices.
The idea was that the Google AMP HTML framework allowed web developers to create ‘lightweight’ versions of web pages for mobile devices. AMP was designed to accelerate the smartphone browsing experience, making images, videos and elements on a page load in milliseconds.
An AMP label would be indicated by a lightning bolt icon next to a Page Title as you were scrolling through your mobile search results, if that page was AMP enabled. Google released this label to mobile SERPs in 2016 to show mobile users that a website would load quickly and smoothly on their device.
As part of Google’s page experience ranking algorithm, their June 2021 core update included the widespread rollout of Core Web Vitals, which essentially nullified the need for the AMP icon.
Before Core Web Vitals, Google gave preferential treatment to sites that used AMP for mobile searchers. Web and SEO agencies like totalsurf now don’t have to prioritise creating pages specifically designed for Google AMP, and instead, focus on overall page experience and optimising it for CWV. In fact, this is something we have been doing for quite some time.
Google tested a new page experience label towards the end of 2020, which may be rolled out to essentially ‘replace’ the AMP label itself. The AMP label vanishing from mobile SERPs came as Google was phasing out the necessity for AMP on news articles to be featured in the top stories section on the results pages.
Developers and site owners have voiced displeasure at feeling restricted and forced to use AMP in the hopes of garnering more organic traffic. It’s far too restrictive and defies the logic of a free and open web, given that Google (the largest search engine no less) essentially prioritised sites that used AMP over those that didn’t. This is particularly positive for developers working in news publishing, where creating an AMP version was arguably the only way their site’s articles would make it to the Top Stories section of a mobile SERP.
Google had this to say about making the update:
“The Top Stories carousel feature on Google Search will be updated to include all news content. This means that using the AMP format is no longer required and that any page, irrespective of its Core Web Vitals score or page experience status, will be eligible to appear in the Top Stories carousel.”
The short answer is your site can still be faster than if it were using AMP. You don’t need to use it to have a fast-loading webpage.
AMP’s no longer a must-have, to create a fast-loading site. Your site can be developed and optimised for both mobile and desktop, offering a superb page experience with high Core Web Vitals scores without the need for a Google-controlled-and-restricted ‘solution’ like AMP. Google has shifted its focus back onto user experience, with the June core update focusing on this.
It’s astounding how many websites out there are slow-loading, unoptimised for mobile, bloated and offer very little in terms of user interaction and experience. If anything, this widespread ranking algorithm change was excellent news for us, because we love being incentivised to make our clients’ fast-loading sites even faster.
It’s somewhat ironic that Google’s intention all along with AMP was to rank sites that load faster, but ultimately, they gave preference to those which used AMP. As the largest search engine in the world, whose intention was to create a healthier and more open web, their actions from 2016 to 2021 didn’t necessarily give credence to that.
At least with the page experience algorithm change, Google shifting their focus back to sites that load fast and offer a better user experience, is a breath of fresh air. Frankly, it’s something they should have done a long time ago rather than delve into the AMP ranking mess, which was never truly popular. It was controversial from the start, yet, despite the widespread criticism, Google didn’t do anything about it until last summer.
If you want more organic traffic and to rank high on Google, your site needs to be optimised for a more performative and faster user experience, which constantly passes Core Web Vitals. How you get there relies heavily on knowledge of technical SEO, keeping track of these algorithm changes and what sits on your site, which can affect Core Web Vitals.
That’s right; your CWV score can be impacted by what plugins you’re using on your site. Without us constantly running audits and checks, we aren’t kept in the loop of any drops in CWV scores. Luckily, we continuously check how your site is performing, setting alerts to notify us if something has drastically changed, and if it requires investigating, our team jumps right on it.
To non-web developers, how would you know how well your site is performing through Google Page Speed Insights, and what to do to improve your Core Web Vitals metrics?
Do you know what to do regarding the three measures, Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS), Largest Contentful Paint (LCP) or First Input Delay (FID)? If not, we’re here to help with technical SEO advice and implementation.
We’ve spent a great deal of time researching and testing site cache plugins and CDNs, since Google announced Core Web Vitals. We have tested numerous ones like Cloudflare, Swift, WPRocket, Autoptimize and many more. Our research has found that Nitropack is leagues ahead of other CDNs, and we cannot recommend this enough for any site that needs to be fast-loading and optimised for SEO.
This is where the web development know-how of totalsurf comes in handy, because Nitropack as a caching plugin is suitable for most – not all – web hosting solutions. So you need to consider what web hosting provider you’re using if you want this plugin.
NB: Nitropack, if not set up correctly to work or constantly monitored, can seriously break websites. If technical SEO specialists are monitoring Nitropack on your site constantly, you will be in a very safe position.
Need advice? Well, we’re here to help and answer any questions about technical SEO!
Everything we do at totalsurf is focused on helping you rank on Google, driving the right type of organic traffic through to your site.
We’re constantly keeping abreast of Google’s algorithm changes, which, as we know, often drop entirely out of the blue. So we’re always kept on our toes.
As our clients know, we make recommendations and give advice to anyone on making their site as technically optimised as possible. Whether you are using us for your web hosting and development, or you have an incumbent agency and we’re working exclusively on delivering your SEO services, we will always have your best interests in mind, as far as your website, rankings and organic traffic are concerned.
If your site isn’t performing well, your rankings are suffering, and your traffic is dropping, we’d love to help turn that around for you. It starts with a free, no-obligation meeting about how your site is currently performing, and we’ll guide you through the best initial route forward.
It’s completely free of charge, so why not book one today?
It’s very simple. Just fill in the form and we will be in touch with your reports. We will also ask you to book a 30 min call with us so we can run through the report and explain what the issues are with your site, what your goals are and how we can help you.
