This is the opposing view of the piece we had published on August 1, 2017. To read the counterview first, please click here.
Google is undoubtedly the most used search engine in the world. Their influence has shaped the way the internet has evolved and has had a marked effect on how allied industries function, particularly the way SEO works. As their dominance grew, Google started to come down heavily on unscrupulous practices to boost search rankings. While many of their steps have made the internet (and search engines) a better place, Google has used its position and popularity to their advantage, at times making the internet abide by their rules.
Many people felt strongly about the algorithm update that rolled out in February 2011 after many popular and top-ranking websites lost their ranks overnight. This was the Google Panda update, which heralded the age of demoting and penalising low-quality websites. Looking back, this was probably the best thing to happen to the World Wide Web in this decade. There have been many other updates with codenames such as Hummingbird and Penguin that would follow over the years. While algorithms change and evolve, some things remained constant – many webmasters continue to express their frustration after every update. Then there are the digital marketers who simply refuse to give up the old ways. This breed has accused Google of monopolising the online search world. Yet, there is no denying the fact that the algorithm updates have brought many welcome changes. It certainly raised the bar for websites’ quality to rank high in the search results.
One of the more recent developments from Google was the controversial announcement that became the latest industry buzzword overnight – Accelerated Mobile Pages or AMP. You have likely heard your digital marketing services provider mention it to you. As mentioned, we have already discussed some of the potential problems that AMP brings with it in a previous post. Today, let’s take a gander at the other side.
While AMP has not been particularly well-received, it does bring plenty of benefits. Whatever your opinion, remember that Google has maintained that AMP is optional. If you are on the fence, here are a few reasons why you should consider adopting or switching to AMP.
Note – There are valid counterpoints to all of the following points but that has already been discussed in our previous post on the subject. But enough already on that!!
- Speed – that’s what you need: AMP only displays the content that matters and removes all the clutter that affects the loading speed of your website. With improved speed and performance, your website gets one step closer to meeting the needs of your visitors and search engines alike. Everyone likes a website that loads fast. Considering that a majority of users leave a page if it fails to load within 3 seconds, this is a very good reason for you to adopt AMP now.
- For the future is mobile: You might already know that major search engines, especially Google, give preference to websites that have a responsive layout and design. With mobile-first indexing gaining momentum, it makes sense to employ ways to increase mobile ranking. AMP can do that for you.
- Kickass better user experience for better results: Better UX design is certainly one of the prominent advantages of AMP. It gets rid of all of the distractions for the user, improving their experience on your website. You might have already guessed how this will translate into people who will want to return to your site, generate more page views, and spend extra time spent on your website browsing other pages.
- Higher rankings for more visibility: One of the reasons why businesses hire a search engine or social media marketing company is for increased visibility for their brand and company. AMP can assist you in bringing more visibility too since Google returns AMP results higher on the Search Engine Results Page (SERP).
AMP is one of the key things you can implement to improve your mobile rankings now. Your online marketing company can guide you on how to make the most out of AMP for your website. The switch to AMP is a fairly major decision, so it is usually best to rely on the experts. It is also important to remember that AMP is not a magical catalyst. At the end of the day, AMP or no AMP, your content still has to be top-notch to get any real benefit out of a search engine. AMP or any other technology can only provide the tools. Great content is what will bring all of your marketing and SEO efforts to fruition by providing real value to your visitors.
This post originally appeared on our earlier website: ihusresearch.com