WordPress AMP Plugin Plus Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP) Tips

Basically, the WordPress AMP Plugin automatically adds Accelerated Mobile Pages (Google AMP Project) functionality to your WordPress Website. Not forgetting, AMP makes your website faster for Mobile visitors. By 2015, mobile web traffic outpaced traditional desktop use for the first time. Now, more than half of all web traffic worldwide originates from a mobile device.

And of those users, 57 percent say they won’t use or recommend a business whose website is not optimized for mobile. But, whether you are a publisher, e-commerce company, storyteller, advertiser, or email sender, AMP Plugin for WordPress makes it all easy. In the end, creating great experiences on the web. So, how is WordPress AMP Plugin useful?

By all means, making sure your WordPress website is mobile-friendly is essential in today’s highly mobile digital world. And that means ensuring that a page’s load time is fast and easy to read on small screens. That’s the goal of Google’s new Accelerated Mobile Pages, or AMP. Eventually, an open-source initiative to make websites of all kinds more accessible on smartphones and tablets.

After all, Google AMP is available as a free plugin for WordPress websites. Notably, the AMP Plugin for WordPress can be easily installed and customized. Boosting your brand’s visibility across mobile platforms of all kinds. Especially, when included with the AMP Stories development strategic plan. Let’s now look at the Pros & Cons of Accelerated Mobile Pages.

What Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP) Are All About

AMP (Accelerated Mobile Pages) is an open-source framework that allows browsers and apps to load your site’s content quickly on mobile devices. And, it’s now accessible to new plugin-enabled sites via the AMP plugin. For plugin-enabled WordPress.com sites created before June 13th, 2022, the AMP plugin was installed by default.

Technically, according to WordPress, AMP enables the creation of websites and ads that load near instantly, giving site visitors a smooth, more engaging experience on mobile and desktop. The main advantage of AMP is a fast-loading mobile experience. All of your site’s blog posts will have dynamically generated AMP-compatible versions.

Including the front page, archives, and pages that aren’t currently supported. Your site’s results in Google will also be marked by the AMP badge on mobile-based searches. And, there’s a reason why the WordPress AMP Plugin is so useful. For instance, websites can be slow to load on mobile devices because of the many elements they contain.

More so, based on different programming languages and protocols. For the same reason, websites may not appear correctly when viewed on a mobile device. This creates a less than optimal user experience that can drive users away, never to return. In fact, nearly half (46 percent) of users in a recent survey about mobile buying habits said it all.

Learn More: Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP) | How Do They Really Work?

If they had a poor mobile experience with a particular brand, they would never buy from that company again. Google AMP is a technology that aims to prevent the scenario of poor mobile experience. As the name suggests, AMP “accelerates” the accessibility of web pages on mobile devices. You’ll need to place a stripped-down page version with minimal HTML.

As well as a Javascript code element in Google’s AMP cache. The cached page is then served to mobile users instead of the full web page. In that case, which makes for faster loading and gets essential content in front of them immediately. Along with Google, the Accelerated Mobile Pages initiative is backed by numerous web innovators.

Such as Twitter, LinkedIn, and Reddit. Because it is open-source and freely available to everyone, AMP is designed to work on all applications, browsers, and web viewers. With this in mind, users can install the AMP Plugin for WordPress in minutes from the WordPress plugin directory. And even customize it through the settings on the site’s Admin dashboard.

How The Accelerated Mobile Pages Really Works

Generally speaking, Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP) is important because it helps web pages load faster. For one thing, which potentially improves usability. Equally important, is convincing visitors to stay longer on your site engaging with your content. However, neither does AMP improve engagement on its own nor does it make your content more useful or entertaining.

But, AMP has been around for a while already and many companies have optimized their web pages for AMP. However, most recently both Google and Facebook announced changes to their algorithms. And which, ultimately, is going to penalize websites that are not Accelerated Mobile Pages supported. There is a simple reason why all that matters.

Of course, they both want to offer customers a better experience when they click on a web page. So, in general, your web pages need to load faster and be optimized for mobile viewing. And, this is exactly where Accelerated Mobile Pages come into play. Essentially, there’s a basic AMP framework for creating mobile web pages, and it consists of three basic parts.

The three basic parts are as follows:

• AMP HTML: A subset of HTML, this markup language has some custom tags and properties and many restrictions. But if you are familiar with regular HTML, you should not have difficulty adapting existing pages to AMP HTML. For more details on how it differs from basic HTML, check out AMP Project’s list of required markup that your AMP HTML page “must” have.
• AMP JS: A JavaScript framework for mobile pages. For the most part, it manages resource handling and asynchronous loading. It should be noted that third-party JavaScript is not permitted with AMP.
• AMP CDN: An optional Content Delivery Network, it will take your AMP-enabled pages, cache them and automatically make some performance optimizations.

Moving on, as we aforementioned, the AMP Project is an open-source initiative aiming to make the web better for all. Accelerated Mobile Pages enable web experiences that are consistently fast, beautiful, and high-performing across distribution platforms. Further, the Official Accelerated Mobile Pages Plugin for WordPress supports fully integrated AMP publishing.

Particularly, for WordPress-built websites, with robust capabilities and granular publisher controls. Additionally, there are features and capabilities provided by the plugin for optimal content publishing and delivery to the readers.

Some of these key features include: 

• Compatibility Tool: The compatibility tool assists in the development of the AMP experience. For instance, by enabling AMP debugging. In particular, with detailed information about validation errors that may exist. In addition to the website markup/scripts causing them. And the specific components on-site (e.g theme, plugin, core) are responsible for that page content.
• CSS Tree Shaking: Assists in dealing with cases where the defined CSS rules on a site exceed the CSS size limit allowed on single Accelerated Mobile Pages.
• Core Theme Support: Further enabling full AMP validity for four default themes (i.e. Twenty Fifteen, Twenty Sixteen, Twenty Seventeen, Twenty Nineteen…, Twenty Twenty Two, etc.).
• Gutenberg Support: Generally enabling Accelerated Mobile Pages content creation fully integrated with the new WordPress Block Editor (Gutenberg) toolkit.
• AMP-first Experiences support: Enabling full-site AMP experiences without sacrificing the flexibility of the platform, or the fidelity of content.
• Content Optimizations Structure:  A myriad of code, performance, and developer experience improvements: from customization flexibility to better UI flows, internationalization, accessibility, etc.

With the official AMP plugin for WordPress, the WordPress ecosystem is provided with the capabilities and tools it needs to build world-class AMP experiences without deviating from its standard, flexible, and well-known content creation workflow. What are you waiting for? Here is how you Get Started easily — from start to finish!

The WordPress AMP Plugin Website Optimization Benefits

Google encourages the use of AMP by rewarding AMP-optimized pages. Not to mention, using the AMP Plugin for WordPress can boost a site’s ranking in mobile search results. And also, AMP-optimized content can improve a site’s visibility and attract more traffic.

But, AMP does have some drawbacks though. And, one thing is for sure, AMP uses minimal code for quick loading. Thus, it can’t include all the elements on a fully functioning webpage. Such as certain widgets or embedded content. This means that a webpage viewed with AMP doesn’t look exactly the same as how the original page would appear on a desktop or laptop.

Meaning that users don’t have access to the full range of features available on the original page. This can lead to a negative user experience too. Especially, for viewers who are using the site for conducting transactions like online shopping. Equally important, AMPs also help improve the speed of your website loading time and will help your search engine ranking.

What’s more, through Google AMP Stories, the feature allows publishers to create content that is very similar to Instagram stories. Not forgetting, it’s designed with mobile websites in mind. But, the content created with AMP doesn’t end up on apps. Instead, it’s placed on search results pages. Another reason why the WordPress AMP Plugin is of benefit to site optimization.

Utilizing The WordPress AMP Plugin Plus AMP Stories For Website

Firstly, to fully utilize the AMP tools, you’ll need to create two versions of your article pages because AMP does not support form elements and third-party JavaScript. Therefore, you will not be able to lead forms, on-page comments, and some other elements. Secondly, you will also need to rewrite your overall website template to meet all the key requirements.

It should include the following:

• Your CSS in Accelerated Mobile Pages must be in-line and be less than 50KB.
• images need to utilize the custom amp-img element and must include an explicit width and height.
• There is a custom tag that must be used to embed locally hosted videos via HTML5, called amp-video

In order for Google (and other technologies supporting the AMP Project) to detect the AMP version of your web pages you will need to include the tag: (<link rel=”amphtml” href=”http://www.example.com/blog-post/amp/”>). Whilst also including the Schema.org metadata — that is also a requirement to make your content eligible.

Perse, in order to appear in the demo of the Google Search news carousel. Always remember, that together with AMP Stories, content loads extremely fast, which helps keep mobile users on those pages and off of their apps. Instead of regular search engine results, users receive a swipeable story that’s easy to navigate. The UX is somewhat similar to the popular dating app, Tinder.

Learn More: AMP Stories | How To Start Visual Storytelling On The Open Web

In nutshell, AMP Stories immerse your readers in fast-loading full-screen experiences. Easily create visual narratives, with engaging animations and tappable interactions. The AMP Story format is free and part of the open web and is available for everyone to try. They can be shared and embedded across the web without being confined to a closed ecosystem or platform.

AMP Stories provide content publishers with a mobile-focused format for delivering news and information as visually rich, tap-through stories. In addition, AMP Stories offers a robust set of advertising opportunities for advertisers and publishers. Particularly, to reach a unique audience on the web with immersive experiences.

How To Reduce The Drawbacks Using The WordPress AMP Plugin 

AMP allows for some customization of how a site will appear in mobile viewing, but options are limited due to AMP’s stripped-down functioning. However, WordPress users can work around this problem with a few other plugins. But, it can be difficult to give mobile visitors the full viewing experience of a carefully crafted webpage.

Another problem for some users is that AMP currently supports only Google Analytics. Therefore, meaning that users of other analytics tools won’t be able to easily get a clear picture of how their site’s AMP-optimized pages are performing on mobile. So, how do you cope with these AMP Drawbacks? AMP is easy to install and use on your WordPress site, yes!

But, it can also be harder to uninstall if you decide it’s not for you. If you’d prefer to show the non-AMP version of your site to Google (and potential visitors to your site), you can deactivate the AMP plugin at Plugins → Installed Plugins. It’s important to realize, that after deactivating and uninstalling AMP, there’s one thing to do while switching back.

Especially, while switching back to non-AMP optimized posts — it requires setting up 301 redirects back to the original posts. Still, if your site receives a considerable amount of mobile traffic, or if you’re hoping to boost its Google rankings and visibility on mobile, installing and implementing AMP Plugin for WordPress pages can be a smart move.

How To Install And Activate The WordPress AMP Plugin

The WordPress AMP Plugin is available for free through the AMP for WP – Accelerated Mobile Pages plugin file or even through the WordPress plugin directory. To install the free WordPress plugin on your site, open the plugins tab from your WordPress site admin dashboard. Then again, click ‘Add New’ and search for the AMP plugin. Click ‘Install’ and activate it.

AMP now appears in your site’s Appearance tab, and you can begin customizing its settings. If you’d prefer to show the non-AMP version of your site to Google (and potential visitors to your site), you can deactivate the AMP plugin at Plugins → Installed Plugins. Suffice to say, AMP is only available to public websites — more so, websites that are not blocking crawlers.

If the AMP box is not available, please check your Site Privacy setting and set it to Public. Having said that, to access the best SEO options, install the Yoast SEO plugin if your site isn’t already using it. And then, install the Glue for Yoast SEO & AMP  plugin as well. From the site dashboard, select SEO > AMP from the Settings tab and follow the prompts for the next step.

Such as changing the page’s colors, link styles, and more. And if you’re using WordPress there is an official plug-in amp-wp GitHub page that you can also make use of as well. Above all, which helps to ensure that metadata will display correctly on mobile devices.

How To Customize Further With The Yoast Plugin Integration

As you’ll learn more in this guide, one reason to convert a website into an app is that the share of people who consume content on mobile over desktop is constantly rising. Soon – if not already – mobile users will be your primary user base. And, if you’re unable to deliver the ideal User Experience (UX) to these people with just a mobile website, you’ll totally fail.

The Accelerated Mobile Pages Notable Pros & Cons 

Realistically, a partnership with WordPress might bring Accelerated Mobile Pages enabled by default to millions of unsuspecting webmasters. And, as a result of Accelerated Mobile Pages implementation, most web surfers won’t ever leave Google. Why? Since everything they search for will be served to them on Google’s “portal”.

Of course, this is not really a “web” of interconnected websites anymore, but a centralized dystopia. On that note, we can all agree on the fact that a faster mobile web experience is better for everyone. Especially, now that the majority of web surfing is now done via mobile. However,  the costs of implementing Accelerated Mobile Pages itself may just be too high.

Therefore, if you have a well-designed responsive website with optimized images and video, you really don’t need to worry about Accelerated Mobile Pages. To be safe and sound, make sure that you use all our useful and related topic links from our website — including but not limited to content design and layout development in detail — for your further research guides.

Learn More: SEO Analysis Tools | Top #10 Best Pick For Beginner Webmasters

For instance, consider a very good example as follows: Whereby, the most important thing is, that Google is pushing Accelerated Mobile Pages adoption from very questionable webmasters, end-users, and even target audiences aspect — by their regular means of propaganda. Whereas, for your information, note that “most AMP sites will rank higher on Google!”

Forthwith, while the idea of having a faster mobile internet with content that loads instantly sounds like a great idea, when it comes to AMP, there are a lot of other concerns among website designers and content developers. And, the following are just among these concerns that should have webmasters and publishers — like yourself and us — equally worried.

1. Disappearing Links Plus Ad Revenue

One of the problems with the AMP concept is that content built utilizing Accelerated Mobile Pages is served up through a cache on Google’s server. Rather than actually linking to the original page on a publisher’s website. Whereas, this means that the reader is spending more time on Google’s site and will be seeing Google advertising. As opposed to any paid advertising on the content provider’s site. More money for Google, less money for the actual content creator.

2. Less Data Analytics Plus More Work

Although AMP works with Google Analytics, you have to use a different tag, which can be quite time-consuming. If you don’t include the new tag, you miss out on a ton of analytics information. Plus, AMP is not particularly easy when it comes to installation. You basically have to do all the coding manually. Basically, this puts you before a very huge dilemma. Either design your site the way you want it and the way it will convert and set it up for Accelerated Mobile Pages later,  or disregard conversion and aesthetics and make it an Accelerated Mobile Pages site from the start.

3. Little Control In Content Data Terms

Because AMP is a stripped-down version of your original content, you are at Google’s mercy when it comes to how (and even if) your content is actually displayed. You give up the overall styling of your page in return for a really quick download. Furthermore, if your site features a lot of videos, Accelerated Mobile Pages would not be that beneficial for you as the download time would pretty much remain the same. The amount of tags is also very limited. And, as a result, most AMPs have a very plain look  —  so, in the end, custom web development becomes a sort of an unrealistic and unnecessary field.

4. Harder To Spot “Fake News” In AMP Stories

This means, that with more and more emphasis being placed on the damaging effects of fake news, AMP makes it even harder — for readers to spot these types of stories. Obviously, because AMP strips content down to the bare bones and hosts it all within Google’s server, everything starts to look alike. In addition, you’ll also have less control of your very own design. Basically, Google is “forking” the web into a version of the internet that looks exactly like what Google wants.

5. AMP Websites Seemingly Are In Google Hands

Surprisingly, there are reports that Google is mostly preoccupied with chasing their competition lately. Likewise, the Accelerated Mobile Pages introduction seems to be Google chasing Facebook / Instagram / Messenger ecosystem: carousels, instant articles, and stories. Whereby, Accelerated Mobile Pages works the same way to bring the content into Google’s properties: search result pages and Gmail. As a matter of fact, not everyone feels comfortable giving up their content and letting it be served from Google’s cache. But not every webmaster acknowledges their choices!

Summing Up:

AMP is an open-source project that was created in response to the fact that mobile users now spend more time on apps than on websites. 77% of their time, to be exact, according to Statista data. By using the WordPress AMP Plugin together with the standard AMP Stories addon, you’ll notice that your overall website content loads extremely fast.

Eventually, something which helps keep mobile users on those pages and off of their apps. Instead of regular search engine results, users receive a swipeable story that’s easy to navigate. The UX is somewhat similar to the popular dating app, Tinder. Remember, mobile device users account for more than half of all online transactions in the world, and it should be your focus too.

Meaning, that your website needs to have a fast load time and is visually appealing to keep these users coming back. The good news is that it’s all Free and easy to install even for beginner webmasters. Furthermore, AMP works on any platform to make your WordPress site accessible with increased speed for users on the go using a mobile device.

To enumerate, both Yoast and its Glue are free from the WordPress plugins directory for easy webmaster access. Whereby, Yoast is a robust SEO plugin for optimizing every post and page for a search with keywords, metadata, and more. While Glue for Yoast SEO & AMP integrates Yoast SEO functions into all your site’s AMP pages.

Other More Resourceful References:

1. Social Sharing Plugins | Installation & Integration Guide
2. 10 Best Social Media Plugins for WordPress (2019)
3. Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP) | How do they Work?
4. RumbleTalk Chat Plugin | Installation & Integration Guide
5. How to Build a Referral Program into Your Online Business

That’s all you need to know about the AMPs, the WordPress AMP Plugin, as well as the benefits of using AMP Stories on your website. We hope the above-revised guide was helpful, but if you’ll have additional thoughts or contribution questions, please feel free to Contact Us and let us know. Or rather, let us know how we can help you in our comments section below.

Finally, you can Consult Us and let our team of Web Tech Experts Taskforce take control of all your web-based business needs. All in all, whatever the reason/case, you now have a full guide with an idea of where and how you can start making your website to be AMP-ready/mobile responsive at a go. Feel free to share this guide with others who’ll find it resourceful/helpful.