Google will start penalising websites that use Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP) as teaser pages, where only a small portion of the content is served to users via an AMP page.
From 1 February, Google will penalise any AMP page where the content on that page does not contain the same level of information as the equivalent desktop page.
When AMP technology was introduced two years ago, the goal was always to give searches access to full-length content at lightning fast speeds. Some publishers have taken it upon themselves to use AMPs as teasers— presenting a snippet of content before directing users to click through to the original page.
Needless to say, making a user click through twice to access the content they want to see is slowing down the experience rather than speeding it up.
Video Transcript
Hello, I’m Seeta, and on this edition of Digital Minute, we’re looking at how Google is clamping down on so-called “fake” A-M-P pages.
Accelerated Mobile Pages, or A-M-P’s for short, have been something that Google has been pushing hard in the last year, with the search engine encouraging brands to take up the new standard. But many brands haven’t been using A-M-P as it was intended, and Google has announced the start of a clampdown.
A-M-P are faster versions of a web page that load much more quickly on mobile devices, but some websites have been getting around that issue by providing less content on an A-M-P than on the equivalent desktop page, making it load more quickly. And that’s what Google wants to stop.
It’s going to start penalising pages where the A-M-P doesn’t contain the same key content as the original page, and will exclude pages that don’t meet the standards from a range of features.
The new policy kicks in in February, and Google will be issuing manual action notices in the search console if your pages have been penalised.
We’ve taken a closer look at what this all means, over on our blog. Thanks for watching, I’m Seeta Wrightson, and that was your Digital Minute.
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