We all know that people prefer visiting sites that offer required results at phenomenal speed. Faster loading sites always drive more traffic and have lower bounce rates. Speed is the key. So, for that matter, Google inaugurated Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP) program to help websites load quickly on mobile devices. This blog will cover all that you need to know about mobile-friendly pages. Why does it matter? Whether is it worth implementing in 2022? Let’s get answers to all your questions.
Why Do People Demand Mobile-Friendly Pages?
Mobile phones are the prevailing technological norm for people to explore products and services they want. People not only spend a significant amount of time on mobile phones but also lavish money to get a quality mobile phone that would easily navigate through the internet and perform various tasks. It’s no understatement that if you do not have mobile-friendly webpages you are missing a lot of potential customers. It’s crucial to have mobile-friendly pages free of loading errors to provide speedy access to your audience and generate maximum leads. For example, an everyday customer initially explores a brand on a mobile phone before visiting the stores. In case you fail to provide a seamless Omnichannel experience to the visitors, you are likely to lose them.
Moreover, the post-pandemic market has accelerated this scope. Workplaces, markets, entertainment, in fact, everything has gone virtual. In the fast-paced modern era, a time-starving consumer will definitely not wait for your website to load slowly and present the product and services. They would rather instantly bounce to some other brand with mobile-friendly pages loading in split seconds.
Mobile-Friendly Content Promotes Your Webpage 
The best part about mobile-friendly sites is that they boost your brand’s promotion. Users are likely to engage and share your good content via mobile phones through various popular apps, i.e., Instagram, WhatsApp, etc. If your website is as wisely constructed as your product, your audience will likely share it with maximum contacts enabling you to benefit from free promotion of your products. Besides fast loading, users will consider sharing your webpage only if your site is properly designed with mobile-compatible graphics. Otherwise, your audience might not find it worth sharing.
AMP Statistics 
In this technology-driven era, mobile usage is anticipated to grow by 46% in 2022. An average user spends 5 hours a day on mobile phones, so it is better to invest in a place where you get the maximum audience. According to a rough estimate, the average screen time of people in the US alone is 5.4 hours. That means your brand has all that time to offer your services to the target audience. Around 70% of website traffic comprises mobile users. 61% of visitors never revisit a brand that does not provide easy accessibility on phones. Therefore, you may have an excellent, graphically appealing, dynamic desktop visit, but in the absence of mobile-friendly sites, you will face high bounce rates. 80% of top-ranked sites are mobile-friendly. The use of mobile phones has surpassed the desktop by around 4%. In a nutshell, it’s absolutely fair to say that a shrewdly designed mobile-friendly site is your key to success.
What are AMPs?
Accelerated Mobile Pages, aka AMPs, is an open-source coding project designed by Google. It helps optimize websites to load faster across different devices without running into any loading errors. e-Businesses employ it globally to design mobile-friendly webpages and advertisements that remain high-performing and appealing across all different platforms and devices. Moreover, besides accelerating the loading speed of a webpage, it also adjusts its graphics to be compatible with the user’s device and provides an appealing user interface. Google is said to have collaborated with thousands of websites, distribution companies, developers, and tech companies to build AMPs. According to the latest research, around 4 billion AMP pages have been designed to date since its inception. Initially, webpages rendered using AMP were indicated by a unique lightning bolt icon. Well, now it has been dropped. Your audience expects a faster, appealing, and meaningful webpage experience, and for that matter, AMP is your best weapon.
How Does AMPs Work?
AMPs function by storing a cached version of websites on Google, allowing servers to immediately present the sites retrieved by users. It strips down webpages to most primary elements, removing features like videos, animated content, and ads. AMP uses optimized HTML to display your webpages and removes HTML code tag manager elements that would slow down the page. Consequently, the site loads at a phenomenal speed, around 2 to 3 seconds, helping visitors engage easily instead of bouncing. Best of all, it’s a no-brainer to deploy.
Important Facts About AMP
- AMPsites must be validated to function properly.
- Only a streamlined version of CSS is to be used with AMP.
- To load custom fonts, you have to follow a specific procedure.
- You have to specify the width and length of images correctly, or they may get oddly stretched.
- You have to use the JavaScript library that comes with AMP, or else you may run into errors.
- You can use the extensions approved by AMP to present videos on webpages.
- AMP assigns a classic URL to every page that uses it since Google servers host them.
- You shouldn’t implement AMP on high-converting or high-traffic pages because it filters off branding elements.
Key Factors Of AMP
AMP pages are designed using the following three key factors. These components work in harmony to make pages load fast.
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AMP HTML
AMP HTML is a subset of original HTML that is somewhat a restricted version. It replaces original HTML tags with AMP-specific tags, i.e., the tag ‘img’ turns into ‘AMP-img.’ All this helps eliminate encumbering elements on a mobile device and helps the page render almost 4x faster. It does not require any special server configuration to run smoothly.
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AMP JS
AMPs have their own versions of JavaScript framework that boost website accessibility across various devices. No third-party JavaScript is compatible with AMP. It principally controls asynchronous loading and resource handling. The JavaScript library implements incline CSS, font triggering, and much more. AMP JS also performs sandboxing of all iframes, disabling a slow CSS selector, and pre-calculation of page elements before loading the resources.
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AMP Cache
It is primarily a proxy-based content delivery network. It automatically caches them to improve performance and remove loading errors. It comprises a built-in validation system that scrutinizes the entire webpage and confirms if it meets AMP HTML specifications. AMPcache does not require any external support which could affect the web page’s speed. An additional version automatically records the validation error log to your browser’s console every time a page is rendered. It allows you to check what coding errors impacted the performance.
AMPs’ Merits And Demerits 
Merits:
- Mobile-friendly pages
- Fast loading
- Easy implementation on WordPress
- Boosts webpage search ranking
- Placement in Carousel
- Easy to learn
- Lower website bounce rate
- No third-party JavaScript
- Engages the maximum audience
Demerits:
- Reduces ads revenue
- Reduces downloadable assets
- Strips out videos and similar website’s content
- Limited analytics
- Affects website branding
Ready To Make Your Webpage Mobile-Friendly?
Do you want your webpage to load at an optimal speed across different devices? Outsourcing4work is your ideal partner. Our experts will design attractive Mobile-friendly pages for you, void of loading errors and resulting in maximum audience engagement and increased revenue. Have a virtual sit down with our experts in a free initial non-binding consultation and explore more about our services.
