AMP (originally an acronym for Accelerated Mobile Pages[1]) is an open source HTML framework developed by the AMP Open Source Project.[2] It was originally created by Google as a competitor to Facebook Instant Articles and Apple News.[3] AMP is optimized for mobile web browsing and intended to help webpages load faster.[4] AMP pages may be cached by a CDN, such as Cloudflare's AMP caches, which allows pages to be served more quickly.[5][6][7]
![]() | |
Created by | |
---|---|
URL | amp.dev |
Launched | October 7, 2015 |
Current status | Online |
AMP was first announced on October 7, 2015.[8] After a technical preview period, AMP pages began appearing in Google mobile search results in February 2016.[9][10] AMP has been criticized for potentially giving further control over the web to Google and other concerns.[11] The AMP Project announced it would move to an open governance model on September 18, 2018, and is part of the OpenJS Foundation as of October 10, 2019.[12][13][14]
History
editAnnouncement and launch
editThe AMP Project was announced by Google on October 7, 2015, following discussions with its partners in the Digital News Initiative (DNI), and other news publishers and technology companies around the world, about improving the performance of the mobile web. More than 30 news publishers and several technology companies (including Twitter, Pinterest, LinkedIn and WordPress) were initially announced as collaborators in the AMP Project.[15][16]
AMP pages first appeared to web users in February 2016, when Google began to show the AMP versions of webpages in mobile search results. Initially links to AMP pages were restricted to a "Top Stories" section of Google's mobile search results; by September 2016 Google started linking to AMP content in the main mobile search results area.[17] At the time, Google search distinguished AMP links with an icon.
According to one of the co-founders of the AMP Project, Malte Ubl, AMP was originally called PCU, which stood for Portable Content Unit.[18]
Growth and expansion
editIn September 2016, Microsoft announced support for AMP in the Bing apps for iOS and Android.[19]
In February 2017, a year after the public launch of AMP, Adobe reported AMP pages accounted for 7% of all web traffic for top publishers in the United States.[20]
In May 2017, Google reported 900,000 web domains were publishing AMP pages with more than two billion AMP pages published globally.[21]
In June 2017, Twitter started linking to AMP pages from its iOS and Android apps.[22]
In September 2018, Microsoft began rolling out its own Bing AMP viewer and AMP cache.[23]
On December 7, 2018, AMP announced their official WordPress plugin, which allowed WordPress websites to include AMP-ready pages.[24]
As announced by AMP's tech lead Malte Ubl at AMP Conf '19, AMP is now just AMP, and does not stand for Accelerated Mobile Pages anymore.[25] AMP is designed to be mobile friendly but isn't just for mobile. It works across many device types, including desktop and tablet, and comes with helpful responsive design features.[26]
Decline
editThis section needs expansion. You can help by adding to it. (May 2023) |
Starting in 2021, support for AMP was discontinued in some apps. In November, Twitter updated its developer guidelines to say that "We’re in the process of discontinuing support for this feature"; the Twitter mobile apps for Android and iOS simply load the non-AMP versions of webpages.[27] In April 2021, Google removed AMP as an SEO criterion in favor of page loading speed and other "page experience" metrics. In search results, the Top Stories list will no longer be restricted to AMP pages, and AMP pages will no longer be distinguished by an icon.[28]
On April 20, 2022, Brave Browser rolled out new features to automatically bypass AMP pages.[29] Also on the same day, DuckDuckGo announced that they will also automatically bypass AMP pages on their DuckDuckGo browser and on their DuckDuckGo Privacy Essentials browser extension.[30]
On November 29, 2023, Ghost (blogging platform) announced the removal of AMP in a coming update. Listed reasons for removal are that web development has grown beyond needing AMP, Google is no longer using it as a ranking factor, bad user experience, and decreased adoption. [31][32]
AMP Framework
editAMP HTML
editThe AMP framework consists of three components: AMP HTML, which is standard HTML markup with web components; AMP JavaScript, which manages resource loading; and AMP caches,[33] which serve and validate AMP pages.[34]
Most AMP pages are delivered by Google's AMP cache, but other companies can support AMP caches. Internet performance and security company Cloudflare launched an AMP cache in March 2017.[35]
Web Stories
editWeb Stories, known as AMP Stories until April 2020,[36] were introduced in 2018.[37] Web stories are a mobile-focused format for delivering news and information as tap-through stories.
AMP Email
editIn 2018, Google announced the new AMP Email section of the AMP framework.[38] AMP for email allows senders to include interactive AMP components inside emails. Email clients that support AMP are able to display components directly inside the email.[39] When viewed in an unsupported email client, AMP emails display fallback HTML no different from a standard HTML email as an alternative.[40]
AMP Ads
editAMP Ads are new way to deliver digital ads for AMP enabled pages. These ads are different from traditional HTML/JavaScript ads. AMPHTML ads load as fast as content, increasing viewability and enticing engagement. AMPHTML ads are only delivered after being validated, ensuring that the ads are free of malware.[41]
Technology
editOnline format
editAMP pages are published online and can be displayed in most current browsers.[42] When a standard webpage has an AMP counterpart, a link to the AMP page is usually placed in an HTML tag in the source code of the standard page.
Third-party integration
editAny organization or individual can build products or features which will work on AMP pages, provided they comply with the AMP Project specifications. As of July 2017, the AMP Project's website listed around 120 advertising companies and around 30 analytics companies as AMP Project participants.[43]
Performance
editGoogle reports that AMP pages served in Google search typically load in less than one second and use ten times less data than the equivalent non-AMP pages.[44] CNBC reported a 75% decrease in mobile page load time for AMP Pages over non-AMP pages,[45] while Gizmodo reported that AMP pages loaded three times faster than non-AMP pages.[46]
An academic paper about AMP[47] reveals that AMP pages' page load time is 2.5 times faster than non-AMP versions in Google's search result page without pre-rendering. With pre-rendering, the AMP version is approximately nine times faster than the non-AMP version, though pre-rendering may consume additional mobile data.
Parity with canonical pages
editGoogle has announced that as of February 1, 2018, it will require the content of canonical pages and those displayed through AMP be substantially the same.[48] This is aimed at improving the experience of users by avoiding common difficulties with the user interface, and increase security and trust (see below).
Reception
editComparison to other formats
editAMP is often compared to Facebook Instant Articles and Apple News.[49][50] All three formats were announced in 2015 with the stated goal of making mobile content faster and easier to consume.[51][52] AMP Project supporters claim that AMP is a collaborative effort among publishers and technology companies, and that AMP is designed to work on the web instead of proprietary mobile apps.
Google control
editGoogle's Richard Gingras said:
There's a very big difference between having a proprietary platform that says it's open, and having an open-source platform that is open to anyone to modify and adapt. It's the difference between saying come into my walled garden vs. not having a walled garden.[53]
However, some critics believe that AMP is an impending walled garden as Google begins to host AMP-restricted versions of their websites directly on google.com:
They say AMP is not actually supporting the open web because it is a "fork" or variation on HTML and one that Google essentially controls ... Some publishers have complained that as Google prioritizes AMP links—as it recently said it will do in mobile search—media companies will lose even more control because AMP pages are hosted and controlled by Google. "Our mobile search traffic is moving to be majority AMP (Google hosted and not on our site) which limits our control over UI, monetization et al," said one digital media executive, quoted in a Fortune article.[53]
AMP has been criticized by figures inside the tech industry[54][55][56][57] as an attempt by Google to exert its dominance on the web by dictating how websites are built and monetized, and that "AMP is Google's attempt to lock publishers into its ecosystem".[58]
Joshua Benton, director of the Nieman Journalism Lab at Harvard University, said: "There is a sense in which AMP is a Google-built version of the web. We are moving from a world where you can put anything on your website to one where you can't because Google says so."[59] Ramon Tremosa, a Spanish member of the European Parliament, said: "AMP is an example of Google dialing up its anti-competitive practices under the nose of the competition regulators."[59]
Matthew Ingram of Fortune expressed concerns about Google's role and motives regarding the AMP Project:
In a nutshell, these publishers are afraid that while the AMP project is nominally open-source, Google is using it to shape how the mobile web works, and in particular, to ensure a steady stream of advertising revenue ... More than anything else, the concerns that some publishers have about AMP seems to be part of a broader fear about the loss of control over distribution in a platform-centric world, and the risks that this poses to traditional monetization methods such as display advertising.[53]
These charges were rebutted by Google. Madhav Chinnappa stated that AMP must be a collaborative industry initiative in order for it to succeed in the long term:
I get a little bit irritated when sometimes people call it Google's AMP, because it's not ... AMP was created as an open source initiative and that for me is the reason for its success.[60]
In September 2018, Google began transitioning AMP to a more open governance model with governing committees composed of different stakeholders in the project, ranging from publishers that use AMP including The Washington Post and Axios to other companies such as Microsoft and Twitter.[61][62]
Pre-rendering problems
editSome AMP implementations such as Google search results use pre-rendering to improve loading speeds of AMP pages. As in other cases where pre-rendering is used, this is out of the user's control and may increase data usage.[47]
AMP prefetching and pre-rendering results in some additional data (and power) use with each search. The average 1.4 MB of additional data per search that is used for pre-rendering an AMP page that the user may not visit is not trivial overhead for certain users with limited data plans.[citation needed]
Monetization
editSome publishers reported that AMP pages generate less advertising revenue per page than non-AMP pages.[63] The Wall Street Journal's Jack Marshall said:
AMP pages rely heavily on standardized banner ad units, and don't allow publishers to sell highly-customized ad units, sponsorships or pop-up ads as they might on their own properties.[64]
Other publishers have reported better success with AMP monetization. The Washington Post has been able to generate approximately the same amount of revenue from AMP pages as from standard mobile pages, according to director of product Joey Marburger. CNN chief product officer Alex Wellen said AMP Pages "largely monetize at the same rate" as standard mobile pages.[65]
To improve advertising performance, the AMP Project launched the AMP Ads Initiative which includes support for more advertising formats and optimizations to improve ad load speed.[66][67]
Exploitation for malicious purposes
editSome observers believe AMP allows more effective phishing attempts. One serious flaw, noted by tech writer Kyle Chayka, is that disreputable parties who misuse AMP (as well as Facebook's similar Instant Articles) enable junk websites to share many of the same visual cues and features found on legitimate sites. Chayka stated that "All publishers end up looking more similar than different. That makes separating the real from the fake even harder."[68]
In September 2017, Russian hackers used an AMP vulnerability in phishing e-mails sent to investigative journalists critical of the Russian government, and hacked into their websites.[68] Google announced on November 16, 2017, that it would prevent sites in Google search results from exploiting AMP to bait-and-switch users.[48] Since February 2018, AMP pages in Google search results must contain content equivalent to that of the non-AMP page.[69]
References
edit- ^ "AMP as your web framework". AMP. Archived from the original on April 23, 2021. Retrieved May 14, 2019.
- ^ "AMP". GitHub. Archived from the original on August 8, 2021. Retrieved February 29, 2020.
- ^ Matt Kapko (October 14, 2015). "Google takes on Apple News, Facebook Instant Articles with AMP". CIO. Archived from the original on April 21, 2021. Retrieved February 29, 2020.
- ^ "The Accelerated Mobile Pages Project". AMP. Archived from the original on February 24, 2017. Retrieved November 6, 2016.
- ^ "Google Search guidelines for AMP pages". Google. Archived from the original on February 17, 2017. Retrieved August 21, 2017.
- ^ "Cloudflare AMP Cache". Cloudflare. Archived from the original on March 13, 2020. Retrieved February 29, 2020.
- ^ "Bing AMP Cache". Bing Webmaster Tools. Archived from the original on December 7, 2020. Retrieved February 29, 2020.
- ^ "Introducing the Accelerated Mobile Pages Project, for a faster, open mobile web". Google. Archived from the original on June 17, 2021. Retrieved February 29, 2020.
- ^ "AMPing Up in Google Search". The AMP Blog. Archived from the original on May 27, 2021. Retrieved February 29, 2020.
- ^ Christopher Ratcliff (February 23, 2016). "Google has launched Accelerated Mobile Pages". Search Engine Watch. Archived from the original on March 22, 2016. Retrieved April 3, 2016.
- ^ Scott, Mark (June 1, 2018). "Google's mobile web dominance raises competition eyebrows". POLITICO. Archived from the original on May 30, 2021. Retrieved February 9, 2020.
- ^ "An open governance model for the AMP Project". The AMP Blog. Archived from the original on May 28, 2021. Retrieved February 29, 2020.
- ^ "Answering its critics, Google loosens reins on AMP project". TechCrunch. Archived from the original on January 19, 2021. Retrieved February 29, 2020.
- ^ Lardinois, Frederic (October 10, 2019). "Google takes AMP to the OpenJS Foundation". TechCrunch. Archived from the original on May 7, 2023. Retrieved May 7, 2023.
- ^ "Introducing the Accelerated Mobile Pages Project, for a faster, open mobile web". Google. October 7, 2015. Archived from the original on June 17, 2021. Retrieved February 9, 2020.
- ^ Eadicicco, Lara O'Reilly, Lisa. "Google has launched a major project that aims to make the entire mobile web load a lot faster". Business Insider. Archived from the original on August 8, 2021. Retrieved February 9, 2020.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) - ^ "Google opens the AMP fire hose". Search Engine Land. October 3, 2016. Archived from the original on September 1, 2017. Retrieved August 31, 2017.
- ^ Ubl, Malte. "AMP Contributor Summit 2018 Keynote". YouTube. The AMP Channel. Archived from the original on February 14, 2019. Retrieved October 11, 2018.
- ^ "Bing App joins the AMP open-source effort". Bing Webmaster Blog. September 23, 2016. Archived from the original on May 7, 2019. Retrieved April 8, 2019.
- ^ "Google AMP: One Year Later". Digital Marketing Blog. Adobe. February 23, 2017. Archived from the original on February 20, 2018. Retrieved August 31, 2017.
- ^ "Turbocharging AMP". AMP Project. Archived from the original on September 1, 2017. Retrieved August 31, 2017.
- ^ "Twitter ramps up AMP". Search Engine Land. July 7, 2017. Archived from the original on September 1, 2017. Retrieved August 31, 2017.
- ^ "Introducing Bing AMP viewer and Bing AMP cache". Bing Webmaster Blog. September 19, 2018. Archived from the original on May 4, 2019. Retrieved April 8, 2019.
- ^ Medina, Alberto. "The Official AMP Plugin for WordPress". AMP Project. Archived from the original on January 20, 2019. Retrieved December 7, 2018.
- ^ "AMP Conf Keynote". April 19, 2019. Archived from the original on August 8, 2021. Retrieved May 17, 2019.
- ^ "Myth-busting: 7 truths about developing web pages with AMP, formerly known as Accelerated Mobile Pages". Think with Google. Archived from the original on October 3, 2021. Retrieved October 3, 2021.
- ^ "Twitter no longer opens the AMP version of articles on Android, iOS". Archived from the original on November 19, 2021. Retrieved November 19, 2021.
- ^ "Google Search ranking will factor 'page experience' and speed from June as AMP icon set to disappear". Archived from the original on October 28, 2023. Retrieved November 19, 2021.
- ^ "Brave's latest feature bypasses Google AMP pages". TechCrunch. Retrieved April 21, 2022.
- ^ Lyons, Kim (April 20, 2022). "DuckDuckGo's browsers and extensions now protect against AMP tracking". The Verge. Archived from the original on April 21, 2022. Retrieved April 21, 2022.
- ^ "Upcoming removal of AMP in Ghost 6.0: What you need to know". Ghost Forum. November 29, 2023. Retrieved March 13, 2024.
- ^ "Added notice of upcoming removal of AMP by JohnONolan · Pull Request #19178 · TryGhost/Ghost". GitHub. Retrieved March 13, 2024.
- ^ "How AMP pages are cached". amp.dev. Archived from the original on September 28, 2021. Retrieved October 3, 2021.
- ^ "Overview – AMP". www.ampproject.org. Archived from the original on September 4, 2017. Retrieved August 31, 2017.
- ^ Cloudflare. "Cloudflare Announces Ampersand, the First Open AMP Cache, to Give Publishers More Control of their Mobile-Optimized Content". GlobeNewswire News Room. Archived from the original on September 1, 2017. Retrieved August 31, 2017.
- ^ Southern, Matt (May 29, 2020). "Google's 'Top Stories' to Show More Than Just AMP Pages". Search Engine Journal. Archived from the original on June 3, 2020. Retrieved June 3, 2020.
- ^ Wiggers, Kyle (May 9, 2019). "Google creates 'dedicated placement' in search results for AMP Stories, starting with travel category". VentureBeat. Archived from the original on August 15, 2020. Retrieved June 3, 2020.
- ^ "Bringing the power of AMP to Gmail". Google. February 13, 2018. Archived from the original on August 2, 2021. Retrieved April 21, 2021.
- ^ "Supported email platforms, clients and providers". AMP Project. Archived from the original on May 18, 2022. Retrieved April 21, 2022.
- ^ "Add AMP to existing emails". AMP Project. Archived from the original on April 21, 2022. Retrieved April 21, 2022.
- ^ "AMP Ads". amp.dev. Archived from the original on October 1, 2021. Retrieved October 3, 2021.
- ^ "Supported Browsers". AMP Project. Archived from the original on September 9, 2018. Retrieved September 7, 2018.
- ^ "Supported Platforms, Vendors and Partners". AMP Project. Archived from the original on September 1, 2017. Retrieved August 31, 2017.
- ^ "Search results are officially AMP'd". Google. September 20, 2016. Retrieved August 31, 2017.[permanent dead link]
- ^ "CNBC". AMP Project. Archived from the original on September 1, 2017. Retrieved August 31, 2017.
- ^ "Gizmodo". AMP Project. Archived from the original on September 1, 2017. Retrieved August 31, 2017.
- ^ a b Jun, Byungjin (October 25, 2019). AMP up your Mobile Web Experience: Characterizing the Impact of Google's Accelerated Mobile Project (PDF). The 25th Annual International Conference on Mobile Computing and Networking. Los Cabos. Retrieved July 23, 2019.
- ^ a b "Google will stop letting sites use AMP format to bait and switch readers". The Verge. Archived from the original on November 19, 2017. Retrieved November 20, 2017.
- ^ Novet, Jordan (August 14, 2016). "Why I prefer Google AMP pages to Facebook Instant Articles". VentureBeat. Archived from the original on November 8, 2020. Retrieved February 28, 2019.
- ^ Travis, Ben (December 13, 2016). "Your Guide to Mobile Publishing Formats: AMP, Facebook Instant Articles, and Apple News". Viget. Archived from the original on November 8, 2020. Retrieved February 28, 2019.
- ^ "Introducing Instant Articles". Facebook Media. Archived from the original on November 18, 2017. Retrieved August 31, 2017.
- ^ "Apple Announces News App for iPhone & iPad". Apple Newsroom. Archived from the original on October 24, 2020. Retrieved August 31, 2017.
- ^ a b c Ingram, Mathew (August 16, 2016). "Google Says It Wants to Help Publishers Fight Facebook". Fortune. Archived from the original on April 29, 2019. Retrieved August 4, 2019.
- ^ at 08:25, Scott Gilbertson May 19, 2017. "Kill Google AMP before it kills the web". The Register. Archived from the original on May 3, 2020. Retrieved April 16, 2019.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link) - ^ "Web developers publish open letter taking Google to task for locking up with web with AMP". Boing Boing. Archived from the original on November 11, 2020. Retrieved April 16, 2019.
- ^ Bohn, Dieter (March 8, 2018). "Inside Google's plan to make the whole web as fast as AMP". The Verge. Archived from the original on December 19, 2020. Retrieved April 16, 2019.
- ^ Bright, Peter (March 10, 2018). "Google claims it's going to build its proprietary AMP using Web standards". Ars Technica. Archived from the original on November 9, 2020. Retrieved April 16, 2019.
- ^ McCarthy, Kieren (October 30, 2017). "Google AMP supremo whinges at being called out on team's bulls***". The Register. Archived from the original on November 13, 2019. Retrieved April 16, 2019.
- ^ a b Scott, Mark (June 1, 2018). "Google's mobile web dominance raises competition eyebrows". Politico. Archived from the original on May 30, 2021. Retrieved April 16, 2019.
- ^ "'It's not our project' says Google of AMP as the open format gains advantage over Facebook's Instant Articles". The Drum. Archived from the original on September 1, 2017. Retrieved August 31, 2017.
- ^ "Answering its critics, Google loosens reins on AMP project". TechCrunch. Archived from the original on January 19, 2021. Retrieved September 18, 2018.
- ^ "An open governance model for the AMP Project". The AMP Blog. Archived from the original on May 28, 2021. Retrieved December 10, 2020.
- ^ "Publishers are pleasantly surprised by Google AMP traffic". Digiday. October 14, 2016. Archived from the original on September 1, 2017. Retrieved August 31, 2017.
- ^ "Publishers are struggling with AMP page monetization". Search Engine Watch. Archived from the original on September 1, 2017. Retrieved August 31, 2017.
- ^ Marshall, Jack (October 28, 2016). "Google AMP Gets Mixed Reviews From Publishers". Wall Street Journal. ISSN 0099-9660. Archived from the original on September 1, 2017. Retrieved August 31, 2017.
- ^ "AMP Ads". AMP Project. Archived from the original on September 1, 2017. Retrieved August 31, 2017.
- ^ "Growing the AMP Ads Initiative". AMP Project. Archived from the original on September 1, 2017. Retrieved August 31, 2017.
- ^ a b "Russian hackers exploited a Google flaw — and Google won't fix it". Salon. September 24, 2017. Archived from the original on November 20, 2017. Retrieved November 20, 2017.
- ^ "Engaging users through high quality AMP pages". Google Search Central Blog. Archived from the original on November 25, 2020. Retrieved December 10, 2020.
Further reading
edit- Pierce, David (May 8, 2023). "How Google tried to fix the web — by taking it over". The Verge. Retrieved May 8, 2023.
External links
edit- Official website
- official tutorial at the Wayback Machine (archived 2019-03-30)
- AMP Validator