On your mobile device’s web browser, head to Google. Type in “news” and search. It brings up a revolving carousel of news articles. If you click on any one of these, you’ll notice the address in the web bar includes the word “amp”. What does this mean? And how does it relate to you from the business perspective?

The Explanation

This day and age, instant gratification is the quirk of society. Many of us were raised on dial-up internet that took 30 minutes to log in (with ever-so-pleasant background sounds), and another hour for a page to load. At least that’s what it felt like (and don’t get me started on what happened if someone picked up the phone line you were using to connect).

Lucky for us, technology advanced and that waiting game became a thing of the past. Speed became our greatest importance and other products and services followed suit to please these new top priorities. Amazon Prime bursts onto the scene, offering two-day delivery and opening up a floodgate of marketing strategies that catered to the need for immediate access to what we want when we want it.

Soon after, services like Shipt grocery delivery and Walmart two-day shipping quickly surfaced, causing Amazon Prime to up their game and try to get things out even faster. Today, you’ll find that in some areas, Amazon Prime now offers one-day delivery, and in a few places, even one HOUR delivery. Why? Because much like Veruca Salt in Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory… “I want it now!”

I know, I know, how does this relate to Google AMP? Let’s start with what it stands for – Accelerated Mobile Pages.  To put it simply, it’s that instant gratification, but in your mobile search. We don’t want to wait that painfully long 30 seconds for a page to load on our mobile devices – something we have already associated with instant gratification. Here comes Google AMP to save the day – a website publishing technology that allows almost instantaneous viewing of certain web sites. After all, 25% of people will leave a web site that takes longer than six seconds to load. Yes, SIX SECONDS – that is how much our attention span has shortened with the rise of this emphasis on speed.

Quality content that we used to wait several minutes to receive now gets left behind. Our expectations of how quickly we should receive our desired information have grown to the point that if it’s not received quickly enough, we will look for it elsewhere – regardless of relevancy. A website can have the exact answer we are looking for, but if it didn’t load quickly enough, we head to a site that gives a more instantaneous answer, even if it relates a little less to what we were looking for.

What does it mean for my business?

Google AMP technology doesn’t just automatically happen. It requires building a completely different version of your website using the AMP project’s standards. Once you have this version of your site, it will have its own URL ending with “amp,” just like you saw when you googled the news articles. From then on, when you appear in Google’s search results, your page will load rapidly for the users – in under a second.

Since Google places an emphasis on speed, sites that utilize the AMP technology will get preferential treatment when it comes to the algorithms that decide what site goes where in search rankings. A site with AMP gets “bonus points” in the eyes of the ranking Gods.

Being higher on rankings is a huge benefit to your ROI – as is faster load-time in general. The quicker a person can get into your virtual storefront, the faster they become your customer. The more time it takes for an individual page to load on your site, the quicker the customer disappears – analytically speaking, your bounce rate skyrockets. Now, having Google AMP doesn’t guarantee anything will change with your ranks, but not having it can certainly hurt them.

How Do I Activate Google AMP?

So now that you’ve learned the importance of incorporating this technology into your business’ website, what now? Check with your website developer to determine if you have these newer features in place. If you’re looking to activate AMP on your WordPress site, try this. If you’re using HubSpot, you can find the AMP toggle under Settings –> Blog –> Google AMP. If you’re unsure, you can always contact a reputable marketing agency that can help you optimize the online presence of your business!