Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP)

Accelerated Mobile Pages, or AMP for short, are like the internet’s fast lane, but specifically for mobile browsing. Picture this: someone taps on a link while scrolling through their phone on public transport, and instead of watching a loading bar crawl across the top of their browser, the page appears instantly. That’s the promise of AMP. It’s a web framework that helps pages load faster on mobile devices, offering users a better experience and allowing publishers to keep their audience’s attention.

Originally developed by Google in 2015, AMP aimed to address a growing frustration. Mobile users around the world were stuck waiting for content-heavy pages to load, burning through data or simply giving up. For marketers and publishers, this meant higher bounce rates and missed opportunities. AMP aimed to solve this by creating a stripped-down version of HTML, called AMP HTML, that prioritised speed and readability.

So, how does it work? AMP pages are built using this lightweight framework, which restricts certain types of code (like some JavaScript). It also sets loading priorities: text and images appear first, while extras like ads or analytics scripts load after. On top of that, AMP pages are often cached and served by platforms like Google itself, meaning they load almost instantly when clicked from search results or social feeds.

From a marketing perspective, AMP can appear in a few familiar places. You might notice it when reading a news article via Google Search: it loads in a flash, often with a grey lightning bolt symbol next to the URL. Or perhaps you’re reviewing campaign performance and notice that your AMP-powered landing page has a lower bounce rate and higher engagement than your standard mobile site. That’s AMP in action: stripping the clutter, reducing friction, and delivering the message fast.

But AMP isn’t just about speed. It also became, for a while, a potential signal in Google’s search rankings. Faster pages meant better user experience, which Google liked. That made AMP appealing to publishers, especially those managing content-heavy platforms like blogs, news services, or e-commerce sites. However, over time, AMP’s direct SEO benefits have become less pronounced as Google began prioritising overall page experience, not just AMP format.

Still, AMP has carved out its place in the wider Martech and web development ecosystem. Some CMS platforms (like WordPress) offer AMP-friendly themes or plugins. Developers and marketers often weigh whether to build with AMP when planning mobile-first campaigns or optimising content for high-speed performance.

A few key takeaways about AMP:

• It’s designed to load mobile pages almost instantly, improving user experience and reducing bounce rates.
• AMP has limitations on how much customisation or interactive content you can add; it’s a lightweight framework.
• Popular with publishers and content marketers who want their articles or landing pages to be easily accessible from mobile search or social feeds.
• AMP can benefit performance, but it’s no longer a shortcut to ranking higher in search results; it’s part of a broader mix.

The bottom line? AMP is one way to make mobile content faster and more usable, especially if you’re targeting audiences who often read or browse on slower connections or don’t wait around for heavy pages to load. It’s not the only way to build fast mobile pages anymore, but it’s a tool worth understanding, especially if speed means the difference between a scroll and a sale.